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Dispatch notes
Slot moves under load-shedding work best with plain steps and clear triggers. Hello Logistics shares how to keep week plans calm, not chaotic, when the power fails.
Load-shed aware slot moves without blame. Soft moves when power fails is the note we wish courier businesses had before the week turned loud.
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A soft move is a planned shift of a delivery, collection or handover slot that considers real problems like load-shedding, missed windows, or power-sensitive handovers. It is not just rescheduling. It is a local, low-drama redo, prompted by a changed estate rule, a stuck security gate or the inevitable two-hour blackout that eats your Tuesday slot.
Soft moves suit small and mid-sized ops teams handling under 100 parcels per week, especially those in high-load areas such as Gauteng, coastal suburbs with humidity issues, or mixed developments that impose surprise access restrictions. This approach is not for companies needing rigid, fixed-time guarantees or automated fulfilment: it is built for dispatch teams with live WhatsApp lanes, not code-only APIs.
Dispatch leads, small business owners, and ops coordinators who keep one eye on the municipal load-shedding roster and the other on their WhatsApp groups get the most value here. If your team relies on ad hoc communication, shared folders, and the occasional call across a noisy warehouse, these soft moves prevent the day from melting when the power goes.
However, if your operation must meet strict SLAs, depends on automated inventory syncing, or is run by a fully staffed 3PL department with rigid TMS dependencies, this playbook is too flexible. You may need reason codes customers accept or strict AM and PM bands instead.
Teams start each week with a practical slot plan, aware that power cuts in Johannesburg or Durban can break even the best schedule. When the power drops, the ops lead checks the updated load-shedding table before moving any slot. We keep the language plain, the main problem, one move, avoiding blame and recording the change with a printed card or checklist, so nothing vanishes when the Wi-Fi goes down.
The change gets flagged with the next person in the lane, be it the driver, receiving bay, or end customer, by WhatsApp, call or a printed note. This process works because the team agrees upfront on what counts as a valid problem, who OKs the move, and where to write it down. We recommend pairing this approach with our lane rhythm cards or a lane hour booking for fallback support.
An ops lead in Germiston checks the schedule for Tuesday. A high-value carton is due for a Sandton estate drop between 10:00 and 12:00. Load-shedding hits at 11:00, locking both the roller gates and the estate’s intercom system. Instead of cancelling, the team marks a soft move: the dispatch slot shifts to 14:00, once power returns. The new time is shared with the driver and the customer by WhatsApp, and noted on a printed lane card. The original checklist gets a photo taken, so nothing is lost if the network is still down when the power is back.
If you need to use our contact form about a soft move, prepare these details. It helps us help you without long threads or finger-pointing later.
Keep all info local: include the city, lane name, problem type, and a photo.
The most regular error is treating every delay as a soft move, losing control of the day. Each move must name the main problem. Another pitfall is failing to update the team physically, in coastal hubs, humidity destroys whiteboard notes, inland dust covers loose pages, and power failures erase unsaved digital plans. Estate and mall rules change without warning; always confirm before each move.
Soft moves are not shortcuts for poor planning or missing paperwork. If multiple problems pile up, book a lane hour, revisit your checklists, or browse updates for alternatives tailored for South African conditions. As always, if stuck, send a message through our contact form for clear human support.
