Environment

When QA Courier switched to an electronic dispatching system we immediately reduced our paper consumption by over 2,000 hardcopy dispatch chits a day.  That’s 500,000 pieces of paper a year.  Obviously this was a great first step, and it also saved ink and the power used by the energy-inefficient dot matrix printer that produced the chits.

Across the board we have leveraged technology to streamline our processes, making us much better at what we do and significantly reducing the amount of waste we produce.

QA Courier also switched to a web-based order management system and we stopped using waybills in favour of a Legal Manifest.  The waybills were produced in quadruple.  A driver that used to create 30 waybills a day now uses only two manifests instead.  The manifests are scanned and stored electronically and the hardcopy is then recycled.  This represents about 2,000 waybills a day times 4 sheets of paper, which amounts to an annual savings of 2,000,000 sheets of paper.

Proof of Delivery (POD) for every order is now captured and stored electronically. This POD information is instantly available to our clients by using our web-based order management system.

We used to send a hardcopy invoice to all of our clients every week.  First, we cut the frequency of billing in half and now we bill twice a month.  Then we asked clients to accept their invoices by email or by downloading from our web site.  This has resulted in saving (at least) another 2,000,000 sheets of paper per year.

We used to send out greeting cards in December to our clients. Now we send an e-card and we’ll donate the money we save to Tree Canada. Tree Canada is a charitable organization that partners with local volunteers to improve our quality of life by planting and caring for trees.

QA Courier has an ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System. The manual, procedures and all of the forms are stored electronically in a Central Repository that is accessible to all employees. We don’t keep hardcopies. We access softcopies from the repository and whenever possible we use email as the medium for communication and distribution of forms and information.  Our email messages even contain a note asking the recipient to please consider the environment before they print a hard copy.

In the city core, where congestion and pollution is the worst, we don’t use cars or trucks unless we absolutely have no choice. We use bike couriers and walkers. These professional messengers make their way through the city efficiently and effectively using no extra energy and causing no pollution or waste whatsoever.

We have messengers that ride the public transit system. These people are able to get from one end of the city to the other very quickly, especially when they ride the subway. They’re able to avoid traffic and congestion and get to their destination much faster than they could in a car. They use no extra energy and they cause no extra pollution or waste whatsoever (we’re reasonably certain that the transit system would continue to run in their absence).

In 2008 we started using scooters in the city. This expanded the typical area covered by bikes and walkers in place of cars and managed to improve service at the same time. Scooters use a fraction of the fuel that cars use.

Our dispatchers are specifically trained to always send the most efficient vehicle available for pick-up and delivery.

The vehicles we own are properly maintained for efficiency. We make sure they’re properly tuned up and have good tires with correct air pressure.

We ask our drivers not to needlessly idle their engines. We train our dispatchers and drivers to use the most direct routes to get to their destinations. We constantly monitor traffic cameras and advise drivers to avoid areas where they will get into traffic congestion.

We make it a habit to shut down everything at the end of the workday. We encourage our office staff to shut off equipment in the evenings and on weekends.