January 15, 2026
You know exactly where an order sits in your warehouse. You know when it ships. But once that driver pulls away? For most logistics teams, the answer is frustratingly simple: wait, hope, and field customer calls.
The final mile accounts for over half of total delivery costs, yet many shippers lose real-time visibility the moment a shipment leaves the dock. Meanwhile, your customers aren’t waiting quietly. Over two-thirds want updates at every step, and 91% of them consider real-time tracking very important.
That disconnect breeds friction, anxiety, and endless “Where’s my order?” calls. The fix isn’t complicated: you need eyes on every shipment from the moment it leaves your dock until it hits the doorstep. Real-time tracking gives you exactly that.
Logistics has become incredibly sophisticated. You can track inventory across dozens of warehouses, optimize routes with AI, and predict demand weeks in advance. Yet once a package heads for its final destination, many shippers are left refreshing their inbox and hoping for the best. It’s like building a race car and then losing radio contact for the final lap.
The inefficiencies of that blind spot — the “black box” of the final mile — cost U.S. supply chains up to $95 billion annually. And the root causes go beyond outdated software. Disconnected systems, rising costs, and increasingly high customer expectations all compound the problem.
Picture a package moving from your warehouse to a regional hub, then to a local carrier, then onto a delivery van. Each handoff involves different companies, different software, and different tracking systems. Data gets siloed at every stop. GPS visibility often ends when a long-haul truck drops a load at a terminal, leaving the final leg completely blind.
The kicker? Over half of retailers still rely on manual planning and dispatch, making real-time updates impossible. The data sits frozen while the package keeps moving . . . in 2026.
That visibility gap hits your bottom line hard. Last mile delivery already accounts for 53% of total shipping costs. Every inefficiency, whether a driver circling for a hard-to-find address or a failed first attempt, amplifies that expense. A single failed delivery now costs retailers an average of $17.78. Multiply that by thousands of orders, and you’re hemorrhaging money.
Then come the calls. “Where is my order?” inquiries make up 35–40% of all contact center volume. During peak seasons, that jumps to 50%. Your support team spends half its day answering questions that real-time tracking would completely eliminate.
Meanwhile, your customers aren’t getting more patient — they’re getting less. Over 90% of consumers now view two to three days as the maximum acceptable delivery window, and roughly 30% expect same-day service for retail orders. A decade ago, shoppers tolerated about 5.5 days. Today, it’s closer to 3.5 — and shrinking.
Speed alone won’t save you, though. Customers want visibility. They expect a tracking portal they can check anytime, plus proactive alerts when something changes: delay notifications before they have to ask, “out for delivery” pings, and proof of delivery the moment it happens.
In other words, real-time visibility has become table stakes, and when visibility fails, loyalty follows. Nearly a quarter of consumers won’t reorder after a single failed delivery, and 21% lose trust in the retailer altogether.
Good luck.
So the final mile has a visibility problem. What do you do about it? The good news: the technology to fix it already exists and works remarkably well.
Here’s what that looks like in practice.
Every driver runs a GPS-connected app on their phone or tablet. Location, speed, delivery status: it all streams continuously to the cloud. Your dispatched loads become live dots on a map instead of question marks.
Integration is what makes this powerful. For instance, FRAYT’s API connects directly to your TMS or order system, keeping quoting, dispatch, and tracking in one place. Shippers can view a live map of every in‑transit delivery without toggling between spreadsheets or carrier portals.
A moving dot on a map is helpful. A precise arrival window is better.
Streaming GPS data feeds predictive algorithms that factor in traffic, weather, and route conditions. The system pushes updated ETAs to customers through SMS or email before they think to ask. “Arriving between 2:15 and 2:45” is useful. “Out for delivery” is not.
Packages still hit snags: closed roads, wrong addresses, traffic jams. Real-time tracking ensures problems surface immediately, not hours later.
When something goes wrong, the platform triggers rerouting, revised ETAs, and direct customer messages on the spot. At drop-off, drivers snap photos and collect e-signatures. Every delivery gets a GPS stamp and a visual record. If a customer claims they never received a package, you pull up the proof instead of absorbing the cost.
Customers who can watch their delivery feel in control. Studies show that combining tight delivery windows with live tracking increases satisfaction by about 78%.
Your support team benefits too. When customers answer their own “Where’s my order?” questions with a quick tracking check, call volume drops. FRAYT clients report that enabling self-service tracking virtually eliminates those repetitive inquiries — giving your team back valuable time.
Tracking only helps if it scales with demand. FRAYT’s network spans over 45,000 drivers across 150+ U.S. markets, available on demand without depot investments. Scale up for holiday rushes and scale down when things slow — pay per delivery instead of maintaining idle capacity.
Need a cargo van today and a box truck tomorrow? The platform automatically matches vehicles to loads. Whether running single deliveries or consolidating pickups into efficient routes, every shipment stays visible from first mile to final drop.
Customers remember when deliveries go wrong — the missed window, the damaged package with no explanation, the three calls to support that went nowhere. They remember, and they take their business elsewhere. Visibility changes that. When you can see every shipment moving through the final mile (and your customers can too), you stop playing defense. You stop apologizing. And you start delivering experiences people actually want to repeat.
FRAYT exists because we got tired of watching businesses lose money and customers to a problem technology could have solved years ago. Our platform puts drivers at your fingertips, with live GPS tracking, automated ETAs, and proof of delivery built into every shipment. You get visibility from middle mile to final mile. Your customers get confidence. Nobody is left wondering where the package went.
Sign up with FRAYT and give your customers the visibility they deserve.
