Turned away at the gatehouse
Your driver arrives at a supermarket's regional distribution centre with two pallets from a supplier three hundred miles away. The gatehouse asks for the booking reference. There is none on the paperwork. The office rings the DC's booking line, which says the next slot is Thursday. The pallets come back.
Meanwhile the sending depot's customer, a small food producer, is being told by the retailer that the delivery is late, and is ringing everyone. Next week the same thing happens with a different DC, because the booking-in requirement was buried in the delivery instructions as 'BOOK IN'.
Slot deliveries hide among ordinary drops
Most pallets you deliver just need an address and a working day. A DC delivery needs a phone call or a booking portal days in advance, a reference, and arrival inside a narrow window. On the inbound list, it looks like any other drop.
- Booking-in requirements are written as free text, if at all.
- The purchase order number the DC wants is often missing.
- Each DC has its own booking method: phone, email or a web portal.
- The slot, once booked, is not linked to the run plan.
So the knowledge sits with whoever usually does DC bookings, and when they are off, drops are missed.
What missed slots cost
A refused delivery means a wasted trip, a pallet back on your floor, and a new slot that may be days away. The customer's retailer may apply its own penalties to them, which they will mention to the sending depot, who will mention it to you.
Within the network, DC deliveries that fail repeatedly can damage your standing, and some members avoid giving DC work to depots that struggle with it.
There is also the time cost. Rebooking a missed slot is slower than booking the first one, because you now need the original booking reference cancelled and a new one issued.
How the slot tracker works
- Each inbound consignment is checked against a list of known distribution centre addresses and postcodes, and against wording in the delivery notes such as 'book in' or 'slot'.
- Flagged consignments appear on a booking list as soon as the inbound list is available, before the pallet reaches you.
- Each DC has a record of how to book it: phone number, email or portal link, lead time and what details it needs.
- Missing details such as a purchase order number trigger an automatic request to the sending depot.
- The booked slot and reference are recorded against the consignment, and the drop is locked to that time on the run plan.
- The driver's run shows the booking reference, the slot and any gatehouse instructions.
| Stage | Before | With the tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Spotting a DC drop | Read by eye, sometimes missed | Flagged from address and notes |
| Missing PO number | Found at booking time | Requested from sending depot early |
| Booking method | In one person's head | On the DC's record |
| Slot on the run | Passed on verbally | Locked on the plan |
Where a DC's booking portal offers a proper integration, we can use it. Many do not, and booking stays a person's job with the tracker making sure it happens.
Distribution centre drops that go on time
DC drops are spotted the moment they appear, and missing details are chased while the sending depot can still get them. Whoever is in the office can book any DC, because the method is written down. Drivers arrive with the reference in hand.
When a slot is missed despite all this, the reason is recorded, which helps when the retailer or the sending depot asks.
Signs this is catching you out
- Drivers are turned away at DC gatehouses.
- Only one person knows how to book each DC.
- Purchase order numbers are missing at booking time.
- Booking-in notes are missed on the inbound list.
- Booked slots are not linked to the run plan.