What Is Proof of Delivery?

When FedEx recently launched picture proof of delivery in Malaysia, they felt it was newsworthy enough to tell the world about it. That should tell us two things: 1) that providing “peace of mind that packages have been delivered” is important to them, and 2) that they, as a public company, expect rolling out this technology to either make or save them significant amounts of money.

Obviously, most businesses don’t have operations that look like FedEx’s. But the same benefits that large carriers like FedEx expect to gain from enhanced proof of delivery can be just as impactful for smaller businesses—and arguably even more impactful for delivery businesses that specialize in big and bulky items (whether that’s dishwashers or cases of wine or pallets of lumber) rather than parcels.

Given all that, the key question is:  why is this seemingly simple element of the delivery process so valuable?  

What Is Proof of Delivery, and Why Does It Matter?

What does proof of delivery mean? At its simplest level, it’s exactly what it sounds like—some kind of documentation that proves that an order placed by a customer was actually delivered. Historically, the best way to capture this kind of proof was by taking a customer signature, but as smartphones have become more ubiquitous it’s become much easier to incorporate photos and even videos into proof of delivery. 

For most delivery organizations, the real question is: what’s the best way to collect proof of delivery, and how can we get more out of it? The opening paragraph of this article probably makes it pretty obvious that photographic proof of delivery is now the standard—if you can incorporate that into your process, you can improve the quality of proof of delivery right off the bat. Ideally, you would also be capturing signatures and digital time and location information so that your audit trail for the delivery is unimpeachable. 

This matters for a few reasons. First of all, it helps you ensure a complete and total record of each and every delivery that can be accessed and understood quickly and easily. This helps you to deal with false liability claims more easily—since most customers won’t keep pressing a claim of damage once they see the proof that it wasn’t your delivery team’s fault. 

At the same time, time-stamped and geostamped proof of delivery ensures that you have definitive proof that orders were dropped off in the right place, at the right time. You can use this to streamline billing and settlement, to say nothing of reporting and analytics. 

The result is that you can get paid more quickly and more consistently, and you can save time and money that would otherwise go to painstaking administrivia. 

Proof of Delivery for Third Party Deliveries

If you’re managing all of your deliveries in-house, handling proof of delivery in the way we described above, implementing it is just a matter of dealing with the usual change management hurdles. But for third party deliveries, the equation can be slightly more complicated on its face. 

This is where choosing the right technology becomes even more powerful. A lightweight dispatch, routing, or last mile delivery management might give you the capabilities to offer your drivers a mobile app they can use to capture proof of delivery on the go. But they’re less likely to make it easy for you to ensure that your 3PLs, third party contractors, or even one-off deliveries done by Uber or delivery-on-demand platforms can be tracked, monitored, and documented with the same level of visibility that you get from your first-party deliveries. 

This puts businesses with more complex operations in a bit of a quandary: do you have to get an entire extra delivery management solution just to manage third party deliveries in a way that’s up to the same level as your in-house ones?

Luckily, the answer is “no." You don’t need an entire extra solution if you choose the right software to begin with. Prioritize a platform that offers you total visibility into your connected logistics processes—including instant access to third party proof of delivery—and you’ll set yourself up for even greater cost savings. 

How to Improve Your Proof of Delivery in Trucking

If you want to improve your proof of delivery in trucking to reduce costs and standardize your logistics operations, there are a handful of best practices to follow:

• Make photos mandatory: Digital processes like proof of delivery capture are more powerful when they’re standardized—so you should ensure that there’s a photo to go with the signature for each and every delivery. 
• Integrate seamlessly with third parties: If you can find a way to make sure your proof of delivery is standardized regardless of who is undertaking the delivery, you can ensure standardization across your whole logistics chain, which will simplify virtually every aspect of logistics management.
• Incorporate “proof of exchange” for all activities: We’ve been saying “proof of delivery” throughout this article, but its importance isn’t actually limited to deliveries—installations, pickups, returns, and any other transaction can benefit from digital proof if you’re able to empower your drivers to capture it. 
• Leverage videos as needed: Most of the time, a photo and a signature at the delivery site will be more than enough—but in some cases it can be useful to take a video of a few seconds to show the condition of the delivery site more thoroughly. 
• Integrate proof of delivery into workflows: For installations and other services, you might want to document something more specific than the finished product. As an example, if you have a delivery person installing a new dishwasher in someone’s home, you might want them to take a photo specifically of the air gap that’s been installed. The right last mile delivery application will enable you to customize step-by-step workflows for your drivers that prompt them to capture photos or check off a checklist as they work through the job. 
• Send photos in delivery receipts: Post-delivery follow-up is often neglected, but it’s a crucial part of the delivery experience. Incorporating digital, photographic proof of delivery into your delivery receipts can help simplify your customers’ record keeping and potentially even get you paid more quickly (particularly in a business-to-business scenario).

This all adds up to more than the sum of its parts. By perfecting your proof of delivery process in these ways, you set yourself up for more connected, visible, and intelligent deliveries. Your entire delivery management process becomes more standardized, more resilient, and ultimately more cost-effective. 

Turning Improved Proof of Delivery Into Positive ROI

Like we said above, getting the benefits of smarter proof of delivery is all about finding the right solution. 

And what is the right proof of delivery solution? For starters, it’s one that can offer all the functionality described above out of the box. Crucially, it’s also a solution that integrates proof of delivery seamlessly into your larger last mile logistics operations.

Look for a solution that blends last mile delivery planning and execution into a cohesive, digitized, and standardized whole—from order management to routing and customer experience to deliver documentation and proof of delivery. If you can find software that fits the bill, you can reduce costs and take control of your logistics process from end to end.  

And if you’re wondering where to start on your search, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team to see if we can help.