10+ years later, last mile delivery is still unsolved!
Let's brute force it with a shared information network and services.
History
Delivery in Nigeria, 1985 to now
39 years of routes without an address layer.
Hundreds of couriers, no shared layer
FragmentationLicensed couriers now number in the hundreds, plus an informal tail nobody has counted. A parcel crossing three of them crosses three unconnected systems and three definitions of delivered.
What it left unbuilt
Addressing, tracking, settlement and reputation — the four pieces still missing.
Building blocks
Building blocks the industry needs to thrive
Every card is an essential that operators have struggled to standardize.
An address that resolves
Delivery Information Network
Proof of delivery
TrackIT! across operators
Rider Training and Certification
Rider and agent identity
Open Pricing and Rate Cards
Delivery Apps
Delivery Handshake & Escrow
Ratings, Reports
Delivery network map
Every courier and delivery agent we can find
Click a state or a city marker to zoom in and see who delivers there, or search a city or state.
Delivery Post
A delivery post, delivered on a truck
Our physical store: a fitted-out shipping container that arrives as a working delivery post — counter, PO boxes, lockers, power, network and the software. We sell it, site it and install it.
One-trip high-cube container, shot-blasted, insulated, floor replaced with marine ply and sealed. This is the building.
Reinforced openings for the customer door, the serving window and a roller shutter, framed and welded so the container keeps its structural rating.
Front-of-house counter in laminate over steel frame, with a sorting return, cable runs for the counter kit and a secure pass-through to the back.
Adjustable steel racking with printed bay codes that match the station software, so a parcel's shelf location is part of its record, not someone's memory.
Keyed private boxes — the recurring-revenue line of the station. 96 doors on a 40ft, 48 on a 20ft, rentable monthly to traders and small businesses.
Exterior-facing lockers with code release, so collections continue after the counter closes. Controlled from the station OS and openable by any courier on the network.
Roof-mounted array, hybrid inverter and lithium storage sized to run counter, lockers, lighting and one AC through a full day without grid.
Two split units and a roof extractor. A steel box in Nigerian sun is unworkable without this — it is not an optional line.
Bench scale, label printer, 2D scanner and card terminal, pre-provisioned against the station's DLVR account and working out of the crate.
Primary satellite link with LTE failover and a UPS on the network rack, because a station that cannot scan is a store room.
Counter, shelving, locker face and both approaches, with 30 days of local retention — the evidence layer behind every delivery dispute.
Drop safe for cash-on-delivery float, extinguishers and detection, and a grille over the serving window for after-hours.
Exterior wrap, illuminated fascia and the regulatory notices. A station has to read as a delivery post from across the road.
Haulage to site, crane placement, levelling on pads, service connections and commissioning by the DLVR install crew.
Two weeks on packaging standards, intake and handover, dispute handling and the station OS — the add-on that decides whether the station works.
Pricing is discussed by email. Send an enquiry and a DLVR engineer will follow up with a quote.
This delivery post comes with services you can sell from day one
- PO box rentals, billed monthly
- Locker collections after counter hours
- Cash-on-delivery collection & remittance
- Courier drop-off and interline handover
- Packaging materials, sold at the counter
- Bill payments and mobile money agency
World Bank · Wharton · Ideas for Action 2016
Hyper Local Logistics in Emerging Markets (2016)
A practical approach to a peer-to-peer service that seeks to tackle logistical challenges… harnessing the knowledge of local communities to build an innovative distribution network at the “last mile” of the supply chain.
Join the Delivery Collective
If you are a courier operator, or technology service provider working on any building blocks, share your stories with us.