Freight Glossary
On-Time Delivery (OTD)
On-time delivery (OTD) is a key performance metric measuring the percentage of shipments that arrive at their destination within the committed delivery window. It is one of the most widely used benchmarks for carrier and 3PL performance. Most retail compliance programs require 95 percent or higher OTD, with some major retailers setting the bar at 98 percent.
Why it matters
OTD directly affects retail compliance scores, customer satisfaction, and in-stock rates. Retailers routinely charge chargebacks for late deliveries, and repeated OTD failures can result in vendor compliance penalties or loss of shelf space. Late delivery chargebacks from major retailers can range from $100 to $500 per occurrence, eroding margins on every missed window.
When to use it
Track OTD for every carrier and lane in your network. Low OTD on specific lanes signals a routing, capacity, or carrier issue that requires corrective action before it compounds. Run weekly OTD reports by lane and carrier to catch performance degradation early, before it triggers compliance chargebacks from your retail partners.
How Warp thinks about it
Warp's Orbit monitoring system tracks every shipment in real time against committed delivery windows, enabling proactive exception management rather than reactive problem-solving after a missed delivery. Our AI backbone, Orbit, alerts both Warp ops and the shipper when a load risks missing its window, giving time to adjust before it becomes a failure.