The phone that never stops
It is eleven in the morning and the planning office has taken a dozen calls. Has our load been collected? What time will it get to the warehouse? The goods-in team is asking. Each call means stopping, finding the truck in the tracking system, maybe ringing the driver, and ringing back.
Half the calls are about loads that are perfectly on time. The ones that are running late, the customer often hears about last, because the planner was busy answering the other calls.
Why customers have to ask
You know where the truck is. Your customer does not, and there is no routine way for them to find out other than calling. The information is there; it just never leaves the building.
- Tracking data is visible to planners but not to customers.
- Collection and delivery events are recorded, but nothing sends them out.
- Delays are known to the driver and planner long before the customer.
- Each customer wants updates differently: email, text, a portal, or their own system.
- Nobody owns proactive updates, so they happen when someone has time.
What the calls cost
The cost is planning time broken into small pieces all morning, which is exactly when the plan needs attention. Customers who have to chase feel less well looked after, even when the service is good. And the worst case, a late load the customer learns about from their own goods-in team, damages trust more than the delay itself.
The status updates we build
- We read events from your telematics and plan: arrived at collection, loaded, departed, arrived at delivery, POD captured.
- An arrival estimate is calculated from the truck's position and route, and updated as it moves.
- Each customer chooses what they receive: collection confirmation, estimated arrival, delay warning, delivery confirmation with POD, and how (email, text or a tracking link). Some customers want only exceptions.
- If the estimate slips past the booked time or a threshold you set, the customer is told, and the planner sees that the message went out.
- Customers with their own systems can receive status by API or file where they ask for it.
- Calls that do still come in can be answered from one screen showing the load's timeline.
| Customer question | Today | After |
|---|---|---|
| Has it been collected? | Call the office | Collection confirmation sent |
| When will it arrive? | Planner checks the tracker | Estimate in the tracking link |
| Is it late? | Often found out by the customer | Warning sent as soon as it slips |
| Where is the POD? | Email request | Sent with the delivery confirmation |
What the office gets back
Planners get their mornings back for planning. Customers stop needing to call about routine loads and hear about problems early, while there is still time to adjust their own plans. The calls that do come in are about things that need a conversation: a damaged pallet, a changed delivery address, a load that genuinely needs a decision. Drivers get fewer calls from the office while they are driving, because the office no longer needs to ask them where they are. And because every update is logged, you have a clear record if a customer later disputes what they were told.
Is this your office?
- Planners spend the morning answering status calls.
- Customers find out about late loads before you tell them.
- Delivery confirmations are only sent when someone asks.
- Big customers ask for tracking you cannot easily give.
- Driver phones ring constantly with office questions.