Handing a Delivery Off to a Courier
Some days you have more deliveries than drivers, or one order sits far outside your usual area. With the Local Delivery add-on you can hand a single stop to a courier network instead of putting it on a van. You compare what each connected network would charge, accept one, and the network sends its own courier.
Networks are added one at a time
The list of networks you can connect appears on the Courier networks screen. If it says none can be connected yet, there is nothing to hand off to until one is added, and everything else on the dispatch board works as it always does.
Connecting a courier network
Owners and admins connect networks in Settings → Local delivery → Courier networks.
- Select Connect an account and choose the network.
- Give the account a name. This is how it appears when you compare quotes.
- Enter the credentials from your own account with that network. Once saved they are only ever shown masked, and you can't read them back.
You use your own account and pay the network directly, at the rates on your agreement with it. Iraca never handles that money. The quote you see is what the network will charge you.
Each account also shows a Webhook address. Copy it and register it with the network, in its developer or account settings. The network uses it to tell Iraca when a courier is assigned, picks up, and delivers, and without it the stop won't move past Booked.
To change credentials, select Change credentials and fill in only the fields that changed. A blank field keeps what's saved. Switch an account Off to stop it appearing in quotes without losing its settings. You can remove an account only if you've never handed a delivery to it. Otherwise turn it off instead.
Connecting Uber Direct
Uber Direct is a network you can connect once your business has an Uber Direct account (a business account with Uber, separate from the rider or driver apps). When you choose it, Iraca asks for four things from your Uber Direct dashboard:
| Field | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Customer ID | Your Uber Direct account's customer (organization) ID |
| Client ID | The client ID of the credentials you created for Iraca |
| Client secret | The secret that goes with it |
| Webhook signing key | The signing key Uber shows for your webhook |
Register the Webhook address Iraca shows for the account in Uber's developer dashboard, and subscribe it to delivery status events. Uber then tells Iraca when a courier is assigned, picks up and delivers.
Two things differ from what you might expect:
- No proof-of-delivery photo comes back from Uber. The stop is still marked delivered, and the Track with courier link shows what Uber recorded, but no photo is attached to the stop.
- Quotes come from every connected network at once. With Uber Direct and another network connected, both prices appear side by side, and one declining never hides the other.
When to hand a stop off
You can hand off a stop that is Pending on a route that hasn't been dispatched yet. The Hand off to a courier button appears on those stops, and only once at least one network account is switched on. A stop on a route that has already gone out can't be handed off, and neither can one that's already with a courier.
Getting quotes and accepting one
- On the dispatch board, select Hand off to a courier on the stop.
- Iraca asks every connected network for a quote. Each one shows the fee, the expected pickup time and the expected drop-off time, in your business's time zone.
- Select Accept on the one you want.
Quotes expire, so they're requested fresh every time you open the box.
A network can decline instead of quoting. That appears right in the list, under the network's name, and tells you why:
| What it says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Doesn't carry these goods | Networks generally won't carry alcohol and similar restricted goods |
| Can't carry temperature-controlled goods | Chilled and frozen orders are usually refused |
| Too large | The order is bigger than the network's couriers can take |
| Outside coverage | The address is beyond where the network delivers |
| Refused / not answering | The network said no for another reason, or isn't responding. Try again in a few minutes |
If every network declines, put the stop on one of your own routes.
What happens when you accept
Accepting books the courier, and at that moment the order is fulfilled, exactly as if you had dispatched a route. Stock leaves the warehouse and the sale is booked. That's why accepting can be refused: if there isn't enough stock to fill the order, the courier is not booked, the box lists what's short, and nothing changes. Correct the stock and try again.
If the network refuses at the moment of booking, or isn't answering, you'll see that in the same box and nothing is booked.
The stop moves onto its own Courier route. Because it's already out, it can't be optimized or reordered, and it has no driver.
Following it
Under the stop you'll see the network, its status, the courier's first name once one is assigned, and the fee you'll pay. Track with courier opens the network's own tracking page.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Booked | The network has the job and no courier yet |
| Courier assigned | A courier is on the way to the pickup |
| Picked up | The courier has the goods and is heading to the customer |
| Arrived | The courier is at the customer's address |
| Delivered | Done. The stop is marked delivered |
| Failed | The courier couldn't deliver. The stop is marked failed |
| Called off | You cancelled it before pickup |
| Returning | The goods are coming back |
What the customer sees
The customer gets the same emails and the same tracking page as for a delivery from one of your own vans, plus the courier's first name and a Track with the courier link to the network's page. They're told their order is out for delivery when the courier picks it up, not when you booked it.
Calling a courier off
Until the courier has picked up the goods, Call off courier cancels the booking. It asks you to confirm, and the stop goes back to being unrouted so you can put it on a route of your own or hand it off again. After pickup the courier has the goods and can't be called off. If it's refused, the reason appears under the stop.
When a courier delivery fails
If the courier can't deliver, or the network cancels, the stop shows as Failed. The goods are with the courier or coming back. When they arrive, use Return to stock on the stop to put them on the shelf and reverse the sale, exactly as for a failed delivery on your own van. See The dispatch board.
Who can do what
Owners and admins connect networks, get quotes, hand off and call off. Other team members see the courier's status on the board.