No industry or line of business is without its difficulties. This is even more so the case when you consider the negative state the economy has been in over the past few years. This blog post deals specifically with the challenges that process servers face in the modern-day. A lot of people deem this to be an industry that is in the midst of change. With the potential for e-servicing looming and the prediction of the rise of no serve, no fee structures; process serving companies all over the country (and the world) are coming up with plans to try and combat these issues. Keep on reading to discover more in-depth information regarding process server challenges that are occurring at present. 

There is no denying the fact that the pandemic and the consequent knock-on effects have impacted all businesses. Process servers are definitely not immune to these effects. Even the rising cost of fuel presents a real problem. After all, a process server spends a lot of their time driving all over the country to deliver and retrieve documents. Therefore, process serving businesses have had to find a way to accommodate this extra cost without passing it on to their consumer. Not only this, but then you have the issue of employment vs. contracting. The recession evidently led to the redundancy of many process servers. Nowadays a lot of companies either don’t have the money for full-time contracts or simply do not have the demand. Therefore, they turn to contractors for process serving. Yet this is not always plain sailing. The company loses an element of control and there is always the chance that you could fall victim to a contractor who provides a poor service, which in turn reflects badly on the process serving company in question. 

Difficult People

You should also think about the challenges that process servers always have faced and always will face; difficult people. If an individual knows that they are about to have court summons delivered to them, then there is every chance that they will do all in their power to avoid this from occurring. There is also the small chance that an individual may turn nasty and thus process servers must know how to handle these situations. However, if the process server in question does not deliver the documents efficiently the whole procedure suffers and court proceedings may end up being delayed. Not only this, but a process server must be clocked on at all times. There are shrewd individuals out there and one mistake can have damning consequences. For example, if you are distributing legal papers to a husband and wife separately, then you should never believe one’s statement that they will ‘pass on the papers for you’. Hand them directly to the person in question at all times. 

No Serve, No Fee

A worry surrounding a lot of process serving companies is the fact that there are some businesses who are starting to operate via a no serve, no fee structure. This is the attempt of new or underperforming companies who are looking for a way to try and undercut other process servers. It can very much be likened to the no win, no fee culture that has appeared in the field of solicitors. It is a worry because it also encourages a sewer service.  These process servers will be making service upon people merely to get paid rather than to follow the correct procedure. Companies will need to use effective marketing to battle back. You can read up on SEO pricing for more information.

E-servicing

A major challenge that seems to be on the horizon is e-servicing. There is a massive debate in the industry at the moment regarding whether the service will ever logistically be doable through email and indeed whether it will be legally allowed. This is a grey area, as not all documents are legally allowed to be sent via email, yet with the rise in technology, it is one that every process server needs to be mindful of just encase. This would provide some solid advantages, it would result in less paperwork and lower overhead costs for every process server. However, there is then the issue that businesses could be set up in countries such as Indian and Pakistan whereby they can offer the service at exceedingly low prices. 

Concerns

There are definitely extensive challenges facing process servers in the current day. You have those concerns that are always going to be in place, such as dealing with difficult individuals. Then you have those that evidently arose because of the recession and are actually effecting other companies too, such as rising fuel costs and dealing with contractors. There is also the challenge of e-serving which has arisen from the progression in technology. And the changing face of business always means that people will be looking for new formats of service, hence the potential rise in no serve, no fee structures. Whether the latter two challenges materialise is something that every process server is eagerly anticipating. Yet, through consideration now, there is every chance they will be much more prepared if they do.

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