"It never arrived." For a small courier business, that one sentence can cost a whole job's margin. Large carriers have scanners and depot systems to answer it. Smaller operators usually have a phone, a memory of the day and not much else.
This article looks at what a practical proof-of-delivery record looks like for a small courier, and how journey.delivery gives you one as a by-product of tracking the trip.
What counts as useful evidence
When a delivery is disputed, the questions are usually simple:
- Did the vehicle actually go to the address?
- When did it get there?
- Which driver and vehicle, and what was the load?
A record that answers those three questions, which the customer can check for themselves, settles most disagreements before they turn into a refund.
How journey.delivery records it
Every tracked journey keeps:
- The full route driven, from start to finish, drawn on the map.
- The time the driver marked the delivery complete. Everyone invited to the trip is emailed at that moment.
- The driver, vehicle and load details entered for that trip.
Once the journey is completed, that record stays available for 12 months. Anyone who was invited to the trip, including your customer, can open it again with the same Trip ID, PIN and email address. You aren't digging through phone logs, and the customer doesn't have to take your word for it.
Details are in Alerts and Journey History.
What it doesn't do (yet)
To be clear about the limits: journey.delivery records where the vehicle went and when the delivery was marked complete. It doesn't capture a signature or a photo at the door. If your customers need those, keep using your current method for that part. The route record sits alongside it and covers the "were you even there?" question.
Fewer disputes, not just better evidence
The best proof of delivery is the one you never need to produce. When customers watch the trip live and get an email as you arrive, they already know the delivery happened. Most disputes start with a customer who wasn't expecting you, and live tracking with arrival alerts removes a lot of those.
Getting started
If you drive for yourself, registration is free. If you run several drivers, register your business so every driver's trips, and their records, sit under one account. See Company Account and Subscriptions for how that works.