Here’s something that most typical national carriers have in common: their history of staggering delays and lost packages! According to a report by the New York Times, more than 1.7 million packages go missing daily across the USA. This causes huge monetary loss and inconvenience for both clients and customers.
That is what makes it risky to depend on common carriers to deliver something as time-sensitive and crucial as medical specimens. Since common couriers work with all types of products – most of which are non-critical – their services are not fine-tuned to the needs and urgency of medical specimen deliveries. A single lost or damaged specimen is a matter of life and death.
This is exactly where partnering with a specialized medical logistics courier company like Medical Couriers can make all the difference. In our 50+ year history of making more than 50 million deliveries, we have maintained a flawless track record of having never lost a single specimen. Our national delivery network focuses solely on medical logistics. We make sure that each specimen is delivered efficiently, on time, and fully preserved.
The Risk in Choosing Common Carriers
National common carriers function on a hub-and-spoke model. They pick up packages and bring them to a centralized warehouse location ‘hub’ in each city first. At that hub, they are collectively stored alongside other types of shipments. That means your biopsy specimens on the way to the lab are sitting next to grandma’s new quilting needles.
Afterward, they are sorted and delivered to various regions or ‘spokes’ for last-mile delivery.
While this structure may work for most industries, it is extremely inefficient for making time-sensitive healthcare deliveries. The centralized nature of this model makes it inflexible in daily operations and prone to congestion, delays, and missing packages.
Why Choose a Medical Logistics Courier
By specializing in only delivering medical couriers, medical logistics couriers better understand the needs of the healthcare sector. Here are 6 reasons why partnering with a medical-only logistics courier is a much better decision than leaving the fate of fragile medical specimens in the hands of the nation’s common carriers.
1 – Reduce Typical Turnaround Times
Common carriers rely on inflexible and inefficient hub and spoke models that increase turnaround times and make specialized deliveries difficult.
By contrast, couriers specializing in medical logistics expedite deliveries by skipping the distribution centers and by using technology to create the most efficient routes possible to get specimens where they need to go.
2 – Eliminate Lost and Significantly Delayed Orders
The logistics model used by common carriers makes packages vulnerable to mislabeling or misrouting. As a result, 1 in every 10 shipments are damaged or lost in the US!
However, Medical logistics companies understand that when it comes to their deliveries, there is no room for inefficiency. Our uncompromising patient-centric work ethic, technology, trained transport partners, and well-established protocols enable us to make almost 10 million on-time deliveries every year.
3 – Bypass the Distribution Centers
National common carriers use distribution centers or “sort facilities” that first store packages at distribution centers for days before shipping them to final destinations. Furthermore, these central warehouses swallow your packages in a sea of other non-critical consumer goods and products. This makes your specimens prone to mishandling and damage.
Medical logistics couriers eliminate both problems. We directly deliver your specimen to its final destination bypassing distribution centers altogether.
4 – Medical Logistics Couriers Allow You to Maintain Visibility
Healthcare logistics companies understand the criticality of medical shipments and your need to get round-the-clock updates on your deliveries. By partnering with a healthcare logistics company like Medical Couriers, you get access to a customized dashboard for updates and 24/7 monitoring of your shipment – from pickup to delivery. This helps you track each stage of the shipment and ensures greater transparency and peace of mind.
5 – Enjoy later pick up times and early delivery times
While common carriers are too big to allow flexibility in pick-ups and delivery times, medical-only delivery companies are equipped to customize the delivery of your medical couriers according to your needs around the clock.
Moreover, the flexibility and technological solutions offered by medical courier companies allow you to select later pick-ups and earlier deliveries.
6 – Drivers Trained in Medical Logistics Courier Protocols
Since national common carriers deliver a wide variety of products, their transport partners usually don’t hold specialized expertise in handling sensitive medical shipments.
We have a robust network of transportation partners who have extensive experience in healthcare logistics and training in medical courier protocols. Our trusted transport specialists all have a patient-centric work ethic and understand that on-time and safe delivery of each specimen plays a crucial role in someone’s health.
If you’re using national common carriers for your medical deliveries, click here to reach out. We’ll see work towards getting you a great rate on a better, more specialized service.
