Loading the dray at half seven
Wednesday is the town run, Thursday the villages, Friday the city. In theory. In practice a pub in the villages orders on Thursday morning, a city bar wants something on Wednesday because it is busy at the weekend, and the drayman is still being handed extra casks while the engine is running. The cold store is picked in a hurry and something gets left behind.
By ten the drayman is ringing from a pub car park to say the polypin for the beer festival is not on the van. It is in the cold store, behind the pallet of cans that also should have gone.
Why the cut-off does not stick
Most accounts do not know your delivery pattern. It was mentioned once, by someone who has since left, and it changes when you add a new area. There is no reminder, so they order when they notice they are low. And because saying no to a good customer feels bad, late orders are always squeezed in, which teaches everyone that the cut-off is optional.
- Delivery days are known to the team, not written down for customers.
- New accounts are never told their day.
- No reminder goes out before the cut-off.
- Late orders are accepted by whoever takes the call.
- Picking starts the morning of the run.
The price of a chaotic run
Mis-picks and missing items, extra trips to drop off what was forgotten, drivers finishing late, and routes that zigzag because a stop was added at the end. Beer sits out of the cold store while the van is reloaded. The brewer gets pulled off brewing to help pick. None of it shows up as a single cost, but together it eats a day a week.
Planning suffers too. If you cannot see Thursday's orders until Thursday, you cannot tell on Monday whether you have enough of the best bitter racked, so you either over-rack and risk casks going past their best, or under-rack and let an account down.
Delivery days that run themselves
- Each account is placed in a delivery zone with a set day and a cut-off, stored against the account in your brewery system or our tool.
- The day before a cut-off, accounts in that zone get a short message: 'Your delivery is Thursday, order by noon Wednesday', with a link or a reply option.
- Orders arriving after the cut-off are marked late. A person chooses whether to add them to this run or the next, with the run's current load shown.
- At the cut-off, a picking list is produced by cold store location and a loading list in drop order.
- New accounts get their day and cut-off in a welcome message when they are set up.
- Weekly totals by zone show whether a day is overloaded and should be split.
| Step | Timing | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Reminder | Day before cut-off | Message to each account in the zone |
| Cut-off | Fixed per zone | Orders locked for that run |
| Late order | After cut-off | Flagged for a decision |
| Picking list | Evening before | By cold store location |
| Loading list | Evening before | In drop order |
A calmer morning
Most orders arrive before the cut-off because pubs are reminded. The dray is picked the night before and checked, and late orders become a clear yes or no. Drivers get away on time. Over a few months you can see which zones are growing and when a new delivery day is worth adding.
Does your delivery day look like this?
- The dray is still being loaded when it should be leaving.
- Pubs order the morning of their delivery.
- Accounts do not know which day they are delivered.
- Items get left behind and need a second trip.
- The brewer helps pick because orders came in late.