Where is that truck? What replaces the call to the carrier
A client calls to ask where their order is. The sales rep calls dispatch, who calls the driver. What this chain of calls costs, and what replaces it.
By Jérôme Knops
Published October 10, 2026 · 5 min read
A client calls back to find out where their order is. The sales rep does not know, so they call dispatch. Dispatch does not know either, so they call the driver, who is driving and does not answer right away. Ten minutes later, the client gets an answer: "it should arrive sometime this afternoon."
The short answer: a delivery status, updated by the person actually living the route, removes these three calls. The useful answer is in what that status needs to say, and who sets it.
The chain of calls, and what it hides
Three people who know nothing, calling each other to find out: this is the most common chain at a distributor or merchant who delivers its own orders.
- The client calls the sales rep, because that is their usual contact.
- The sales rep calls dispatch, because they do not have the information.
- Dispatch calls the driver, or looks at a paper schedule drawn up that morning.
Every link adds waiting, not information. The driver, meanwhile, knows exactly where things stand: they just delivered the previous stop, and they are running two stops behind schedule. This information exists the moment the driver knows it. It only reaches the client three calls later, reshaped by each person in between.
The five statuses that are enough
A delivery tracker does not need a detailed comment at every step. Five short statuses cover almost every case, and each one has a clear owner.
| Status | What it means | Who sets it |
|---|---|---|
| Prepared | Picked from stock, not yet on the dock | Picker |
| Loaded | On the truck, the delivery note is issued | Loading dock |
| On route | The truck has left, with the remaining stop order | Driver, at departure |
| Delivered | The note is signed, with or without a reservation | Driver, on arrival |
| Dispute | A reservation was noted, a case is opening | Driver or dispatch |
The "On route" status alone answers most calls: it says the truck has left, and in what order it sees its clients. It does not need a live GPS position to be useful. The exact position is a comfort; the stop order is the information that actually answers the question.
The calculation: the time these calls take
Take a building materials merchant delivering around fifty orders a day, over 220 days a year. Assume one client in ten calls to ask where their delivery is, and that each call triggers the full chain: client, sales rep, dispatch, sometimes the driver. These are assumptions.
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Orders per year | 11,000 |
| "Where is my order" calls (1 in 10) | 1,100 |
| Average time for the full chain | 6 minutes |
| Time tied up per year | 110 hours |
| Fully loaded hourly cost (sales rep + dispatch) | €30 |
| Yearly cost | €3,300 |
This figure only counts the time spent on calls. It does not count the client's frustration when they call back a second time because the first answer was vague, nor the driver's time spent answering the phone while driving. Redo the calculation with your own volumes: the number of calls can be counted in one week of watching the switchboard.
What changes with an application built for the business
When the driver sets their status from their phone, at each step of the route, the information exists the moment it happens, not three calls later.
- They move a stop from "Loaded" to "On route" in one tap, as they leave the depot, and the stop order appears.
- They mark a delivery "Delivered", with the signature and a reservation if there is one, exactly as the paper delivery note already required.
- The sales rep sees their client's order status without picking up the phone, and answers live, during the call.
- Dispatch sees every route in progress on one screen, instead of rebuilding the day from a paper schedule.
A client who wants to track their own order can find the same status from their own account, without calling anyone. A dispute case then starts from the same "Delivered" status and its reservation, instead of being rebuilt after the fact.
What not to do
Do not ask the driver for a free-text comment at every stop: they are driving, and a text field to fill in while on the road will not get filled in. The five statuses each take one tap, which is what makes them reliable. A status updated only half the time is worse than no status at all: the sales rep trusts it, and gives the client a wrong answer.
Where is that truck: the key takeaways
The chain of calls does not form because nobody knows where the truck is: the driver knows perfectly well. It forms because that information only exists in the driver's head, and it takes three calls to get it out.
Five short statuses, set by whoever is living each step, remove the chain without adding work for the driver. The same principle applies to double-keying delivery notes: information is captured once, at the source, and everyone then reads it in the same place. See also route tracking for the detail of these screens.
Founder and CTO of Edenio
Jérôme Knops is the founder of Edenio, where he designs and builds custom business applications for construction, supply chain and distribution companies. He runs the scoping meetings, writes the code, and stays the person you talk to once the tool is in production.
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Jérôme Knops
