Glossary
Delivery operations terms
Operational definitions for big & bulky final mile and retail fleet delivery-written for dispatchers and ops leaders.
- Final mile
- The last leg of delivery to the end customer-often the most expensive and customer-visible part of the supply chain.
- Proof of delivery (POD)
- Documentation that a delivery was completed or why it failed-photos, signatures, and notes tied to a stop.
- Failed delivery
- A delivery attempt that did not complete as planned-customer unavailable, access issues, refusal, or partial completion.
- White glove delivery
- Premium inside delivery with placement or light assembly, typically requiring trained crews and extra handling time.
- Inside delivery
- Delivery beyond the curb or threshold-into the home, garage, or jobsite-with placement, access notes, and often longer stop times than parcel drop-off.
- Big & bulky
- Large, heavy products-furniture, appliances, mattresses, building materials-that need specialized handling and longer stop times.
- Dispatch
- The process of assigning drivers to routes and managing changes through the delivery day.
- Retail fleet
- Delivery trucks owned and operated by a retailer rather than outsourced to a national parcel carrier.
- Delivery window
- The promised time range when a customer should expect arrival-narrow windows reduce frustration when accurate.
- WISMO
- "Where is my order?"-customer inquiries about delivery status, often reduced with proactive notifications.
- Delivery exception
- Any deviation from a successful delivery-failed, rescheduled, partial, or refused.
- TMS
- Transportation management system-often focused on freight contracts and linehaul, not customer final mile execution.
- Last mile delivery
- The final leg of delivery from a local hub or store to the customer’s door. Often used interchangeably with "final mile," though final mile usually implies larger, service-heavy items like furniture and appliances, while last mile spans everything down to small parcels.
- ePOD
- Electronic proof of delivery-digital capture of photos, signatures, and exception codes in a driver app, replacing paper PODs.
- Haul-away
- Removal of a customer’s old item (appliance, mattress) at the time of delivery, planned and documented as part of the stop.