WhatsApp for logistics and delivery teams: hub numbers, driver groups and exception tickets
How a logistics team runs WhatsApp: a number per hub, driver groups with admin-only notices, delivery exceptions as tickets and number alerts.
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- By WavesFlo team
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- Published
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- 2 min read
Logistics runs on short messages from many people at once: a customer asking where a parcel is, a driver reporting a problem, a hub supervisor asking for the next batch. A phone per hub does not scale. Give each hub a number, each region an owner, each exception a ticket with a tracking id, and each driver group a simple rule: dispatch posts, drivers reply one to one.
How should it be set up?
| Layer | How | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hub numbers | One per hub, linked from its own phone | Chats are marked with the number |
| Dispatch | A driver group per route or shift; Send new messages off for others | Drivers reply to dispatch, not the group |
| Customer queries | A number set up for tickets, with Tracking id required | A target on first reply |
| Exceptions | A ticket raised from the driver's message | Linked to the customer's ticket |
| Number health | Account alerts to Slack or Microsoft Teams | A disconnected hub number is noticed in minutes |
| Your systems | Signed webhooks and the REST API | Built by you into dispatch tools |
What does a hub supervisor do?
- Open the hub's chats and the exception tickets.
- Post the next batch in the driver group, then take replies privately.
- Link a driver's problem message to the customer ticket.
- Hand an escalation to the regional manager with a note.
- Check that every number is connected before the morning wave.
How do you keep routes and customers apart?
Drivers and customers should not meet in one group. A driver group exposes drivers' numbers to each other and any customer you add. Keep customer chats one to one, and give customers a ticket's progress in their chat, not a group. Customer addresses and phone numbers are personal data; delete exports you no longer need.
What does the first month look like?
- Week 1: list hubs, routes and who supervises each.
- Week 2: link the numbers and set number access per region.
- Week 3: set the ticket policy and the tracking-id field.
- Week 4: review exception age by hub.
What are the usual mistakes?
- Customers added to driver groups.
- One number for the whole network.
- Exceptions in chat with no clock.
- A hub number that drops overnight unnoticed.
Each hub's number stays on the hub's own phone, and WavesFlo's inbox shows every customer exception by the hub it came in on, apart from the driver groups those numbers also belong to. If a hub number drops off overnight, the dashboard counts it among the things to clear in the morning.
Questions
Can a logistics company run many hub numbers in one inbox?
Yes. Each hub's number is linked from its phone and its chats arrive in one inbox, marked with the number.
Can delivery exceptions be tickets?
Yes, with a tracking id required before a ticket is finished.
Can I be told when a number drops?
Number alerts can be posted to Slack or Microsoft Teams.