8 June 2025
When a fast round is still late at the door
Average speed between drops can look healthy while every signature still sits after the printed window. Speed is not the same as punctuality.
Telematics dashboards love average speed. A van that hurries between two late drops will look ‘productive’ and still miss both windows. For grocery and parcel contracts the retailer counts the stamp, not the miles per hour.
We chart actual arrival against the window first, then speed only as a check for whether the van was waiting or moving. Waiting at a locked back door is not a driving problem. Moving quickly down a spine road after a missed window is not a success.
Some depots celebrate the round that returns to the yard first. That round may have skipped a retry or left a carded parcel that will generate a second visit tomorrow. Fast finishers deserve a second look at failed deliveries, not a round of applause at the whiteboard.
A missed-window inquiry is the right instrument when the ‘fast’ round is always the one serving a single awkward site. A full depot review is the right instrument when every afternoon round is early on the road and late at the door.
If you only keep one number for a weekly meeting, keep the count of windows missed by more than fifteen minutes, by round. It is a dull number. It is also the one that matches what the retailer already knows.