COVID-19: Resetting Expectations.

I work selling car parts. We send parts all over the world.

It's always amazed me that just using normal postal or courier routes (avoiding the big companies like DHL and Fedex that have their own aircraft) we could get packages to Australia and New Zealand inside 7 days.

Considering the parcel would probably take 2 days to get through Heathrow and another couple of days getting from the freight terminal to the customer, that's not bad going.

But no longer. Aircraft capacity is down 80% in "normal" levels.

But still customers call expecting deliveries in a week. I would have hoped that this period of shutdown and reduced service would show people how lucky they were. But there are always those that still expect things to stay the same with fewer resources.

Even postage within the UK is patchy. Some postal depots are down to 50% staffing levels. Some have been closed for deep cleaning as workers test positive for the virus, delaying post in that depot by 3 days or more.

But still we get the call from people expecting next-day service. Without paying for it of course.

But luckily most people seem to be understanding how lucky they were and how good things were before the virus hit. Walking into a store and being able to buy goods from around the world that were re-stocked on an almost hourly basis.

Lets hope after this crisis that most people at least are a little more thankful and thoughtful. That they understand the miracle of modern logistics and appreciate the amount of effort that goes into global transport networks.