NEWTON, N.C. – Specialized furniture carrier Brooks-DeHart Furniture Xpress has launched the second phase of its proprietary “Follow My Truck” scheduling and visibility technology for LTL furniture shipments to retailers.

“While you, as a customer, know your furniture is coming, you just aren’t sure the day or time of its arrival,” said Brooks-DeHart Owner Anthony Brooks. “Our newest technology will give you a 2-hour delivery window for when we will be at your store, warehouse, or delivery service. “It will also give you visibility to ‘Follow My Truck’ via an interactive map. You will have the ability to see what stop the driver is on, where the driver is located and how many stops away you are.”

The idea is to help retailers plan their receiving schedules more efficiently and have 100% visibility of scheduled shipments. If a driver is running ahead of schedule or is held up due to traffic or another customer, the Brooks-DeHart’s website and app will update accordingly and provide new times.

Retailers can access “Follow My Truck” via the carrier’s website or mobile app and enter an acknowledgment number, purchase order number or “PRO” tracking number. Once this information is input into the system, it will provide the delivery window and a live map to follow the driver.

“Again, this will show what stop you are, where the driver is located and when they will arrive,” Brooks said.

Brooks-DeHart introduced phase one of this technology last October, which allowed scanning at delivery, and also involved sending out delivery notifications via text or e-mail the minute the shipment was scanned at its destination.

“You are also able to view the proof of delivery immediately on the website or mobile app,” he said. “We have worked extremely hard and have spent countless hours on our proprietary technology to make this possible for our customers.”

He added that work already is underway on phase-three technologies to continue improving customer experience.

I’m Powell Slaughter, senior editor at Furniture/Today. I returned to the publication in January 2015 after nine years of writing about furniture retail strategies and best practices at a monthly magazine focusing on home furnishings retail operations. Prior to that, I spent 10 years with F/T covering wood furniture, the last five of those as case goods editor. Upon my return to F/T, I developed coverage of the logistical and service aspects of the furniture industry as well as following the occasional, home office and home entertainment categories. In April 2018 I took over the upholstery category, with responsibility for coverage of the fabric and leather stationary and motion upholstery, recliners and massage chair categories.