#6 Fewer errors
Still planning routes manually? Your drivers might have experienced a few errors along the way already. We are all human, and sometimes we enter the wrong information because we’re not paying attention.
While errors are not the end of the world, they can cause delays in your drivers’ deliveries, which will cost you some time and therefore money without mentioning the fact that your customers might be upset if it causes your drivers to go beyond the delivery window time.
So how do you optimize your delivery routes?
What if I do it manually?
While it is possible to plan your delivery routes manually, it is not recommended as it is very time consuming and often results in human errors.
If you have a decent amount of deliveries planned each week, let’s say 100 and more, it could take you hours to create your routes, while the right delivery route planner will only take a few minutes to do the same.
Plus, as we mentioned, manual planning can lead to errors that wouldn’t occur with delivery route software. Those errors can be time consuming and can affect the customer’s delivery experience.
What about free delivery planning app?
You might be tempted to use Google Maps or Waze, as they are famous for planning routes. However, they might not be the best option while planning delivery routes.
Free but not necessarily cost-saving. While it might seem enticing since these apps are free, it could end up being more expensive in the long run as it will affect the productivity of your drivers. Although people like to use those apps to plan their routes for their personal use, it is not necessarily recommended for multiple stops.
In fact, those apps do not take into consideration the orders your drivers will have to deliver after the initial one. They will lead them from point A to point B without considering points C, D, E, etc.
Apps like Google Maps or Waze will give them the fastest route to go to the first destination even though there might be a more cost-effective order of delivery.
Time-consuming and error prone. Also, it will require your drivers to enter each delivery address every time they want to deliver the next order, which is not ideal as they could easily make a mistake that will cost them even more time.
Fully optimizing routes will require the use of delivery routing software, equipped with a powerful route builder. This software will create routes using real-time data to make sure your drivers always take the most cost-effective route.
Choose the right delivery software for your business needs
The choice of a delivery route software is an important one. While there are many on the market, not all of them will fit your company’s needs. Be mindful of the ones that are extremely cheap as they can end up being more costly in the long run.
Instead, pay attention to the speed of the delivery route planner. Some can be pretty slow, taking half an hour to plan routes even if you only have a thousand stops per month. In order to increase your productivity, you will want a delivery route planner that will only take a few seconds to a few minutes to create your routes.
Don’t be afraid to ask to run a test with a few of your orders to see how easy-to-use the platform is and how fast it can create your routes. It is important that your team find it interactive and user-friendly so that it can help them be more productive.
Make sure to choose a platform that is interactive and user-friendly in order to make it easier for your dispatchers to create routes.