At the bottom of your address form is an optional field nobody emphasizes: delivery instructions. Riders read them, they're passed to the label, and 'leave at security if not home' is the difference between delivered and 'customer unavailable' NDR.
The patterns that work
'Leave at gate/security' for buildings with guards — the drop completes without the customer answering. 'Call on arrival' for homes where the door is hard to find. 'Deliver after 6pm' for office-goers. 'Hand to resident only' for high-value parcels. Each is a failure-mode prevented in advance.
Where instructions travel
The instructions field lands on the rider's app — it's not decoration, it's the operational note the delivery person reads. Vague notes ('handle carefully') don't help; concrete ones ('gate code 4521') do.
The failure it prevents
The single most common NDR is 'customer unreachable/unavailable' — often meaning 'rider came, nobody answered'. Instructions convert those into completed deliveries: the parcel left at the gate the customer said to leave it at.
The security caveat
'Leave at door' trades security for completion — the door-left parcel can walk. For high-value orders, 'deliver to resident only' is the safer instruction. Know which orders warrant which default.
Pakka Parcel runs the whole stack described here — one place for every carrier.
See how →The playbook
Prompt for instructions at checkout
The optional field exists — ask for it.
Suggest common patterns
Gate-leave, call-first, time-windows — seed the answers.
Use 'resident only' for high-value
Security beats convenience above ₹3,000.
Pass them to the label
Instructions on the rider's screen are the point.
