Real-Life Communication
You hop out of your delivery van with a very large package. You
ring the doorbell and the door is soon answered.
The customer looks
relieved to see you and the package. But she becomes annoyed when she sees
the price of the shipment. "That's way more than was quoted on the phone,
and this package is late!"
She is angry, and it's your job to sort
out the confusion and answer her questions. "Communications skills are very
important," says Joel Metz, a bike courier. "You have to communicate with
the clients you deal with when picking up and delivering packages."
Metz
says that communications have to be clear and concise. "You have to be able
to communicate constantly with the office, usually over a two-way radio, and
with the other messengers you work with."
This is how you answer the
woman's question:
Let me scan the bar code to see what happened.
Looking at the account number, I can see that there have been a few
problems with the delivery of this domestic shipment.
The shipment
was late because it missed the call in cut-off time, and then it was shipped
to the wrong city because of an incorrect airport code on the address
label, so it went to the wrong destination address.
Because the package
had to be rerouted, there is an accessorial charge. The package was
oversized and had to be repackaged for an additional packaging fee.
However,
I see that the mistakes made may have been the company's fault and not yours,
and so I can make a billing adjustment. What billing option
would you prefer?
She stares at you. "What? Could you say that in English?"
You
smile and say that you would happily try to explain the situation again. Rewrite
your answer using the vocabulary below, making sure to explain the highlighted
words.
Vocabulary:
- Account number: Unique number that is used to facilitate the billing
process and otherwise keep track of relevant company information
- Accessorial charge: Fee charged for rerouting a package due to
wrong addresses
- Additional packaging fee: Cost of transporting large packages
or packages that aren't completely enclosed in a box or envelope
- Airport code: Three-letter code used to identify airports
- Bar code: Digital information that can be read by a scanner for
routing and package information
- Billing adjustment: Process where the amount charged on an invoice
is changed, usually a reduction
- Billing option: Term used to describe the different methods of
payment that can be used, such as pre-paying for the delivery or paying when
the package is delivered
- Call in cut-off time: The latest time that a customer can call
a courier company and still receive a pickup that same day
- Domestic shipment: A package that is sent within a country, as
opposed to an international shipment