Delivery terms, in plain English.

The vocabulary of a dispatch desk, defined the way an operations lead would explain it to a new hire — with a note on how each one shows up in PrivateMile.

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Address validation

Checking that a delivery address exists and resolves to a real location before a driver is sent to it, rather than discovering the error on the road.

Auto-dispatch

Assigning an incoming order to a driver automatically by a rule — nearest, round-robin, lightest load or by zone — instead of a dispatcher choosing by hand.

Cash on delivery (COD)

Payment collected by the driver at the door — cash, card or cheque — recorded against the order the moment it is taken, so the day’s takings reconcile themselves.

Delivery density

How many deliveries fit into a given area or driver-hour — the variable that decides cost per delivery more than wages ever do.

Delivery exception

Any delivery that does not complete as planned — nobody home, no access, refused, damaged, wrong address — recorded with a reason rather than left ambiguous.

Delivery management system

Software that runs the whole delivery day — order intake, planning, dispatch, tracking, proof and reporting — rather than one slice of it.

Delivery time window

The span of time a customer is promised a delivery will arrive — “between 1pm and 4pm” — which planning, routing and driver ETAs are all measured against.

Dispatch board

The screen where a delivery operation is run: every order, driver and route in one view, the day planned against the clock, and the live state of each delivery.

Electronic proof of delivery (ePOD)

Proof captured digitally at the door — photo, signature, notes, scanned label or one-time code — attached to the order automatically instead of on paper.

ETA (estimated time of arrival)

The predicted time a driver will reach a stop, computed from their live position, the remaining route and current traffic — and recalculated as the day changes.

Failed delivery attempt

A delivery trip that reaches the address but cannot be completed, requiring a retry — and costing the trip, the retry, the call and the reschedule.

First-attempt delivery rate

The percentage of deliveries completed on the first visit — the clearest single measure of how much money an operation is losing to repeat trips.

Geofencing

A virtual boundary around a stop, depot or zone that triggers an action when a driver’s phone enters or leaves it — such as marking an arrival automatically.

Last-mile delivery

The final leg of a delivery, from the local depot, store or kitchen to the customer’s door — usually the most expensive and most visible part of the journey.

Order batching

Grouping nearby or similar orders so they are planned, assigned and delivered together, raising stops per hour without raising cost.

Proof of delivery

Evidence captured at handoff — a photo, signature, note, scanned label or one-time code — showing what was delivered, to whom, where and when.

Route optimization

Working out the order a driver should visit stops so the day is shorter and delivery windows are still met — then reviewing the proposal before it changes anything.

Same-day delivery

Delivery completed on the day the order is placed — operationally a promise about cut-off times and capacity, not just a faster van.

Service time

The minutes spent at a stop between arrival and completion — the number that decides whether a planned delivery day is achievable.

White-label tracking page

A live tracking page carrying the business’s own name, logo, colours and domain, so the customer sees the store they bought from, not the delivery software.

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