Delivery Windows

Delivery Windows help you manage when customers can receive deliveries. By setting time constraints on ship-to addresses, you ensure deliveries arrive when customers are available to receive them - whether that's a restaurant needing product before the lunch rush or a warehouse with specific dock hours. You can set a single default window that applies every day, or configure different windows for each day of the week. Windows can be either hard constraints (delivery must happen within this time) or soft constraints (preferred time, but flexible if needed for route efficiency). When you're ready to optimize your delivery routes, these windows are automatically factored in to build schedules that respect your customers' needs.

Hard Delivery Window

A strict time constraint that must be honored. The delivery must occur within this window.Use when:

Customer has limited receiving hours (e.g., warehouse closes at 5pm)
Perishable goods require refrigeration that's only available certain hours
Staff availability is non-negotiable (no one to receive after hours)
Contractual obligations require delivery by a specific time

Example: Restaurant needs delivery between 6am-10am before lunch service starts. A delivery at 10:30am would be unacceptable.

Soft Delivery Window

A preferred time range with flexibility. Deliveries outside this window are allowed but incur a cost penalty for each hour of deviation.Use when:

Customer has a preference but can accommodate other times
There's a slight inconvenience (not a hard stop) for off-window deliveries
You want route optimization to balance efficiency against preferences

Example: Office prefers deliveries between 9am-12pm when the receptionist is at the front desk. A 1pm delivery is possible (someone else can sign), just less convenient.

Soft Window Priority (Penalty Cost)

This value tells the route optimizer how important it is to deliver within the preferred time window. It's not a charge - it's a priority weight.

Priority Level	Value Range	Behavior
Low	1-10	"Nice to have" - optimizer will easily sacrifice this for route efficiency
Medium	25-50	"Preferred" - optimizer will try to meet it but may deviate when necessary
High	100+	"Very important" - optimizer strongly prioritizes this, almost like a hard window

Example: Two customers both have 9am-12pm soft windows. Customer A has priority 10, Customer B has priority 100. If the optimizer can only fit one in the morning, it will prioritize Customer B and schedule Customer A for the afternoon.