Pick `n Pay`s Home Shopping Web site came up against an unexpected security problem recently: a customer`s toothy security systems. A driver employed to do Pick `n Pay Home Shopping deliveries was attacked by dogs when he tried to make a delivery at a house on the East Rand last week.
Leon de Lange, operations manager for the Home Shopping Network, reports that the driver, Johannes Mahlangu, was attacked by two large dogs while trying to deliver an order to a home in the Boksburg/Benoni area. Mahlangu was badly bitten on the leg and arm before the dogs` owner managed to pull the animals off him.
The Pick `n Pay Home Shopping network has circulated an e-mail to all Home Shoppers on its database, asking clients to lock up or restrain their dogs when deliveries are expected.
The dog attack was not the first delivery hitch Pick `n Pay drivers have had to face since the Home Shopping pilot project began in Pretoria two months ago. De Lange reports that Pick `n Pay Home Shopping`s drivers frequently find themselves facing down guard dogs and being cross-questioned by security-conscious home owners. They also find themselves on the receiving end of complaints about groceries and stock availability. In addition, the drivers face the constant threat of Gauteng crime. The company has had a delivery truck hijacked in Midrand. It was later recovered in Mozambique.
While De Lange says Pick `n Pay Home Shopping is not yet prepared to divulge figures about the number of home deliveries done on average, he says there are 12 drivers currently employed to do home shopping deliveries in greater Johannesburg.
"The Johannesburg drivers face some of the biggest problems," says De Lange. Not only do they have to contend with Gauteng security systems and nervous homeowners, they also have to make deliveries in poorly-signposted areas and make their way home from the Midrand depot after deliveries are completed at 9pm. Pick `n Pay Home Shopping has arranged overnight accommodation at its Midrand depot for those drivers who live too far from the depot to get home safely at night.
But De Lange points out that these issues are being resolved as they crop up. The Pick `n Pay Home Shopping Web site services are now available in the Western Cape, Johannesburg and Pretoria, and will soon be available in Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein.
Share
