Glossary
Delivery routing glossary
25 terms a delivery business runs into, each defined in one plain sentence, then how it shows up in Porch Route. Written to be quoted.
Last updated By Porch Route
A2P 10DLC
A2P 10DLC is the US carriers' registration system for application-to-person text messages sent from ordinary 10-digit long-code phone numbers.
Cold chain
The cold chain is the unbroken sequence of refrigerated or frozen storage and transport that keeps perishable food at a safe temperature from producer to customer.
Delivery day
A delivery day is a weekday on which a business delivers to a particular zone, so that customers in that area receive orders on a predictable day each week.
Delivery route optimization
Delivery route optimization is the process of choosing which vehicle takes which stops, and in what order, so that every order is delivered inside its constraints for the least driving.
Delivery zone
A delivery zone is a defined area — a radius around a point or a shape drawn on a map — that a business delivers to, with its own delivery days, time window and rules.
Dispatch
Dispatch is the act of sending a planned route to its driver — and, in delivery software, the moment customers are first told their delivery is scheduled.
Driver link
A driver link is a web address, sent by text or email, that opens one route's drive screen on a phone with no app to install and no account to sign into.
ETA window
An ETA window is the estimated span of time in which a delivery is expected to arrive, given to the customer before the driver is close enough to be certain.
Idempotency key
An idempotency key is a unique string sent with a request so that if the request is retried, the server recognises it and does not perform the action twice.
Order cutoff
An order cutoff is the latest moment an order can be placed or changed and still be picked, packed and loaded for a given delivery day.
Proof of delivery
Proof of delivery is the record that an order reached a specific place at a specific time, usually a photo of the package where it was left, sometimes a signature, always a timestamp.
Quiet hours
Quiet hours are the times of day — under US federal rules, before 8 AM and after 9 PM in the recipient's local time — when telephone solicitations may not be made.
Recurring delivery
A recurring delivery is an order that repeats on a schedule — every week or every other week — to the same customer, typical of CSA shares, meat boxes and meal-prep subscriptions.
Returnable containers
Returnable containers are the coolers, totes, crates and jars a delivery business hands over with an order and expects back on a later delivery.
Savings algorithm
The savings algorithm (Clarke and Wright, 1964) builds vehicle routes by repeatedly joining the pair of stops whose combination saves the most distance compared with serving each from the depot alone.
Savings vs baseline
Savings vs baseline is the difference between an optimized plan and a reference plan — the baseline — expressed in miles, time and fuel, so the value of optimizing can be checked.
Service time
Service time is the minutes a driver spends at a stop between arriving and leaving — parking, carrying, knocking, photographing — as distinct from driving time.
TCPA consent
TCPA consent is a customer's prior express agreement to receive automated text messages, required under the US Telephone Consumer Protection Act before such texts are sent.
Temperature class
A temperature class is the label — frozen, refrigerated or dry — that says how cold an order must be kept, and therefore which vehicles may carry it.
Time window
A time window is the span of time — such as 9 AM to 1 PM — within which a delivery has been promised to arrive.
Tracking page
A tracking page is a personal web page for one delivery where the customer can see its status, the vehicle's position while it is on the way, and proof once it has arrived.
Unassigned stop
An unassigned stop is an order the route planner could not place on any vehicle within the day's constraints, left out of the plan with the reason why.
Undo window
An undo window is a short, configurable delay after a driver marks a stop delivered or failed, during which the outcome can be reversed before the customer or the order system is told.
Vehicle routing problem (VRP)
The vehicle routing problem is the mathematical problem of finding the best set of routes for a fleet of vehicles to serve a set of stops from one or more depots.
Webhook
A webhook is an automatic HTTP request that one system sends to another when something happens, so the second system learns about the event without asking.
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