How to keep track of couriers and settle up at the end of the shift
The settlement only adds up when every bag left with an owner and every bit of cash taken at the door was written down.
Short answer
Keeping track of couriers means knowing three things at any moment: which order left with whom, how much cash they took at the door, and how much the shop owes them. To get there, no order leaves without being assigned to a courier, the change they carry is written down as a loan, and the cash taken is declared at delivery. At settlement, you check what was expected against what was handed in, subtract the change returned and work out the fee per delivery. Done this way, settling up with a courier becomes a check, not an argument.
Sound familiar?
- At the end of the night nobody is sure how many deliveries each courier made.
- The courier's cash goes into the drawer and the till starts coming out over or short.
- You gave the courier change and nobody remembers how much.
- A customer calls asking about the order and you do not know who took it.
- The courier's delivery fee is worked out in someone's head, and each week gives a different number.
Why it happens
In the rush, the bag goes out the door and the record waits for later. But three different kinds of money pass through a courier's hands: what the customer paid, the change the shop lent, and the fee the shop owes them. When the three blend into one number, settlement becomes a memory test. And if their cash goes straight into the drawer, the counter till stops balancing for a reason that has nothing to do with the counter.
Five changes that fix it
The steps below work with a notebook and a spreadsheet too. Software makes each one faster — the order is the same either way.
- 1
No bag leaves without an owner
Before leaving, the order is assigned to a courier. On paper, that is a line with the order number and a name. In DoFast, the courier collects the bag by typing or scanning the code printed on the ticket, and the dispatch board shows who has each order.
- 2
Change is a loan, recorded on its own
The change a courier carries is neither a sale nor a withdrawal: it is shop money that comes back. Record it separately. In DoFast, the change float leaves the drawer tagged with the run and comes back in its own field at settlement, never mixed with what customers paid.
- 3
Cash taken is recorded at delivery
Whoever got paid in cash says how much, right then. In the DoFast app, the courier taps "delivered" and declares the amount received. That does not mark the bill as paid: the money only enters the till when they settle up.
- 4
Settle per run, with a check and the fee
Compare expected with handed in, subtract the change returned and work out the fee per delivery. If they handed in less, what is missing stays open, with a name on it. In DoFast, the fee comes from the shop's rule (a fixed amount per delivery or a percentage) and can be paid on the spot, as an identified withdrawal from the till.
- 5
Measure with numbers, not impressions
How long from ready to out the door, how long from out to delivered, how many deliveries and what rating the customer gave. DoFast's courier report shows this per person, with the difference on each settlement.
What changes in practice
The counter till stops being thrown off by the street
The cash a courier is carrying shows beside the till's expected amount, never inside it, and closing warns you before locking up with money still out.
Settlement in minutes
Expected, received, change returned and fee, already worked out for each run.
Couriers see their own shift
In the app they follow how many deliveries they made, how much they are carrying and how much the shop owes them.
Frequently asked
How do I settle up with a courier at the end of the shift?
Add up the cash they took on deliveries, check it against what they hand in at the counter, set aside the change they returned and work out the fee for the deliveries made. In DoFast those four numbers are ready on the run's settlement, and a short settlement leaves the rest open instead of marking the bill as paid.
Can I see the courier on a live map?
Within limits, on purpose. Position is only sent with the app open, with the courier on duty and with a delivery on the street, never in the background. The shop can choose to also follow couriers on duty without a delivery (it ships off), and the courier sees on their own screen when they are being followed. The map shows the last point with its time beside it, instead of pretending it is live.
Does the system pick the courier by itself?
It can, if you turn it on. Automatic assignment ships off and, once on, only assigns the order to someone who declared themselves available. It never sends the order out: dispatching is always a person, from the board or by the courier collecting the bag.
Does the courier need to install an app?
They use the DoFast Android app or the panel in their phone's browser. There they collect the bag by code, see the stops in order, mark the delivery and follow their own shift. And they only see what is theirs: someone who only delivers does not get the rest of the shop in their menu.
What handles this in DoFast
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