subject: Will I Be Contacted If There Is A Delay In My Shipment? [print this page] There are many things that can happen which might make a shipment get delayed with your courier company. If you're using order fulfillment services to move your goods to your customers, then you need to be aware that these delays may take place. The good news though, is that your shipping company should be proactive about letting you know if anything is going to happen which is going to delay your shipment in any way.
Courier companies are usually very diligent about letting their customers know when things happen that are going to slow their shipments down. They use a variety of different methods to let customers know about delays, and which method they use is going to depend on the nature of the delay, and how long the courier company feels it is going to last.
For most delays, the courier company isn't going to contact you directly. Instead, they are going to provide you with the information about your shipment that you require, but you're going to be responsible for retrieving that information. Essentially, this means that they will update their automated tracking systems with information about small delays, but it is going to be up to you to check the status of your shipment. This is something that is easy to do, and usually entails nothing more than entering a tracking number into a text box on the courier's website.
Usually, when a delay is small, it will simply earn a note on the status update page of the tracking system. There are times though, when delays can be more serious. This could be when a shipment is stuck in a blizzard, or if cargo has been destroyed in a traffic accident. In these cases, the courier company will usually contact their clients directly. They will call them and let them know that the delay has occurred, and what their projections are for resolutions.
There are other times when courier companies are going to be more likely to contact you directly if your shipment is delayed. The most notable among these is when you're shipping FTL. In cases of LTL shipping, there are a lot of variables and several clients, which often make it easier to just update the automated system. If an FTL shipment is delayed though, the courier will usually contact the client immediately to let them know. This is also because these clients tend to represent a larger portion of the courier's business.
