> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Late Shipments, NetDispatch > Late Shipments for NetDispatch stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Shipping & Courier](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > Absolute count of Net Dispatch-booked shipments delivered after the carrier's UK service-promise date in the period. Companion to [On-Time Delivery Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/net-dispatch/on-time-delivery-rate). One-stop weekly worklist for the customer-service team across Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, Yodel, ParcelForce, and other UK carriers. | | | | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(Net Dispatch shipments WHERE delivery_date > promised_date AND delivery_date IS NOT NULL)` over the trailing 7 days. | | **Why count plus rate matters** | 95% on-time on 1,000 shipments = 50 late; same rate on 10,000 = 500 late. CS team works through count. | | **Delivery success criterion** | Net Dispatch unified Tracking "Delivered" status. | | **Returns / RTO** | Excluded. | | **Service level scope** | All Net Dispatch-booked carriers pooled. To split, see [Shipments by Service](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/net-dispatch/shipments-by-service). | | **Refund-eligibility split** | UK carrier MBG semantics differ. **DPD Next Day** has refund commitment; **Royal Mail Tracked 24** has commit but no auto-refund; **Evri/Yodel** have no MBG; **ParcelForce 24** has commit. Operations should split count by carrier before chasing refunds. | | **Holiday surge effect** | Counts spike November-December (UK Christmas peak). Royal Mail industrial-action periods (when active) caused additional spikes. | | **Time window** | `7D` (rolling 7 days, weekly operational view) | | **Alert trigger** | `>5% of total shipments` | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your NetDispatch data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A UK DTC homeware merchant via Net Dispatch. Reading taken at 09:00 GMT on 12 Mar 26 for the trailing 7 days. | Underlying Carrier | Shipments | Late count | Late % | MBG-eligible? | | -------------------------------- | --------- | ---------- | -------- | ---------------------- | | Royal Mail Tracked 48 | 1,310 | 48 | 3.7% | No (commit only) | | Royal Mail Tracked 24 | 480 | 14 | 2.9% | No (commit only) | | DPD Next Day | 320 | 4 | 1.3% | Yes | | Evri 3-5 Day | 880 | 92 | 10.5% | No | | Yodel Standard | 195 | 24 | 12.3% | No | | FedEx UK Express (international) | 50 | 3 | 6.0% | Yes (for Express tier) | | **All carriers (this card)** | **3,235** | **185** | **5.7%** | mostly No | The card reads **185 late shipments** for the week; alert at >5% has tripped. Five things to notice: 1. **CS workload tomorrow: 15 to 28 inbound contacts.** 8 to 15% of 185 late = 15 to 28 emails, calls, chats. Schedule UK CS team accordingly. 2. **Only 7 of 185 are MBG-eligible** (4 DPD Next Day + 3 FedEx UK Express). DPD claims via DPD's portal; FedEx UK Express via FedEx Billing Online. The other 178 are pure customer-experience cost. 3. **Evri and Yodel together = 116 of 185 late (63%).** This is the structural drag. Cost saving from cheap carriers comes with this CS workload. Quantify: extra CS time per late ≈ £3 to £8; 116 lates × £5 ≈ £580/week ≈ £30K/year. Compare to cost saving from using Evri/Yodel (\~£2.50/parcel × 4,720 parcels/week ≈ £12K/week). Cheap carriers still net-positive but the trade is real. 4. **Royal Mail Tracked 48 at 3.7% is acceptable for a 2-day commit.** Royal Mail Tracked 48 typically runs 3-5% late; this is on plan. 5. **Compare against last week.** Volume up 8% week-over-week, late count up 12% week-over-week. Late rate climbing faster than volume; investigate carrier-side issues (UK winter weather, cold-weather backlog). ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Late Shipments | What the combination tells you | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | [On-Time Delivery Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/net-dispatch/on-time-delivery-rate) | The percentage. | Always read together. | | [Shipments Total](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/net-dispatch/shipments) | Volume context. | Late count rising in line with volume = stable rate. | | [Shipments by Service](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/net-dispatch/shipments-by-service) | Carrier-mix split. | Shows which carrier is dragging count. | | [Exception Rate](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/net-dispatch/exception-rate) | Lead indicator. | Pre-late warning. | | [Open Claims](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/net-dispatch/open-claims) | Refund pipeline. | MBG-eligible late subset flows here. | | [Dispatch-to-Collection Lag](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/net-dispatch/dispatch-to-collection-lag) | UK-specific upstream. | Long collection lag eats commit windows. | | Cross-connector: [`royal_mail.rm_late_shipments_count`](/nerve-centre/royal_mail/rm_late_shipments_count) | Direct-RM subset. | Reconcile if direct-RM also connected. | | Cross-connector: customer-service ticket volume | Direct correlation. | This count predicts CS load 1-3 day lag. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Net Dispatch's own dashboard:** [Net Dispatch Dashboard](https://www.netdispatch.com/) → **Tracking → Filter "Late deliveries" → Last 7 Days**. Each row shows tracking number, carrier, service, scheduled vs actual delivery. Use this as the row-level worklist. **Why our number may legitimately differ from Net Dispatch's portal:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | --------------------- | --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Tracking-poll lag** | Either | Net Dispatch polls every 30-60 minutes. | | **Filter scope** | Either | Match "All Carriers" between card and dashboard. | | **Carrier backfill** | Either | Some UK carriers (Evri especially) backfill scan events 12-48 hours late; counts converge over T-2. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | [`royal_mail.rm_late_shipments_count`](/nerve-centre/royal_mail/rm_late_shipments_count) | Net Dispatch-RM subset. | Direct-RM may include non-Net-Dispatch volume. | | [`dpd.dpd_late_shipments_count`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/dpd/late-shipments) | Same for DPD. | Same. | ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **How do I file UK MBG claims for late shipments?** DPD: portal at [DPD.co.uk](https://www.dpd.co.uk/) under Account → Claims; refund covers freight charge. ParcelForce 24: claims at parcelforce.com. Royal Mail: no automatic late-refund but compensation possible for Special Delivery Guaranteed misses. Evri/Yodel: no UK MBG; track only for CS workload. **Should I switch Evri to Royal Mail to reduce my late count?** Run the math. If Evri saves £2.50/parcel vs Royal Mail Tracked 48, but generates 3x the late-shipment count, the CS-cost-per-late often makes the trade marginal at high volume. For low-AOV merchants (\<£20), Evri usually wins; for AOV £30+, Royal Mail wins by reducing CS leakage. **Why does Royal Mail Tracked 48 run higher late count than Tracked 24?** Volume. Tracked 48 is the cheaper, larger-volume tier; 3-5% late on 5,820 shipments = \~200-290 lates per 30 days. Tracked 24 has lower volume and slightly tighter network attention, so absolute count is much lower despite similar percentage. **My CS team's count differs from this card. Why?** Two reasons. (1) CS counts customer-reported; card counts data-confirmed. (2) CS may include "shipped late from warehouse"; card is delivery-late only. **During Royal Mail strikes, do those count?** Yes. The card counts every late delivery regardless of cause. During declared CWU strike days, Royal Mail's own service was suspended, so most affected parcels delivered post-strike, counting as late. During an active strike, expect 5-15 ppt jump in this card's count for the Royal Mail subset. **Should I email customers proactively when their parcel is late?** Yes. UK customer expectations are slightly more forgiving than US (delivery is genuinely 2-5 day across most carriers), but proactive contact still reduces inbound CS load 20-40% and improves NPS. **How does this differ from the carrier's own late-count?** Net Dispatch normalises across carriers; per-carrier dashboards show only their own. The Net Dispatch view is the unified picture. Per-carrier reports may show slightly different counts due to scan-event polling differences. **Q4 effect?** UK Christmas peak (mid-November to 24 Dec) typically generates 3x to 5x normal late-count across all carriers. Plan UK CS staffing 2-3x normal for the period. Recovery typically by mid-January. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Late Shipments* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across NetDispatch and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.