# When does an alternative exist?

The first question on [Re-checking orders already with a carrier](/books/console-yF7/page/re-checking-orders-already-with-a-carrier) only cancels a slow carrier if there is a genuine alternative ready to take over.

That check has two independent halves — whether *your own fleet* could take it, and whether *another Third-Party carrier* could take it. They differ a lot in depth. **Either one being true is enough.**

## Own fleet — one simple check

| Check | What it verifies | Where it's configured |
|---|---|---|
| Free capacity slot | At least one own-fleet driver (in-house or own-fleet contractor) currently has room for one more order | Maximum orders per driver — see [Where each setting lives](/books/console-yF7/page/where-each-setting-lives) |

> This is intentionally a quick, optimistic check. It only asks "does *any* driver have a free slot" — not whether that driver is close enough, idle, or actually able to take *this* order. It exists purely to answer "is it even worth cancelling the carrier's order?" The real evaluation happens afterwards, once the order rejoins the normal assignment process.

## Third-Party — several checks, and only carriers further down the list

An important scoping rule first: this only looks at carriers that come **after** the currently-assigned one in that zone's configured carrier order. Carriers earlier in the list are never considered here, even if they would otherwise qualify. The search stops at the **first** carrier that passes every check below — it does not look for the "best" one.

For each candidate carrier, in order, all of the following must pass:

| Check | What it verifies |
|---|---|
| Enabled & order-type match | The carrier's master switch is on, and it applies to this order's type and sales channel |
| Payment compatibility | Cash orders don't exceed the carrier's cash-on-delivery limit; card orders are only offered if the carrier accepts cards |
| Product restrictions | None of the order's products fall into a category this carrier is excluded from |
| Capacity at this store | The carrier still has a free slot in its shared per-store capacity pool |
| Distance | The store-to-customer distance is within the carrier's allowed range |
| Operating schedule | The current time falls within the carrier's configured working hours for this store |

The first candidate to pass all six counts as "an alternative exists", and the search stops there.

> **Deliberately not checked here:** the normal delivery-time-window check is skipped. At this point the system is only confirming that a carrier could *structurally* take the order — enabled, payment, products, capacity, distance, hours. Whether it could deliver it *on time* is evaluated later, if and when the order is actually offered to that carrier.

All of these settings live on the carrier's general or per-store configuration — see [Where each setting lives](/books/console-yF7/page/where-each-setting-lives).