A pile of carbon copies in the tree yard
The tree yard opens in late November. Customers pick a Nordmann, it is netted, and many want it delivered and some want it set in a stand. The order is written on a carbon copy form: tree size, stand or no stand, name, address, phone number and a preferred day. The top copy goes in a shoebox, the bottom copy to the customer.
Every evening the yard manager spreads the forms on a table, sorts them by village and day, and writes delivery lists for the two vans. Some forms are unreadable. Some addresses are outside your delivery area. A customer rings to change the day, and nobody can find the form. On the Saturday before Christmas one van does three trips to the same village because the forms were split across piles.
Why tree deliveries resist organisation
Christmas tree delivery is a short, intense season with temporary staff, outdoor paperwork and a delivery operation that does not exist for the rest of the year. Nobody wants to invest in a system for four weeks, so the carbon copies come back every year.
- Orders are handwritten outdoors, often in the cold and the rain.
- Tree size and extras such as stands and netting are noted inconsistently.
- Delivery areas and day limits exist only in the yard manager's head.
- Rounds are planned by hand every evening.
- Customers cannot see or change their delivery without ringing.
What the paper season costs
Missed or late deliveries at Christmas are memorable for the wrong reasons. Poorly planned rounds waste van time in the busiest weeks, and drivers phone back to the yard for addresses they cannot read. Customers ring the main switchboard to ask when their tree is coming, which ties up the phones for the grotto and restaurant too.
Payments add to it. Some trees are paid at the till, some on delivery, and reconciling which is which after Christmas is an afternoon nobody wants.
Tree ordering and delivery on one system
- Yard staff take orders on a tablet: tree size band and species, extras, address with postcode lookup, and a delivery day from those still available.
- Delivery rules are set in advance: areas you deliver to, the number of trees per van per day, and any cut-off for Christmas week.
- Customers can also order and pay online for delivery, choosing from the same sizes and days.
- Each evening the system plans rounds for each van using a route planning service, grouping orders by area and day.
- Drivers get their round on a phone, with addresses, tree details, a notes field and a tap to mark delivered or not in.
- Customers receive a text on the morning of delivery, and a message if the van could not deliver.
| Task | Paper season | With tree ordering |
|---|---|---|
| Taking the order | Carbon copy form | Tablet or online, postcode lookup |
| Delivery limits | In the manager's head | Rules that close full days |
| Planning rounds | Kitchen table each evening | Planned routes per van |
| Driver information | Handwritten list | Phone app with addresses |
| Customer updates | They ring the switchboard | Text on the day |
The same setup can take next year's orders early, and can be switched off in January without anyone paying for software they are not using.
December in the tree yard, afterwards
Yard staff take an order in the time it took to write one, with fewer mistakes because the address comes from a postcode and the sizes come from a list. When Saturday is full for a village, the tablet stops offering it and suggests another day.
The yard manager goes home in the evening instead of sorting forms, because the rounds are already planned. Drivers finish sooner, and the switchboard gets fewer calls asking where the tree is.
Is your tree delivery season still on carbon paper?
- Tree delivery orders are handwritten in the yard.
- Rounds are planned by hand each evening.
- Vans cross the same area more than once in a day.
- Customers ring to ask when their tree is coming.
- Payments for delivered trees are hard to reconcile after Christmas.