When you are a delivery driver, you must be able to effectively plan a route. Though this can be more difficult than it appears. There are lots of elements that you will need to consider. Here’s what you should know about planning the ideal route.
Use A Delivery Route Planning App
The first thing you need to do is choose a reliable route planning app. This is the key to making sure that you are getting the optimal route. There are many ways they help you achieve this goal. Sometimes, they can analyse traffic flow and help you calculate the fastest route. They can also organize your stops, putting them in the optimal order.
It should be noted that routing planning isn’t just about boosting delivery times. It’s also a good way of saving delivery drivers money. You will be able to reduce the amount of petrol that you are using.
Check The Delivery Locations
If you have to re-deliver an item, it will cost you a lot of money. Plus, you risk damaging customer relationships. If the order takes too long to arrive, customers might start looking for a new delivery partner.
The good news is that this is preventable. All you need to do is double-check the information before you put it into the app. Look for misspellings and other errors. Though this only takes a few minutes, it can save you a lot of trouble down the line.
Put All Your Stops In
Before you take off, you need to make sure that you have entered all your stops. As you do this, the app will be planning everything. Then you can start taking care of the route optimization. Look at each of the locations and consider their proximity to each other. This will allow you to find the shortest distance that you have to travel. Many route optimization apps will take care of this for you.
Limit Customer Interaction Time
It’s important to make sure that you are taking into account how long each customer interaction lasts. The faster each interaction is the more time you’ll be able to spend on the road, and the more items you’ll be able to deliver. Delivery drivers might be able to use apps to help them gather this data.
There are a few ways you can speed up each interaction. For example, drivers can organize all the boxes in their cars. This will allow them to find each one quickly. It’s also a good idea to help the customer carry the delivery.
Keep Looking For Ways to Improve
Finally, it’s important to make sure that you keep looking for ways to improve your routes. Any route optimization, even something that only saves you a few minutes, will add up over a month or a year. Some apps can help you do this, tracking your route and the time it took to make the deliveries.
Conclusion
There are a few simple things you can do to better optimize your route. This will save you time on your deliveries and improve your relationships with customers.
