Why everyone starts with Excel and WhatsApp
It’s free, familiar and needs no setup. The dispatcher collects orders in a spreadsheet, splits them between drivers and sends the lists to a group chat. With a few vehicles, it’s quick and clear.
Problems start when deliveries, vehicles and the number of people touching the spreadsheet grow.
What the spreadsheet and chat really cost
- Orders get lost between the spreadsheet, email and messages.
- No picture of the day: where a vehicle is and what’s already delivered, you only learn after a call.
- Routes are built by eye, and vehicles drive extra miles.
- No proof of delivery: disputes with customers come down to your word against theirs.
- Everything rests on one dispatcher: if they get sick or leave, the process stops.
Spreadsheet and chat vs. a delivery platform
| Spreadsheet + chat | Delivery platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Order intake | Manually from email, calls and messages | In one place: website, Excel, API |
| Routes | The dispatcher builds them by eye | The optimizer distributes deliveries across vehicles |
| Where the vehicles are | Calling drivers | On the map in real time |
| Proof of delivery | A photo in the chat, if nobody forgot | Photo, signature and recipient’s name in the delivery |
| Delivery status | You ask the driver by phone | The dispatcher sees it in the portal |
| End-of-day results | You collect them manually | End-of-day results for every vehicle |
| Dependence on people | Everything is in the dispatcher’s head | The process lives in the system, and a new person gets up to speed quickly |
Signs you’ve outgrown Excel and WhatsApp
- Every evening you put together tomorrow’s routes by hand.
- You learn about a failed delivery from the customer.
- Drivers call to check an address or the order of stops.
- You can’t quickly say where a vehicle is right now.
- You have nothing to prove a disputed delivery.
- Bringing a new dispatcher up to speed takes a long time.
If you recognize your company in three points or more, it’s time to switch.
What switching gives you
Deliveries go into one system, the optimizer distributes them across vehicles, the driver gets a route with the stop order in F-Driver, and the dispatcher sees the whole day on the map. Every delivery is closed with a photo, signature and the recipient’s name.
At the end of the day you have results for every vehicle, not a chat thread.
Try it on your own addresses
Load deliveries from Excel and get your first optimized route within 24 hours. 14 days free.
How to switch without stopping work
- Load deliveries from Excel or CSV in the format you keep them now.
- Connect drivers in F-Driver: the app installs on their phones.
- Keep your GPS trackers if you have them: they can be connected.
- For the first few days, run it in parallel with the spreadsheet, then switch the spreadsheet off.
