How I Found the Right Partner for Logistics in India

1. How I Found the Right Partner for Logistics in India I run a mid-sized artisanal tea business in Siliguri. Sounds romantic, right? Lush green tea gardens, fresh air, handcrafted packaging, and total chaos when it came to shipping. When we started shipping beyond Bengal, I thought a basic courier tie-up would be enough. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. For months, we juggled unreliable pickups, delayed deliveries, and damaged consignments. One time, a bulk order meant for a wedding gift in Bangalore got split across three different locations. Imagine the angry calls. I cycled through three logistics providers in less than a year. One had decent pricing but zero tracking updates. Another promised everything on paper but forgot half the pickups. A third had great service until Diwali season hit and they simply couldn't handle the volume. That's when I started asking in my local SME WhatsApp groups. One of the folks recommended a company they'd been using for six months for their ceramic exports. I was skeptical, but desperate. So I reached out to this company for logistics in India. Here's what stood out to me: - They understood scale. I didn't have huge daily volumes, but my orders spiked around holidays and gifting seasons. They built a flexible system to match that. - They handled rural reach. A lot of my regular customers were from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Many others had told me "we don't cover that area." These guys did. - Their team actually listened. I spoke to someone who asked the right questions about packaging fragility, storage, and tracking visibility. It felt like a consultation, not a pitch. Over time, my return rate dropped, especially for long-distance shipments. And that alone saved us more money than we expected. Page 1

2. One tip if you're just starting with national shipping: test with smaller batches. Don't go all-in on any one partner right away. Build trust gradually. I'm still learning. Logistics isn't a one-size-fits-all game. But at least now, I'm not waking up every morning wondering if my parcels reached. This helped me. Maybe it'll help you too. Author Bio: Ankush More is a small business owner based in Siliguri, West Bengal. He ships artisanal tea products across India and believes good packaging is just as important as good product. Page 2