A driver outside a block of flats
The label says 'Flat, 12 Victoria Road' with no flat number. There are twenty-four flats. Nobody answers the main buzzer. The driver tries the phone number on the label, which is the shop's number, not the recipient's. The parcel comes back to the depot.
Earlier on the same route there was a postcode that belonged to a different town, so the parcel went round the wrong van, and a business delivery to a trading estate where the unit number was missing. Every one of those started with the data the shipper sent the night before.
Why bad addresses reach the van
Shippers pass on whatever their customers typed at checkout. Online shops rarely validate addresses. The courier's system accepts whatever is in the manifest, because rejecting parcels is not an option. The first place anyone looks closely is the driver's screen on the doorstep.
| Address problem | What it does on the road |
|---|---|
| Missing flat or unit number | Driver cannot find the door, parcel carried back |
| Postcode does not match street | Parcel sorted to the wrong route |
| Business name missing for commercial address | Reception cannot identify the recipient |
| Shop's phone instead of recipient's | Driver cannot call ahead |
| Street spelt wrongly | Route planning puts the stop in the wrong place |
What bad data costs
Failed deliveries and carry-backs, each needing a second trip. Missorts that cost a day. Driver time spent searching, which slows every later stop. And complaints that land on you, although the problem started with the shipper.
It also colours how shippers see your service. They measure first-time delivery, and they do not always separate failures caused by their own data from failures caused by yours.
The office absorbs the rest: calls from recipients, calls to shippers, re-labelling, and rebooking, all for parcels that were never going to be delivered as addressed.
Route planning suffers quietly too. A stop with a wrong postcode is placed in the wrong spot on the map, so the sequence the driver follows is built around a location the parcel is not going to, and the whole route runs less efficiently.
The address check we build
- A check on every manifest line or booking as it arrives, through the API or file upload your shippers use.
- Comparison with postcode address data, such as Royal Mail's Postcode Address File through a licensed provider: postcode and street agree, building exists, flats or units exist at that building.
- Safe corrections applied automatically, such as fixing a postcode's formatting, and uncertain ones held for review.
- A request for missing detail: a message to the recipient by SMS or email asking for the flat or unit number, where the shipper supplies contact details and permits it.
- A report back to the shipper each day of the addresses that failed checks, so they can fix their checkout.
- Flags on the driver's screen for stops that remain uncertain, so they call ahead rather than discover it at the door.
What changes
Address problems are found the night before, not on the doorstep. Recipients are asked for the missing detail while there is time. Shippers see which of their data causes failures. And the route plan is built on addresses that exist.
Signs you need address checks
- Drivers regularly carry parcels back for incomplete addresses.
- Parcels are sorted to the wrong route because postcodes are wrong.
- Labels have the shop's phone number, not the recipient's.
- You cannot show shippers how many failures their data causes.
- Nothing checks addresses between the manifest and the van.