And a doctorate automatically means medical degree? What, hasn't he heard of PhD instead of MD?
Sorry, there, bud, but I'm gonna takes Doc's side on this (wow, there's a concept.) A delivery date means just that. If sales is selling it then he needs to work it out with the broker and the driver and make sure it's understood. If that can't be done, then the driver and the broker need to be on sales to stop promising dates and communicate to the customer that sales was out of line with a promise that can't be kept and make it more realistic.
Oh, and this day and age with cell and satellite phones? Hell, pay phones reach everywhere still. To not communicate with the customer is a poor excuse for business.