Your day
The home page answers one question: what needs doing today. Nothing on it is history, because at seven in the morning a figure about last month cannot be acted on.
What the office sees
Section titled “What the office sees”An owner or an admin gets the yard.
Needs you
Section titled “Needs you”A short list of things waiting on a decision. A row only appears when there is something behind it, so a clear morning says so in one line rather than showing you eight zeroes to read past.
- Orders waiting. Wanted today, nobody carrying them yet.
- Orders we cannot place. No coordinates on the address, so the planner cannot fit them into a round. Usually a postcode that did not come back.
- Rounds not sent. Planned, but the driver has never been told.
- Drops that failed. Somebody was out, or the gate was locked.
- Orders part delivered. Something went in, something is still owed.
- Refunds to pay. The money owed back on returns, as one figure.
- Cash to collect. What drivers are carrying and have not handed in, whenever they took it.
- Cash carried too long. How many days the oldest of it has been out, once that passes a week. The amount never says which of those this is.
- Delivered and not paid for. Usually a cash drop where the notes were taken and nobody wrote it down.
- Vehicles due. MOT or service inside a month, or already past.
- Possible duplicates. Two customers that share an email or a phone number.
- Time off to answer. Holiday or sickness somebody asked for that nobody has said yes or no to. It stays on the list until it is answered, whenever the days fall, because until then they are still held out of that driver’s allowance and the balance on the rota is wrong. The row opens the requests on the rota. You only see it if you can answer it yourself.
- Stripe. Stripe has stopped card payments or is holding your money, or needs something from you now or by a date. It goes to the Money section below, which says exactly what Stripe needs.
Each row opens the page that deals with it.
Owners and admins see three figures:
- Cash taken today. Cash drivers took at doors today, whether or not it has been handed in yet. The month so far is underneath.
- Invoiced today. What today’s invoices add up to, VAT and all. How many there were, and the total for the month so far, are underneath. Cancelled invoices are left out.
- In your Stripe account. Only if you take card payments through Stripe. It shows the money Stripe can pay out now, and when the next payment reaches your bank. Money from card payments in the last few days, which Stripe is not ready to pay out yet, is shown under it.
Stripe pays card money into your bank by itself, usually every day, so there is no button to move it. Press Open Stripe to see your payouts, or to change when they happen.
If Stripe needs something from you, a warning appears above the figures. It says what Stripe needs in plain words, like your bank details or a photo of an ID document, and the date it needs it by. If Stripe has stopped card payments or is holding your money, the warning says so in red. Press Sort it out in Stripe to sign in to Stripe and send what it asks for.
Who is off
Section titled “Who is off”Who was off yesterday, who is off today, and anyone off in the next ten days, with the reason: holiday, sickness, or anything else. Time off still waiting for a yes is shown as waiting. Days the business is closed say so. Open the rota goes to the whole month.
Today’s rounds
Section titled “Today’s rounds”One card per round. The vehicle and who is driving, how many drops are done against how many there are, when it leaves and when it is due back. A round planned but never sent says so. A round the planner reckons is over on weight or over on hours says that too, in red, before the van is loaded rather than after.
Under the cards, the day so far: drops done out of drops planned, and how many orders have been written today however they arrived.
What a driver sees
Section titled “What a driver sees”Their own round, once it has been sent to them, and nothing else. If they are carrying cash it says how much and how far back it goes, whether they took it this morning or last Tuesday, and to hand it in at the yard. No other vehicle, no orders sitting in the office, no list of decisions that are not theirs to make. A driver who has not been sent a round yet sees an empty day.
In the Bottle app on iPhone or Android, the day opens on the round itself: Load the van first, then I have set off, with a Load, Out, Back strip under the heading and a Next drop card once the van is out. The driver app has the whole of it.
Another day
Section titled “Another day”The page opens on today. It will take any date, which is how you look at tomorrow’s rounds the afternoon before.
The bell
Section titled “The bell”Top right, next to your name. Everything Bottle emails you about your work is here too: a round sent to you, stock running low, a vehicle due at the garage, time off asked for or decided, an API key made or revoked, your trial ending. Open it to see the list; click one to go to the page it is about. Mark all read clears the count.
Customers do not appear here. What they are sent, and when, is under Customer emails.
Choosing what you hear about
Section titled “Choosing what you hear about”Notifications under your account menu, or Notification settings at the top of the bell. One row per subject, a box for email, a box for the bell, and a box for Phone: a notification from the Bottle driver app, on any phone you are signed in to it on. It is yours alone, in this business. Phone starts on for your rounds and for time off, and off for everything else.
In the driver app, Notifications in your account holds the phone’s own switches, headed simply “These are your push notification settings.” Email and the bell stay here, on the web.
| Subject | Who sees it | Default |
|---|---|---|
| My rounds: sent to you, or changed after it was sent | Drivers | Email, bell and phone |
| Rounds out on the road: a driver setting off, getting back, a drop that could not be made | Owners and admins | Bell only |
| Payments received: an order or hire invoice paid by card | Owners and admins | Email and bell |
| Low stock | Owners and admins | Email and bell |
| Vehicles: MOT or service due | Owners and admins | Email and bell |
| Team and API keys: someone joining, a key made, revoked or expiring | Owners and admins | Email and bell |
| Time off: a driver asking for holiday or sickness, and the answer back to them | Everyone | Email, bell and phone |
| Your account: trial ending, records due to be erased | Owners and admins | Email always on; bell optional |