I have heard several stories of dispatch riders absconding with packages. I have also heard of one who ate the food he was meant to deliver. These are the kinds of incidents that damage trust in the delivery system. Every bad experience, however, should offer a lesson.
Last Friday, Dammy bought an iPhone 14 Pro Max in Ikeja and dispatched it to Ajangbadi through a bike rider. That dispatch rider would become a mistake he would not forget for a long time.
The delivery should not have taken more than a couple of hours, but it turned into a tension-filled three-day ordeal.
What began as an expected three-hour delivery stretched to six hours, then nine hours, with no sign of the package. The owner of the iPhone, valued at about N750,000, began mounting pressure on Dammy. Despite repeated assurances, the dispatch rider eventually stopped answering calls altogether. Confusion and anxiety set in.
By 7:30 p.m., Dammy had begun seeking help from various quarters to track down the rider.
By 9:00 p.m., he had traced the rider, identified as Paul Michael Oche, to an address he had provided. Through some investigation, he managed to get through to Oche’s wife. However, the address turned out to be fake. It also appeared that the wife had realized they were being tracked.
Dammy continued his efforts to locate the rider, and useful leads gradually emerged.
By Saturday afternoon, Paul Oche finally called. He offered no convincing explanation for the delay. Then he dropped a bombshell: he had tampered with the parcel. According to him, he had discovered that the package contained an iPhone 14 Pro Max. He apologized and promised to complete the delivery on Sunday.
Sunday came and went, but Oche failed to keep his promise. Once again, he became unreachable.
By Monday, Dammy was on his way to the police station to file a report when he received a call informing him that the parcel had finally arrived. Upon inspection, he confirmed that the phone was intact.
The experience ended without the loss of the device, but it highlighted a serious concern. A dispatch rider has no business opening a customer’s package let alone delay it unjustifiably. Trust is the foundation of the delivery business, and once that trust is broken, the entire system suffers.
