Proof of delivery (POD)

The record that a delivery actually happened — typically a signature, a photo, a scan and a timestamp. In IDS, POD is milestone-locked and tamper-evident, so it holds up when a customer or auditor asks what happened.

Chain of custody

The unbroken record of who held an item at every step from pickup to final handoff. For regulated goods, an intact chain of custody is the difference between a defensible delivery and a dispute.

Custody-scan audit trail

An append-only log of every handoff, captured by scan. Entries can be added but not altered, producing a trail you can hand to a customer, a regulator or a court without gaps.

Active-driver pricing

A pricing model where you pay for the drivers who actually run in a given period, not for seats you aren’t using. Office and portal users are free. It keeps cost tied to the work.

Never metered

A billing promise that routing, scanning, notifications, POD photos, the portal and the tracking page are included — not charged per event. Your bill doesn’t jump because you had a busy week.

Reverse logistics

Everything that moves the other way: returns, exchanges, recalls and pickups. Handled well, reverse logistics is a service you can bill for rather than a cost you quietly absorb.

Cartage

The local movement of goods by road — the pickup-and-delivery work at the heart of a courier operation. Often used to describe contracted final-mile haulage.

DSD (direct-store delivery)

Delivering product straight from a supplier or distributor to the retail store, bypassing the retailer’s warehouse. It demands tight scheduling, proof at the door and clean settlement.

Last-mile

The final leg of a delivery — from the local depot to the customer’s door. It’s the most visible, most expensive and most failure-prone part of the journey.

WISMO (where-is-my-order)

The flood of “where is my order?” enquiries that hit support when customers can’t see their delivery. A live tracking page and proactive notifications are how you shrink WISMO.

Offline-first

Software designed to keep working with no signal. Scans, photos and captures hold on the device and sync when connectivity returns — so dead zones don’t stop the driver or lose the record.

EDI

Electronic Data Interchange — the standardized electronic exchange of documents like orders, manifests and invoices between trading partners. Keeping EDI intact is critical when switching systems.

EPCIS

Electronic Product Code Information Services — a GS1 standard for sharing what happened to an item, where and when. It underpins interoperable track-and-trace across partners.

DSCSA

The U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act, which sets traceability requirements for prescription drugs. Couriers moving pharma need custody and event data that stand up to it.

Chain of Responsibility (AU)

An Australian legal framework holding every party in the transport chain — not just the driver — accountable for safety and compliance. It raises the bar on records and controls.

SOC 2

An independent audit standard covering how a service provider handles security, availability and confidentiality. It’s a common due-diligence checkpoint for enterprise buyers.

WCAG 2.2 AA

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines at the AA conformance level — the practical standard for building software that people with disabilities can use.

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