Ken: We strive never to lose or damage materials. The methods used to ship packages can reduce the opportunity for damage. Closed-lid totes are recommended to minimize damage. Situations do, however, arise from time to time that may lead to such an occurrence. Periodic spikes may occur for one reason or the other, but damaged or lost items should be less than 0.025 percent on average. It is important to have a system in place to establish measurements for condition of items shipped, thus ensuring the condition of each package prior to receipt from the courier.
Becky: The industry standard is $100 per shipment for lost or damaged items.
Additional insurance coverage can be made available for extra cost and negotiated at the time of contractual agreement.
By the time this is in print, circumstances related to the carrier industry may have changed. The courier manager must be proactive in finding out what is happen- ing in the field. The Moving Mountains symposiums typically include panels of vendor representatives as well as exhibit tables. Libraries should also consider attending carrier conferences, as listed elsewhere in this chapter.
HOw TO OuTSOurCE yOur COuriEr SErViCE
Once a consortium or library system decides to outsource its delivery ser vice, how does the manager proceed? Self-education is first. A book like this is a great start, but only a start. At a minimum, the manager should contact others involved in delivery to ask questions and learn from their mistakes. There are several ways to find courier managers. A physical delivery electronic discussion group with more than one hundred members can be found on the Moving Mountains website. ALA’s Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies has created a database of consortia: Library Networks, Cooperatives and Consortia. One of the database’s searchable fields calls up those consortia that run courier ser vices and includes con- tact information. By far the best option is to include funds in the start-up budget that allow the manager to visit other regions or states that have an operating courier ser vice and learn firsthand what others are doing with their delivery ser vices.
Finding Vendors
Selecting a vendor is covered in chapter 6. But before you can choose a vendor, you have to find one. This discovery process can be difficult. Searches of better business bureaus and the like often turn up numerous mom-and-pop delivery ser vices that are not appropriate for large-scale library delivery. Managers need to be looking for businesses with millions of dollars in operation costs, not hun- dreds of thousands.
The Moving Mountain website maintains a list of vendors who have ex - pressed interest in library delivery.2 But this list is far from comprehensive. Again, checking with consortia in your region is a good way to find reliable vendors.
After that, going to the carrier association meetings discussed earlier is the man- ager’s best tactic. The Express Carriers Association has a member directory that gives information on regional carriers. The Messenger Courier Association of the Americas also has a “find a courier” feature. Another newcomer, Courierboard .com, recently launched a site to help find carriers, and it has by far the best inter- face. Make sure you check as many sources as possible, since they do not neces- sarily include the same listings.
Planning and Budgeting
The manager must develop a plan detailing the requirements to start up an out- sourced courier ser vice. One of the most important elements of a business plan is
the budget. Obviously the largest budget item will be the contract with the ven- dor; information on contracting is found in chapter 6. The following paragraphs discuss items to consider in developing a budget.
The budget must include a salary for a courier manager or assistant. Few if any courier ser vices leave problem resolution and troubleshooting up to the vendor alone. Most outsourced library courier ser vices have a point person who serves as an intermediary between the vendor and participating libraries. Having one person who tracks problem logs, resolves billing questions, and gets to know the delivery company staff is a good way to keep the ser vice on track. Salaries related to managing and maintaining vendor or library relationships are likely to be the second highest cost after the vendor’s delivery charges.
Most vendor contracts charge the vendor the cost of providing shipping con- tainers, whether they are bags, bins, totes, or some other container. Shipping con- tainers can be an area of controversy with vendors, especially in delivery ser vices that are growing and constantly need more containers, or where there is a pat- tern of libraries borrowing the containers for other than delivery purposes. If the shipping containers are not part of either the vendor contract or the participating libraries’ obligation, they must be part of the courier ser vice’s budget. In 2009, bins were selling for between $12 and $20; shipping bags were less. As ser vices grow, shipping containers can become a significant cost factor.
Although it may seem unnecessary to create marketing materials for a library delivery ser vice, there are good reasons to dedicate part of the budget to market- ing. If the manager does not “tell the story” of the courier, someone else will, and that story may not be favorably told. A good way to influence attitudes about a ser vice is to use established sales techniques. One popular marketing item is the van-shaped refrigerator magnet that includes the ser vice’s contact phone number and website. Other useful promotional materials include colorful posters that depict the courier ser vice in action and toy vans for the children of the client’s employees. The list is endless, and for a small capital investment such items can have a big payoff politically.
Some library delivery systems choose to reimburse for lost materials, know- ing full well that the materials will likely be discovered at either the borrowing or lending library. A small pool of money to pay for lost materials can resolve small complaints before they become big problems. It is wise to have clear policies on how the reimbursements are made to eliminate confusion.
Courier management system software is another wise investment. A well- designed management system can assist with participant information, billing records, communication, and trouble log maintenance. At this time there is only
one commercial system available, Library2Library from the Quipu Group. Quipu will do a fair amount of customization, which can be very helpful for a courier manager. When preparing a budget, the manager needs to consider both purchas- ing and ongoing maintenance costs of an information management system. If a system chooses to develop a home-grown system, costs will include technical experts and software development.
Each courier ser vice has unique circumstances that affect its budget. For instance, some ser vices use the USPS or UPS for some deliveries to small librar- ies. Costs associated with materials, labor, and postage have to be considered.
There can also be costs associated with maintaining a courier advisory commit- tee. These costs involve travel or group phone ser vices. Overall, tracking expenses, managing the budget, planning for new expenses, and the like are all important parts of the courier manager’s job.