EXPLORING THE PROS AND CONS OF OVERNIGHT DELIVERIES

It’s a beautiful summer’s day. Birds sing gleefully in the trees, kids run free in the park. A veritable Zen paradise. You, however, are tearing your hair out. You’ve got a delivery due in 10 minutes, yet you’re stuck in traffic for what feels like the billionth time this week. As you slump back in your seat and prepare for another hour of mind-numbing commercial radio, you wonder just how much time peak-hour steals from you each week. This is the thinking behind the recent push for night-time deliveries that is gaining momentum among shippers and receivers in the U.S and Europe – aiming to take some of the grind, out of your daily grind. A recent Manhattan study found that transitioning 30 per cent of metro deliveries to night-time could save the economy hundreds of millions of dollars. And that’s before you consider that taking a third of the trucks off the road during peak hours will improve traffic flow for everyone. But what do the drivers think? Numerous studies have been released into the benefits of night-time driving, but little thought has gone into the most important factor – the effect this would have on truckies themselves. While it should be noted that many truck drivers already work ‘unsociable’ hours, for those currently working the day-shift – especially those driving in metro areas – night-time delivery work has its fair share of pros and cons.

Night Owls

If you consider yourself a night-owl, then there’s no arguing that driving at night can be a pretty sweet deal, and one that many drivers actively seek out. The first, and most obvious reason is any driver’s mortal nemesis – the traffic. If you spend the majority of your time on the road, not having to contend with peak-hour traffic can hardly be overstated. Besides, there’s a certain charm in driving around usually-packed urban streets in the deserted early hours of the morning. For the long-haulers among you, without all the caravans and mobile homes hogging the road, you've got free run of the highways and byways and there’s plenty of parking available at rest stops. There’s also the promise of shorter stops at each delivery point, which has the potential to save you hours spent sitting around – often not getting paid – waiting to offload your goods. The Manhattan study also showed a staggering 72 per cent decrease in waiting times for overnight drivers, as businesses usually trust the driver to make the deliveries by themselves, without having to wait around for busy staff to unload their cargo.

Early Birds

Listen to drivers who currently drive night-shifts and they’ll tell you: re-adjusting your body clock is not easy. And unlike some other professions (looking at you, supermarket shelf-stacker zombies) handling a rig is definitely not something you can do half-asleep. Spare a thought for regional night-time truckers as well, who not only have to contend with a lack of open shops for those much-needed bathroom breaks, but the threat of hard-to-spot animals springing onto the road is ever present. If you do get used to functioning at hours usually reserved for moody teenagers and late-night DJ’s, it can mean a lot less time spent with your non-nocturnal friends and family. When you get home, trying to sleep during the day while your neighbour is mowing their lawn and the dog is circling outside your bedroom door, lead in mouth, can be equally challenging. Then there are the potential health issues of night work, which could include an increased risk of some cancers, type-two diabetes and heart attacks. There are also the typical digestive problems you get from eating almost-exclusively at 24-hour truck stops – come five am, the chicken schnitzels in those bain-maries look like they’ve seen better days.

The Right Balance

While night-time deliveries are definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution to the growing traffic on our roads, increasing the amount of jobs available for night-time deliveries may suit some drivers better. Night-owls may be in luck, with many businesses – including Australia Post – beginning to trial off-peak deliveries. But if you’re an early bird instead, don’t worry. At the moment, most shippers and receivers have no more interest staying up to the wee hours of the morning than you do. In order to implement off-peak deliveries more broadly, government regulation controlling night-time route and load restrictions for heavy-vehicles would also have to be changed, so it's an idea requiring long-term planning. At the very least, however, a few more night-time deliveries may lighten the traffic on your daily commutes. Because whether it’s working day or night, we’ve all got somewhere we’d rather be than jammed up on the road.