My gratitude to delivery guys

The advent of ecommerce companies has given rise to number of delivery guys who deliver our goods to us in the comforts of our home. All we need to do is to place the order and sit back; rest will be taken care by the e commerce company for us. When the package is out for delivery, we are notified about it either through a SMS or through a notification on the app. Final stage is being delivery guys calling us to locate and to deliver the order and head for the next delivery.

All these years, I really didn’t feel the plight of delivery guys until I came across the challenges faced by them in dire situations. That one incident changed my perception towards then and increased my respect for them from the bottom of my heart.

Due to pandemic I decided to shift temporarily to Kerala to spend some time with parents as the past one year has been too toiling for all of us, as we were all worried about each other than ourselves. Here too like in Bangalore, I prefer to order things through Flipkart, Amazon, Zomato or e commerce firms which provide home delivery at my location.

This year Kerala has received more rainfall than it required and its repercussion can be seen in news channels with alarming levels of water in all major dams of the state. Even when I am writing this blog, it is raining heavily outside. Due to these incessant rains, I have limited my outdoor activity to bare minimal, similar to lockdown era, only difference is that was forced and this is voluntary.

I ordered few things through multiple e commerce platforms based and was tracking their movement especially when are they out for delivery. It so happened one day, a delivery agent called me inform about the delivery of goods and I was waiting eagerly for its arrival but it started pouring heavily that day. Again, that delivery agent called me to inform that delivery will be delayed a bit as it is raining heavily. I replied take your time, I am in no hurry.

It was still drizzling when I heard someone honking at the gate of my house; I stepped out only to see a delivery agent with my parcel in his hand. He was wearing rain coat with a heavy bag on his back, bracing the rain with a smile on his place when he delivered the package. I happen to look at his feet, he was wearing a chappal but due to constant exposure to water his feet has turned little pale and same was the case with his hands. I was completely saddened by his plight; I knew he would be feeling cold. I have experienced it personally once.

It so happened that I was on bike and suddenly it started pouring and there was no place where I could take refuge from rain for some time, hence I drove the bike and was completely drenched in water. Then I found a bus stop, parked my bike there and waited there till the rain stopped. Once the rain stopped and I reached it was more than an hour, all this while I was in wet clothes. First thing I did after reaching home was to get rid of those clothes and then to have coffee. I couldn’t bear an hour of chillness and these guys they are endure this chillness all day long. Hats off to their sacrifice and risk undertaken by them for earning bread and butter for their family.

Today too, I had a delivery and when the delivery agent called to enquire about the address, I requested him to deliver it tomorrow as roads were flooded and heavy rain was anticipated for the rest of the day. I think they too are human beings and I must think about them also. My package can wait for a day or two but they can’t endanger their life in this extreme climatic situation just for a delivery. I don’t think I can ever allow that.

Every time a package is delivered to me, I make it a point to rate the delivery guys, though it’s a small gesture but goes a long way in judging their performance. I think that the least I can do for them. So next time, please be little cautious before losing your temper at a delivery agent, don’t forget the fact that at times they endanger their life’s for our happiness.

Irresistible offers on groceries at Flipkart

I have been buying groceries from DMart and veggies from More all this while before the implementation of lockdown in India, while most of my friends resorted to online platform I was happy visiting stores and buying things myself. I felt connected to my purchases, if they are hand-picked by me. It may sound weird but I am like that.

But with lockdown in place, I doubt I can visit any of those supermarkets soon so I decided to buy groceries online like my friends. Since it was my first online grocery shopping expedition so I decided do some research online to grab some amazing deals online as DMart has pampered us with their irresistible deals through their retail stores all this while.

Soon I figured out that Flipkart is offering great deals in grocery purchases, they were almost similar to DMart’s offer, this revelation was little shocking for me, so I decided to test it myself. I added all grocery items required by me to the cart and when I was about to place my order an, offer caught my attention which was too good to be true. It was for 1rs, I can buy 1kg rice and 500gms toor dal each but I can only buy 1 quality of each of them so I bought them for 2rs flat.

(We have buy groceries minimum for 500rs for Flipkart to deliver it to us. If we order above 1000rs delivery is free else need to pay 50rs towards delivery charges)

I ordered all the items on Friday 1^st may 2020 late evening, after spending almost an hour in identifying best offers for my purchases. In order to complete the order I had to make the payment in advance, which I did promptly and my order was processed with the delivery date being 4^th May 2020. I was given the option to select delivery slot and I opted for 7.30 am – 12.30 am slot.

On 4^th May 2020, sharp at 8 am I received a call from my Flipkart delivery agent enquiring about the address and he requested me to stand at the entrance of my building with carry bags to collect the items. After 10 mins delivery van came in front of my building and the delivery guy push a cart towards him and filled my bags with the items ordered by me.

Back in my room, I checked all my items with the order placed by me, it was perfect.  I wanted to check the quality of items I ordered for 1rs in specific and I was surprised to see the price tags on them, they all were highly priced. Both rice and dal came in good packing with product information along with seller’s details. I should say this was best offer I have got so far from any online platform.

I wanted cornflakes of a particular brand and I was unable to find it at most online shopping portals and the ones which had them did give any lucrative offers but I found same brand’s cornflakes at 50% discount in flipkart, another striking deal.

I was so mesmerized by the amazing deals and prompt delivery by Flipkart, that I informed most of friends about Flipkart’s amazing offers clubbed with my personal experience, that my friends decided to check Flipkart once before placing their grocery orders.

Few of them called me back to say “Thanks” as they were able to get good offers at Flipkart and have saved money, through which they will treat me once the lockdown ceases. Most of my friends tried the 1rs offer out of curiosity can are happy with products delivered to them.

Big thanks to Flipkart, for pampering us with amazing deals during this pandemic situation, when they are overburdened with orders along with logistical issues. Special thanks, to Flipkart’s delivery team who is on road endangering their lives for our safety and for us to remain at home only.

Flipkart's apology a small step but major impact

Asking apology from someone for the inconvenience caused is a small step to resolve an issue going out of control but people are reluctant to do it. Some feel seeking apology as an insult to them but they forget the fact that, very few people have the courage to do it. And the ones who do it are very courageous, and people respect them for it.

Recently Flipkart also did a similar thing but in a personalized manner first of its kind at a scale like this. Filpkart launched “Big Billion Day” where by online shoppers were given amazing discounts on products purchased on that particular day. The launch was a hit among shoppers but only for few hours.

Flipkart website crashed twice during the day, things got over and in some situations the payment process was not getting through. There were issues in placing orders as well. Few lucky ones were able to get things at extremely discounted prices but others were left fuming.

Though Flipkart took all necessary precaution to make it a big hit but it failed to impress the visitors on the page. Lot of negative reviews was written about Flipkart in print and online media. But one step by Flipkart silenced all.

Flipkart dropped a personalized email to all visitors of the page who placed difficulty in placing order from its founders. Then they called all those people whose order had to be cancelled due to confusion or other reasons and steps were taken to refund the money to them at the earliest.

Years ago cadbury dairy milk chocolate also faced a similar outrage from masses when fungus was found in their chocolates. They roped in Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador for cadbury dairy milk and campaign was carried out, where Mr. Amitabh Bachchan took viewers to the factory and showed them about the hygiene factor. And for the betterment of the product, chocolates were wrapped with additional foil other than the outer covering.

But seeking personal apology to everyone who has been hurt by the usage of product has been done only by Flipkart at a very large scale. We can just image about the volume of the email rolled assuming the fact about website being crashed twice due to high traffic volume.

I was also one of the visitors to the website and was very disturbed when my order was not processed but post receipt of the mail and very happy. And I order few things after that.