In delivery, the money is lost in small places: a wasted trip to a closed shop, a parcel the customer says never came, a few hundred rupees missing from the cash a rider hands in. None is big alone. Across 50 riders and 80 drops a day they add up.

This article shows how courier and logistics teams can run a shift on FieldExecutives, and where gains can come from. For a deeper look at the practice, read last-mile delivery management.

Where time and money leak today

  • Failed attempts with no clear reason, so the same failures repeat.
  • "Not delivered" disputes with no proof either way.
  • Riders take their own routes and backtrack.
  • Cash on delivery is recorded on paper and reconciled days later.
  • Control rooms answer "where is my parcel?" by phoning the rider.
  • Finance spends days matching cash to parcels.

How FieldExecutives fits into a rider's day

Here is the workflow, step by step, with the features used at each point.

1. Shift start

The rider punches in at the hub and the day's stops load, with addresses, parcels and COD amounts.

Features used: GPS punch-in on server time, geofencing, daily manifest on the phone.

2. Route and navigation

The app suggests an order of stops to reduce backtracking. The control room sees every rider on one map.

Features used: AI route optimisation, route and next-stop view, one-tap navigation, live map.

3. At the door

Proof is captured before a stop can close, even without signal, so a disputed delivery has a record.

Features used: OTP, e-signature and doorstep photo proof, offline-first capture.

4. Failed attempts

If the customer is not available, the rider logs a reason code and the parcel is rescheduled. Over time, reasons show the biggest causes of failure.

Features used: Reason codes, photos and notes, automatic rescheduling.

5. Cash and close

Cash collected is logged per parcel and tallied against the rider at end of shift, so differences are handled the same day. See field collection management software.

Features used: COD logged per parcel, tally against the rider, expenses.

Use cases

Dispute resolution

OTP, signature and photo records settle "not received" claims quickly, in both directions.

Fixing failure causes

Reason codes show whether failures come from addresses, customer availability or planning, so fixes target the real cause.

Control-room visibility

Dispatchers answer customer queries from the live map and can reassign stops from a delayed rider.

Same-day cash reconciliation

Per-parcel COD entries and end-of-shift tallies shrink the gap between cash collected and cash recorded.

Rider productivity review

Drops per rider, distance per drop and on-time rates support fair coaching.

Where the savings and productivity gains can come from

These are the places to look for gains. They are not guaranteed results. Every business starts from a different baseline, so record your own numbers for two to four weeks before you start. Our guide to calculating the ROI of field force management software shows how.

AreaWhat to measureHow the software helps
Failed attemptsFailed deliveries per 100 dropsReason codes, rescheduling and better route and time-window planning
DisputesDisputed deliveries per 1,000 dropsOTP, signature and photo proof on every stop
Cash differencesCOD collected versus recorded and depositedPer-parcel entries and same-day tally per rider
Distance and timeKilometres and minutes per dropSuggested stop order and navigation
Finance effortHours spent on cash and parcel matchingRecords already matched by rider and shift
Control-room callsStatus calls per dayLive map and status per rider
Illustrative example, not a customer case A courier runs 50 riders making 80 drops each, so 4,000 drops a day. Suppose failed attempts are 12 per 100 drops, and better time-window handling and reason-code follow-up bring that to 10. That is 2 fewer failures per 100 drops, or 80 fewer wasted attempts a day (4,000 × 0.02). If finance also moves from reconciling cash twice a week over two days to same-day tallies, that effort shrinks too. These figures are invented to show how to size an opportunity. Replace them with your own baseline.

What to measure in the first 90 days

  • First-attempt delivery rate and on-time rate
  • Failed-delivery reasons by category
  • Proof completion rate and disputes per 1,000 drops
  • COD collected versus deposited, and delay in deposit
  • Drops and distance per rider per day

For definitions and more measures, see 12 KPIs every sales and operations manager should track.

Getting started

  1. Define reason codes and proof rules by parcel type or value.
  2. Load a week of stops for one hub and a few riders.
  3. Test OTP, signature and photo capture offline in a weak-coverage area.
  4. Run end-of-shift cash tallies for two weeks and review differences daily.
  5. Expand hub by hub after reviewing failed-attempt reasons.

A full week-by-week plan is in how to implement field force management software in 30 days. Location and attendance data about employees is personal data, so tell your team what is tracked and why, and take legal advice on your policy under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

Where FieldExecutives fits

FieldExecutives is field force management software built for Indian teams. For delivery teams it covers GPS attendance, suggested stop order, OTP, e-signature and photo proof, reason codes for failed attempts, per-parcel COD tallies, a live control-room map and offline capture. The mobile app works offline and syncs when the network returns, and managers and admins work on the same live data. See the logistics solution page, the features and pricing.

Losing money in the last mile? Book a demo and we will walk through a rider's shift from manifest to cash tally.