A
D A Y
IN THE LIFE A packed day
Debora h Dudley, fra nchise owner of PACK & SEND Salford Quays, describes a typical day running her packing and shipping business…
zones as well as new ones that morning. Today’s packing is now under way so we follow up on quotes that are awaiting answers to check if there are clarifi cations needed. We also complete orders and send documents for those proceeding.
1.00PM p Deborah Dudley
After a career managing various companies for other people, Deborah Dudley was clear that she ultimately wanted the same success running her own business. Consequently, in 2014, she opened PACK & SEND Salford Quays – the fi rst service centre in Manchester for the leading packing and shipping specialist – now one of the busiest units in the UK.
8.30AM
The fi rst task of the day is tracking and monitoring shipments in transit. We usually have consignments in many different time zones, and so we contact carriers early if there are holdups, as well as notify customers regarding delivery expectations. Then we confi rm arrival times for items we're
collecting that day. A quick call reduces the risks of delays en route, which saves time and costs!
9.00AM
With everyone in we have a team meeting to review that day’s collections, packing requirements and consignments due to leave. Much of our packing is complex and needs careful planning to ensure the shipments are ready for departure.
10.00AM
I check for anticipated payments. With customers around the world these are virtually always electronic – and nothing ships without payment! Many customer requests come via email or the
website and these are our next priority. We will have received some overnight from different time
Follow-ups and order processing continue. We contact people to whom we earlier sent quotes to ensure they received them and hopefully complete them. We offer many different solutions, so there may be several discussions before customers confi rm.
1.30PM
We have a quick review to ensure shipments are ready and dispatched on time. We prepare a lot of documentation for consignments – especially international shipments – and it must be right!
2.00PM
We always confi rm our deliveries have arrived and check customers are happy, so hopefully they will give a positive Google review.
3.00PM
We prepare our collections schedule for tomorrow on a whiteboard to plan the routing – it works well for us!
5.30PM
We review the details of the job cards for tomorrow to check what packing materials and equipment should be on the van, plus any possible access issues. Every shipment has a detailed job card that the driver will need a copy of. We will also check stock.
AFTER CLOSING
Time to record and complete sales documents and run a total for the day. Most of the administration is done within our EPOS software, but I like to have a written record of what we have sold each day. Finally, a call to a customer in a different time
zone may be required before we lock up and leave to fi ght with the Manchester traffi c once more. l
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