For delivery companies

Delivery rota software: drivers on zones, both peaks covered, and dispatch never empty

A delivery firm does not need drivers for eight hours; it needs twelve of them between six and nine and four for the rest of the day, in the right zones, with a dispatcher on the radio the whole time. InShift keeps every zone as a location on one screen, makes the peaks short shift types that exist on the days they happen, offers a wet Friday to the whole fleet in one move, and pays the split day and the zone cover by rule.

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Two hours of peak, and a rota built around them rather than around the day

A courier firm with three zones, forty drivers on the books and a dispatch desk runs two rushes a day: lunch from half past eleven to two and the evening from five to ten, with a late run until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Most drivers are part-time and work three or four short shifts a week; a core of full-timers takes both peaks in one day with the quiet afternoon between them; two dispatchers cover the desk from eleven to midnight in overlapping halves. Each zone has its own pick-up point, its own restaurants and its own regulars.

Without a rota built around the peaks, the zones drift. The north has nine drivers on a wet Tuesday lunch and the south has three; a driver who agreed to the Friday late run by voice message does not turn up; the dispatcher who was meant to open the desk at eleven is also down for a round in the east; and the hours of forty part-timers are added up from a chat history on the last day of the month.

Below is how a three-zone firm looks in InShift: every zone as a location on one screen, a Friday of peaks as a table, four more drivers found for a wet evening in one move, the peak paid as a shift with its own price, and the dispatcher’s day by zone on the phone.

Zones

Every zone is a location, and “All locations” shows the fleet across the zones for the week

North, East and South are three locations of one company, each with its own address and its own shift types, and Dispatch is a fourth. “All locations” shows them as blocks on one screen: the drivers of the zone in rows, the peaks in the cells, and the number of people on shift today at the top of each block. A driver who covers two zones is one person with “Also works at other locations”, and their shifts sit in whichever zone they are in that day. Dispatch has its own block, so the desk is never assumed to be covered.

  • “All locations” or one zone; “Week”, “Month”, “Year” and “List” views
  • A driver in two zones: “Also works at other locations”, one person, shifts in the zone they cover that day
  • The number on shift today in the header of every zone, the count under every day
  • “Print all locations” for the depot wall, “Download Excel” for the accountant
The admin panel screen by screen

A Friday across three zones: drivers per peak, and the desk

Forty drivers on the books, twenty-six on a Friday. The number in each cell is drivers on shift in that zone in that window.

WindowNorthEastSouthDesk
Lunch5441
Day2121
Evening7662
Late3231

“Lunch 11:30–14:00” on weekdays, “Day 14:00–17:00” and “Evening 17:00–22:00” every day, “Late 22:00–00:00” on Friday and Saturday only. A full-timer takes “Lunch” and “Evening” as two shifts in one day; the desk is two dispatchers on “Desk 11:00–18:00” and “Desk 17:00–00:00”, with the hour of overlap at the evening handover. Sunday runs the evening peak only, with the desk from four.

The peak

A wet Friday needs four more drivers in the north: offer the evening to the whole fleet in one move

“Open shift” on the zone: the “Position” is driver, the “Shift type” is “Evening 17:00–22:00”, the “Days” are Friday, “How many people needed” is four, and “Offer to the team” sends it to every driver who can work that zone at the same moment. Those who press “I want it” are the volunteers on the list, and the dispatcher picks four. No voice messages, no group chat, and the driver who got it sees the shift on their phone the minute it is confirmed.

  • “Open shift for the team”: “Position”, “Shift type”, “Days”, “How many people needed”
  • Offered by position and by zone reach, so only drivers who can work that zone see it
  • “Available for substitution” on a driver opens every zone to them for peaks and swaps
  • A driver who cannot make the evening puts it up for a swap; a colleague takes it, the dispatcher approves

The split day

A lunch peak is one price and an evening peak another: “Shift price” pays each shift what it is worth

On the “Pay” tab of “Payroll” every person has a pay model from a date: “Per hour” for the dispatchers, “Monthly salary” for the fleet manager, and for the drivers either “Per hour” or “Shift price”, where each shift carries the price set on its shift type, so a two-and-a-half-hour lunch and a five-hour evening each pay their own amount without anyone multiplying hours. On the “Premiums” tab, “Second shift in a day” adds a fixed amount for a day with two shifts, and “Shift at another location” pays the driver who covered the east from the north.

  • “Per hour”, “Per shift”, “Monthly salary”, “Shift price” or “Unpaid” per person, effective from a date
  • “Shift price”: the price lives on the shift type, so a peak pays its own amount
  • “Second shift in a day” and “Shift at another location” as rules on the “Premiums” tab
  • “Accruals” per driver: shifts, hours, premiums, accrued, paid and owed; “Export to Excel” for the accountant

The dispatcher’s phone

The day by zone in the dispatcher’s pocket: who is on the road now and who is due at five

The day view in the InShift app lists the day “By location”, that is by zone: every driver on shift in the north, the east and the south with their times, then “By person”, then “Off” for those on a day off or on leave. The dispatcher reads it between calls, rings a driver from the person’s card with “Call”, and opens the “Planner” to add a shift and “Publish” from the phone when a driver has been found. The role needs “Admin panel access” and “Manage employees” set to “Entire network” for the day view and the dashboard.

  • The day “By location”, “By person” and “Off”, with every driver’s time
  • “Call” and “Message” from the person’s card; “Team” with a chip per zone
  • “Planner” with “Add” per slot and “Publish” from the phone
  • “Needs attention” on the dashboard: requests waiting and open shifts nobody has taken
The app screen by screen

Moving a delivery firm onto InShift

An afternoon for three zones and the desk, the drivers joining included.

  1. 1

    Sign up and the zones

    Email or Google. North, East and South as locations with their addresses, Dispatch as a fourth; drivers who cover two zones get “Also works at other locations”.

  2. 2

    Peaks as shift types

    “Lunch 11:30–14:00” on weekdays, “Day 14:00–17:00” and “Evening 17:00–22:00” every day, “Late 22:00–00:00” on Friday and Saturday, “Desk 11:00–18:00” and “Desk 17:00–00:00” for dispatch, each with a price if you pay per shift.

  3. 3

    Drivers and pay

    “Add multiple” pastes the fleet with the zone and the position; “Shift price” or “Per hour” on the “Pay” tab, “Second shift in a day” on “Premiums”. “Invite team” prints a code and a QR for every driver.

  4. 4

    The first week and publish

    The desk first, then the peaks zone by zone, the Friday extras as open shifts with “How many people needed”, then “Publish”. Next week is “Copy last week”.

Frequently asked questions

How do zones work in InShift?▾

Each zone is a location with its own address, shift types and rows; “All locations” puts them side by side on one screen, and a zone on its own is one click. A driver who works two zones is switched to “Also works at other locations” and their shifts sit in whichever zone they cover that day. Dispatch is a location too, so the desk has its own rows and its own hours.

Can a driver work the lunch and the evening peak in one day?▾

Yes: two shifts on the same day for one person, each with its own type and its own price. Overlapping times are flagged as a “Time conflict”; a gap between them is fine. The “Second shift in a day” rule on the “Premiums” tab adds a fixed amount for such a day if you pay for the split.

How are the Friday extras found?▾

As an open shift on the zone: the type, the day, “How many people needed” and “Offer to the team”. Every driver who can work that zone gets it on their phone at once and presses “I want it”; the dispatcher picks from the volunteers. A driver switched to “Available for substitution” sees the peaks of every zone. A driver who cannot make a shift puts it up for a swap in the app, and the dispatcher approves the colleague who takes it.

Does InShift track rounds, parcels or where the driver is?▾

No. InShift is the rota, the requests and the pay of the people; rounds, parcels and live tracking stay in your delivery software. What InShift knows is who is on shift in which zone at what time, and what that shift pays.

How do the drivers see their shifts?▾

In the InShift app on iPhone and Android after joining with the invite code and their own email. A driver sees their own peaks with the zone, a push before the shift and on every change, the “Open shifts” they can take, swaps, a “Day off” request, and “Stats” with the hours and the pay of the month.

What does it cost for a fleet of forty?▾

Free for one location and up to 10 people. Beyond that it is a subscription per active person on the “Employees” list, with locations, payroll and the team app included. The numbers are on the pricing page.

Get every zone on one rota

Zones, peaks and the first week take an afternoon, and every driver sees their shifts in the app the same day.

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