Delivery management for distributors

Where delivery goes wrong

• Orders arrive all day, so the warehouse packs in a rush in the evening.
• Vehicles leave half-full, or the same area gets two trips in a day.
• Goods go without an invoice or challan, or with the wrong one.
• Retailers say they received less than billed, and there is no signed proof.
• Cash collected by drivers is not handed over or recorded the same day.
• The owner cannot see which orders were delivered and which are pending.

Set a dispatch cut-off and route days

Decide a daily cut-off: orders received by, say, 1 pm go out the next morning; later orders go the day after. Pair it with fixed route days so each area gets deliveries on known days.

Align route days with your salespeople's beat plan: orders taken on Monday in an area are delivered on that area's next route day. Retailers learn the rhythm and order accordingly.

Documents that travel with every load

• Tax invoice for each customer, or a delivery challan where goods move before billing — for example on approval, for job work, or between your own godowns.
• E-way bill where the value and distance require it. Thresholds and rules differ by situation and state; see e-way bill basics.
• Load sheet listing every customer, invoice number, number of packages and amount to collect.
• Proof of delivery: the customer's signature and stamp on a copy of the invoice or challan, or a photo of the signed copy.

Know your cost per drop

Freight outward is one of the fastest-growing expenses for many distributors. Work it out per drop, not per trip.

At 14 drops a day, each drop costs ₹300. At 24 drops, ₹175. If the average order on a route is ₹6,000 with a 10% gross margin, a ₹300 drop cost eats half the margin. That is why grouping orders by route and setting a minimum order value for far areas matter.

A daily dispatch checklist

1. At cut-off, list all approved orders for tomorrow's routes.
2. Check stock; flag short items to the salesperson and customer before packing, not after.
3. Bill or prepare challans; print the load sheet.
4. Pack and label by customer, in reverse order of drops.
5. Second person checks the load against the load sheet before the vehicle leaves.
6. Driver gets signed proof at each drop and notes any shortage or refusal.
7. On return: hand over cash and cheques against the load sheet, return undelivered goods to stock, and update delivery status.

Keep a simple delivery register for each day: route, vehicle, driver, number of drops planned, drops completed, undelivered orders with reasons, and cash collected. A week of these registers tells you which routes are overloaded, which drivers return with the most undelivered orders, and whether your cut-off is realistic. Review the register with the warehouse in-charge every Monday and adjust route days, vehicle allocation or the cut-off time based on what it shows, rather than on complaints alone.

Handling shortages, refusals and returns

When a retailer refuses part of a delivery, record it on the spot — on the invoice copy and the load sheet — and bring the goods back the same day. Then issue a credit note or revise the bill before the customer's ledger goes out of sync. Unrecorded refusals are one of the main reasons distributors and retailers disagree on balances. For a full process, see returns and replacements.

Cash collected by drivers needs the same discipline. The load sheet should show the amount due from each cash or cheque customer, and the driver hands over collections against it on return. Give a receipt for every collection and enter it the same evening, so the customer's next statement is correct.

Delivery documents with Tally and Cashflow OS

With Cashflow OS, sales orders taken by salespeople reach the office instantly and post to Tally. Delivery challans can be prepared with your logo, letterhead and bank details and shared as a PDF on WhatsApp, and delivery notes can be created in Tally from the phone or web app when writing back is switched on. Salespeople can record collections, and the owner sees outstanding by customer with ageing. On plans that include it, Cashflow OS can generate the e-way bill for a synced Tally sales invoice and write the number back into Tally. See delivery challans.