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What is 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.

COD is still common wherever customers prefer to pay on receipt — restaurants, groceries, couriers running many clients. The operational problem is not collecting the money; it is knowing at the end of the day exactly what each driver should be holding, for which client, and having a record if anyone disagrees.

Done well, the driver records the amount and method in the app the moment it is collected, the order carries the payment record, and per-driver and per-client reconciliation is a report rather than a count.

In PrivateMile: cash, card and cheque collection are recorded in the driver app at the door, attached to the order, and reported per driver and per client — and a payment-collected event is available to webhooks and Zapier.

Related terms

More from the glossary.

All terms

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.

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.

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.

Your next route could be the first one it plans.

Set up your fleet, import today’s orders, and watch the board come alive — most teams dispatch within the hour.

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