Director Of Operations For A Home Delivery Service
Career review from a person working in the job
How I Got The Job
My Education: BS, General Business, Bentley College
My Prior Experience: I worked as an operations manager for a national furniture retailer and later got promoted to regional operations manager.
My Job Profile
My Company: My company provides home delivery services to retailers throughout the US.
Job/Career Overview: My company provides home delivery services throughout the country, mainly for furniture retailers who hire us to provide delivery teams and trucks. My job consists of managing all facets of operations in our northern division (which includes New England), making sure we have an adequate number of delivery teams in place for all our accounts there.
I work with our account managers who are stationed at the retailers' warehouses. I ensure they are managing their driver teams and taking care of our retailers' needs. Most of my day is spent solving problems people have with our service. My goal is to provide superior service so that our clients and their customers are happy with our service and do not turn to other outfits to do what we do. I am also responsible for the profit and loss on each account. I need to review all areas of expense and income that affect our revenues and make adjustments when needed. I conduct regular visits to our clients' warehouses and meet with our account managers, the clients' key managers and our driver teams. I also work closely with our corporate marketing and sales executives to solicit new business.
Another aspect of my position is to deal with the damage we do to customers' homes in the course of delivery. I investigate these incidents and work with insurance companies on any accidents our drivers have. Every driver who's involved in an accident is required to take pictures and file a report when he gets back to the depot that day. These pictures and reports are sent to my office, where I review them and send them on to the insurance company. I follow up with insurance adjusters in order to get our trucks repaired and back in working condition.
What I Love or Hate
The best part of my job is keeping an adequate number of top-notch delivery teams at each account. Recruiting and training are fundamental to keeping on top of things.
The worst part of the job is making a profit at each account when the high "exceptions" rate in this business makes it nearly impossible to avoid spending money on returns. One example is the need to make a delivery no matter what the problem. In some cases the team has to hoist furniture through a second floor window, which is both expensive and time-consuming. Our company will pay the delivery guys extra but the client in most cases will not reimburse us.
My Career Tips
This position requires someone who has extensive experience in management, someone who understands the transportation and retail industry. But whoever takes it on will also need to know how to recruit and train new drivers. This position requires travel and overnight stays. Some of our clients make deliveries seven days a week, which requires our personnel to be available seven days a week if needed.
