Bike Shipper Launches Preferred Handling and Improves Shipment Monitoring
During the peak shipping periods of what may have been the most challenging shipping year to date, BikeFlights.com, a bicycle shipping service and bike box supplier, reported the best on-time delivery performance for its bikes, wheels and gear shipments.
“Like most companies, we’ve had to respond to a variety of new business challenges during this past year; and as many of us have experienced firsthand, shipping during the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult,” said William Alcorn, President of BikeFlights.com. “While everyone was staying home, we worked hard behind the scenes to improve our operations to ensure that we maintain the five-star service that our customers have come to expect.”
On-Time Rates
BikeFlights.com delivered customers’ shipments on time at rates of 98.8%, 96.4% and 97.3% respectively during three peak shipping periods of the pandemic in 2020. Their results were better than those of UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service as tallied by ShipMatrix. Notably, BikeFlights.com works closely with UPS, the world’s top carrier, adding a level of service to give cyclists the best performance for shipping bikes, wheels and gear.
Pandemic Brings New Challenges
“The pandemic brought challenges like large numbers of temporarily and permanently closed businesses, rising shipping costs and consistently record-breaking volumes of shipments,” said Alcorn. “We adapted by launching services like Preferred Handling, improving our monitoring of shipments and rolling out our new BikeFlights bike shipping boxes. We did this all while continuing to offer low shipping costs and excellent customer service to our individual consumer and business customers.”
But BikeFlights.com didn’t just excel during peak shipping periods. The company consistently offered on-time delivery for most shipments throughout the entire year. On-time delivery percentages ranged from 96.34% to 99.07% during 2020.
Preferred Handling
Preferred Handling is perhaps the most noticeable consumer-facing operational improvement of the past year. Soft launched in December of 2020, it gives more accountability for high-value bikes, wheels and gear moving through the carrier system. Think priority loading, secure storage and reserved routing. All BikeFlights.com shipments automatically qualify for the Preferred Handling service upgrade when customers opt for US$1,000 or more of Premium Protection per box or case. Preferred Handling is available in most locations in the United States, Canada and the European Union.
New Bike shipping boxes
New bike shipping boxes are also near the top of the list of BikeFlights.com’s 2020 improvements. With supply chains strained and used boxes more scarce than ever at local bike shops, BikeFlights innovative boxes are sturdy, recyclable and reusable and come in two sizes for shipping most types of bikes. They are available for purchase through BikeFlights.com’s online store and ship direct-to-consumer within one to three days to most locations within the continental U.S.
Behind the scenes, BikeFlights has been working closely with its carrier to upgrade its monitoring systems to improve resolutions for delayed and lost shipments. Such enhancements now give all BikeFlights.com customers access to enterprise-level solutions for keeping their shipments on track.
Last but not least, BikeFlights.com hired more people to support customers and improved internal staff education to address the increasingly more complex shipping challenges. The effort was matched by the development of an in-depth FAQ on its website to help customers answer many questions at their convenience.
