The Narmin Challenge: what happens when navigation says "arrived"?

We gave two drivers three addresses in Rotterdam city center. No help from us. Just them, their knowledge, and standard navigation apps.

Max and Sander. Eight months and three months of delivery experience respectively. Three stops in Rotterdam, a city Max knows well and Sander doesn't know at all.

The setup was simple: deliver packages to three addresses using only the tools most delivery drivers use every day. Google Maps. Their phones. Their instincts.

We filmed everything.

The Experiment

This wasn't a training exercise. It was a field test of what actually happens during urban delivery logistics when drivers rely on generic navigation.

Three addresses in Rotterdam city center:

• Spaanseport 39
• Overblaak 40
• Botersloothof 17

No additional context. No special instructions. Just the address and whatever their navigation apps could tell them.

The goal wasn't to test the drivers. It was to test the tools.

What navigation shows vs. what drivers need

The problems appeared immediately.

At the first stop, Sander looked at his phone. "The first thing I've noticed is that this picture is really kind of tough to see," he said. The app was telling him the address was just across the water.

He'd never been to this part of Rotterdam before. "It's quite beautiful," he noted. "But where will the entrance of this building be?" The navigation had brought him to the general area. But finding the actual door was still guesswork.

The Last Hundred Meters

At Overblaak 40, the gaps became even clearer.

Max was dropped at the location after pinpointing it on his phone. No building numbers visible from where he stood. He could see a street sign in the distance, but the immediate area offered no clues.

"I see no numbers around, which is proving to be difficult," he said, walking and searching.

He checked his phone again. Overblaak 22 to 110. Then 52. He kept walking, trying to triangulate. "Do I go this way? I think that might be it."

This is what delivery navigation looks like in practice. Not a clean pin on a map. A process of elimination, pattern recognition, and educated guessing.

When the system says "arrived" but you're not there

The most telling moment came when both drivers reflected on parking.

Sander was direct: "The map should have told me where to go and not park in such a horrible place to be honest."

The navigation app had guided him to a spot. But it wasn't the right spot for delivery. It was just near the address. The difference cost him time, effort, and unnecessary walking.

Max echoed the same frustration: "Park me in a better spot. Don't make me have to walk around the entire building."

Generic delivery driver navigation is built for vehicles, not for people carrying packages. It answers "where is this address?" but not "where should I park to reach this door efficiently?"

That gap, between vehicle arrival and package handoff, is where delivery actually happens.

What the drivers said

After completing the challenge, both drivers were clear about what would help.

Max’s request was specific: "Just give us a way to walk and the compass would actually help a lot."

Sander wanted better routing from the start: "The app could tell you that this would be the best location to park your car at."

They didn't complain about the job. They enjoyed the challenge. Max said he had fun. Sander thanked us for the experience.

But they both identified the same problem: "Just fix the routing, please."

Why the last hundred meters matter

This challenge revealed what happens every day in last mile delivery.

Navigation apps guide drivers somewhere near a building. But drivers don't deliver to buildings. They deliver to people.

At doors. On the third floor. Side entrance. Next to the bike rack.

That last hundred meters is where address finding turns into problem solving. Where drivers check street signs covered in stickers. Where they circle blocks because the pin dropped them at the back entrance. Where they stand, package in hand, looking for a building number that isn't visible.

These moments don't show up in delivery routing dashboards. But they add up in:

• Wasted time at every stop.
• Driver stress and frustration.
• Failed deliveries marked as "address not found".
• Customers wondering why their package is late.

The drivers didn't struggle because they lacked skill. They struggled because the tools weren't built for the last hundred meters of urban delivery logistics.

The Narmin perspective

This is exactly why Narmin exists.

Not to make deliveries slightly faster. But to close the gap between where navigation ends and where delivery actually happens.

Generic navigation apps answer one question: How do I drive near this address? Narmin answers the questions drivers actually need:

• Where exactly should I park?
• Which entrance do I use?
• How do I walk from my vehicle to the door?

Because delivery doesn't fail in the system. It fails in the last meters.

What we learned

The Narmin Challenge showed us what we already suspected: experienced drivers can figure out almost any address eventually. Max and Sander both completed their deliveries successfully.

But "eventually" costs time. It costs energy. And it compounds across hundreds of stops per day, thousands of drivers, and millions of deliveries.

Better delivery navigation isn't about replacing driver knowledge. It's about supporting it with tools that understand what actually happens after the vehicle stops.

Watch the challenge

The full Narmin Challenge video shows the complete experience, including the moments of confusion, the workarounds, and the feedback from both drivers. Because the best way to improve last mile delivery is to watch what happens when drivers use the tools they have today. And then build something better.