If you choose to become a professional courier or delivery driver, then you will need to develop the right mindset for the job. Fuel efficiency, customer relations, proper scheduling, route management and traffic avoidance are all things that delivery drivers have to deal with on a regular basis. Having the right attitude not only makes the job bearable, but also makes it so much easier and more fulfilling as well.
So without further ado, here are some of the top coping skill you will need to develop as a professional courier:
Sticking to a Schedule
Learning to be punctual about everything is absolutely essential for the professional delivery driver. Working and living on a schedule is the only way you will meet deadlines, so you will need to learn how to plan your days out better. You will also need to constantly be aware of the time and to make sure that you waste none if you can. You never know when a traffic accident, construction site or blown-out tyre will slow you down.
Being Sharp and Adaptable
It will do you no good to throw tantrums and start fuming the whole day when something does not go according to plan. You, as a courier need to think and react fast to the things that happen around you. You need to learn how to be sharp in order to quickly find the address on the packages, and you need to learn how to modify your schedule or route in case something goes wrong.
Looking to Maximize Efficiency
You need to have this mindset of saving money whenever and wherever you can while ensuring everything goes as smoothly as possible. The effects of being efficiency-minded will play a big role in major parts of a courier’s work like planning a route in advance, but thinking about the little things can also have a beneficial effect. Making more left turns to avoid traffic and reduce petrol consumption, checking tyre treads for wear, rolling down the windows to cut down on the A/C are a few ways you can save, and the savings from these actions can add up over time to be quite significant.
Courteously Dealing with People
Being diplomatic is a valuable mindset that every professional courier needs to develop. A brash and abrasive approach to difficult clients will cause you to lose them in the long run, but being overly submissive will cause people to take advantage of your services. Make your point but do so in a way that the other person you are talking to feels respected and not belittled. Learn to cultivate a ready and genuine smile, as it will serve you very well in the long run.
Living Healthy
Never underestimate the advantages of having a healthy body, especially when it comes to the work of a courier. Spending long hours on the road, hunting for street addresses, coming into contact with all sorts of people are things that can be very taxing on the body. Working out, eating right and living healthy will help make your job so much easier, especially when you stop to think how a single day of being off sick can mess up your delicately-crafted schedule.
Learn to cultivate these attitudes within yourself and you will find being a courier to be a lot easier and more rewarding than you first thought.