8 Essential Skills of a Delivery Driver

Remember the Hollywood blockbuster movie ‘The Transporter’? It clearly showed what a delivery driver should be like. Elegant, punctual, loyal to one who appointed him and, after all, strictly obeying some mandatory rules— these are the extraordinary features that readily made Frank Martin (Jason Statham) popular.

As a youngster when I first watched the movie, I thought this was a little exaggerated. A transporter doesn’t need to be that polished and rule-bound. As I grew older I realized those were, in fact, essential parts of being a delivery person. It’s not merely a job; it’s rather a reliance that you prove right for yourself, a short time guardianship that you perform with integrity, a trust that you gain through hard work.

Here are the essential skills that a delivery driver should acquire:

1. Being Result Oriented

You could describe it as ‘target-oriented’. Whatever you know or how many skills you have, if you fail to deliver within target time or damage the parcel or forget the condition to make the call to your customer just half an hour before you reach your destination, you have essentially failed at your job.

You need to be racing— not with speed; you must always be beating your company record and also your own record of timing, communication, reliability, and overall performance.

2. Working Under Pressure

As is true for so many jobs, managing stress under pressure is an essential part to succeed. For a delivery job, this is even more important. You need to have the courage to deliver the packages in the face of a storm, to a dark place, within a short time, and even after the break-down of your engine without losing your professionalism.

3. Driving like a Pro

You need to be a real professional driver for this job. It’s not the ‘driving hours’ that makes a pro. It’s some of the essential skills that would make you a real professional. Let’s talk about a few of them:

Breaking: ‘It’s more important to concentrate on your breaking than on your speeding up.’, says a motor driving trainer. ‘The simplest way to do this is to understand how most precisely and efficiently you press and release the brake pedal— the timing and the amount of pressure you’re applying. That gives you almost 60% of the control on your vehicle. Not making your car unstable is one of the top 10 skills of a good driver.’

Self-Protective Driving Course: Driving courses do not only teach you how to drive, but they also teach you ‘how and when not to drive.’ Therefore you certainly need some training. Search for local or national driving schools and take their courses. This will also help you get your license easily.

Position of Your Hand on the Wheel: So many people don’t care where they put their hands on the wheel. Several recent researches reveal that if both your hands are positioned on the wheel at 9 and 3 on the clock or lower, it takes you less time and makes you more agile to react to any emergency situation. This position is especially helpful for longer drives.

Attention on Your Speed: ‘There’s no dexterity, no mastery in pressing your accelerator and speeding up your car. ‘The skill lies in controlling your speed, which means, the right speed at the right time and in the right place. That makes you a driver. After all, you need to live before you deliver your parcel or get your passenger to their destination.’

Changing Gear: Today, sitting in the auto transmission vehicles, drivers may feel they don’t no need to pay attention when or how to change gear. But for the manual transmission vehicles (which professionals find more effective), this is one of the parts where learners stumble for hours. Sometimes even some professionals fail to maintain timing especially when the vehicle has gathered great momentum due to high speed or weight or both.

4. Resilience

Things always don’t happen as planned. That is part of life. On the way, an instruction may change your destination entirely, another parcel may be added or another person may take over your charge and you’re off to another task. It’s the part of your job to react positively and in the best possible way so that the tasks, whether they have changed or switched, are accomplished properly.

5. Customer Service

This is delivered mainly in two ways: from the company/your employer and from you to the customer directly. For the first type of customer service, there are some rules set by your employer which you must follow. In case of an emergency, if you need to alter any of the rules or procedures you will need to inform the authorities before the alteration.

The real customer service is best understood when you face your customer with their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. That’s when you know how much you have been able to serve your customer.

Try to get the answer to the following question from any practical situation to understand what customer service practically means:

‘What would you do if you find that your customer was somehow not satisfied with the service you delivered?’

6. Independent working

Most successful delivery drivers are independent workers rather than team workers. You have your own plan, preparation, timing, and competence to fulfill your task. That makes you personally more trustworthy and reliable and both your employer and your customers tend to get their job done by you whatever your charge amounts. 

7. Self Discipline

It won’t take long to for you understand what ‘self-discipline’ is if I take you to Frank Martin of the movie ‘The Transporter’ once again. Just think how he would remember the rules whenever any situation occurs. We get a clear sense that not all the rules are imposed by his customers. They are all set up by himself that makes him a perfect transporter. The word discipline doesn’t only include some rules; your attire and physical appearance, your well-polished sparkling car, and even your choice of words to your customer— all indicate some parts of your self-discipline.

8. Safety and quick reflex

It’s all about speed. You are driving at some sixty to more than a hundred kilometers per hour. Accidents occur within a fraction of a second, and even half a second lateness in your decision might end your entire profession or even your life. Therefore, keeping your life, your vehicle, and your parcel safe are the three conditions that will keep you safe and alive while on the road.

Final Words

The work of a delivery man is a generalized form of what a trustee does in legal terms. So there cannot be any compromise on responsibility, punctuality, safety, and customer satisfaction. Achieving all those traits takes determination and substantial practice. Follow the tips above to become the best delivery driver in the fleet.