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Deliver orders as a carrier

Branches on Alrik sometimes hand a delivery to an external carrier rather than running it with their own fleet. If you are that carrier, the branch still needs to know how the delivery is going — and without an integration, someone has to phone or email it in.

This guide connects your TMS so that progress, proof of delivery and your final cost flow back to Alrik as your drivers work.

What you will build

  • Status updates from your TMS as the driver reaches pickup, loads, reaches the dropoff and delivers.
  • Signatures, photos and consignment notes attached to the delivery.
  • Your final cost recorded against the delivery, ready for the branch's billing.

Before you begin, you need an API key with permission to progress orders.

How it differs from the rest of the API​

Everywhere else, requests name a branch. As a carrier you do not: each delivery handed to you comes with an access_token, and that token identifies the delivery on every call. Your API key proves who you are; the token says which delivery you mean.

Store the token with the job in your TMS when you receive it.

1. Report progress as it happens​

Progress the order each time your driver reaches a step: arrived at pickup, picked up, arrived at dropoff, delivered. Send them in that order, as they happen. The branch sees each step in Connect straight away.

2. Attach proof of delivery​

When your driver captures a signature, a photo or a consignment note, attach it to the delivery, saying whether it belongs to the pickup or the dropoff. You can attach proof for both.

You host the file: send a link to it, not the file itself. The link has to be one Alrik can reach.

3. Report your final cost​

Once the job is priced, report your cost — the total transport cost, and any fuel surcharge on top of it. The surcharge is added to the total, not part of it.

Your total transport cost becomes the delivery's cost in Alrik — the figure the branch bills its own customer from.

Proof and cost can be sent whenever you have them — they do not have to wait for a particular status.