Essential App Features for Courier Drivers

For a courier driver, embracing technology is a simple matter of utilising your smartphone and the vast number of apps that are available to help you improve every aspect of your day-to-day operations. 

Billing and Invoicing

Love invoices hate invoicing? Help is at hand. Gone are the days of sending out paper invoices to get paid for your hard work. Today, if you’re going to present yourself as a professional, it’s digital all the way. Not only does it streamline the process and free up your time, you’ll also have a clear digital trail to keep on top of cash flow. App based software can do everything from generate invoices automatically on completion of jobs to receipting and reporting. 

Job Assignment Management & Scheduling

Dispatch software allows managers back at a depot to assign jobs to particular drivers in order to maximise efficiency – based on location, capacity and individual schedules. With detailed information at their fingertips, a dispatch manager is able to co-ordinate fleet scheduling in real time to ensure jobs are allocated to the best driver. Work is assigned to drivers via a smartphone app, so there’s little or no downtime. This kind of app is just as helpful to drivers as it is to dispatchers, by allowing them to successfully stay on top of their job schedules and to ensure they’re working to full capacity.  

Dispatch Management

Mobile apps synch with dispatch management software to create better transparency for both fleet managers and drivers. While dispatchers can keep an eye on the location of drivers, which is vital for providing client updates, the apps can also be used to send messages about meal times, mandatory breaks and traffic issues, and to anticipate availability and remain in real-time communication. They not only allow for ease of operation across the board, they also collect data that aids in improving strategy and methods of working. 

Routing

There are few things more important than staying on top of your profitability, and knowing the most cost-effective route for every single journey is paramount if you’re going to maximise your earnings. There are smartphone apps for route planning and optimization that use advanced telematics to calculate the best routes based on variables like traffic congestion, number of stops, road works, number of turns and intersections and the time of day. The best route from A to B is not necessarily always the shortest, but these apps take away the guesswork. Algorithms don’t lie…  

Label Printing

For self-employed courier drivers, an app that allows you to print labels straight from your smartphone is a game changer in terms of professionalism, saving time and reducing the chance of errors. Information is entered directly into the app (from a database or manually) and printed out through a mobile printer in your van. More sophisticated apps can utilise a barcoding system and provide automatic emails to alert clients of the progress of their package. 
 
It doesn’t matter if you’re a humble man and van or you’re part of a larger delivery company, the old ‘there’s an app for that’ rings loud and true for this industry. The future is very much here right now, so for those who don’t get on board the technology train, the risk that you’ll get left behind is very real.