Planning the van at eight in the morning
Your shop delivers on Tuesdays and Fridays. On Friday morning, the owner prints the delivery orders, spreads them on the counter and works out the round: the elderly customer with two cats in the village, the dog walker who wants four sacks, the rescue that needs litter and food, the house on the new estate where the satnav never works. The order is written on a sheet, and the driver sets off.
Halfway round, the driver rings. One customer is out and there is nowhere safe to leave twenty kilos of food. Another has moved house and the address is old. Someone else rings the shop to ask where their order is. The round takes most of the day, and the shop is a person short the whole time.
Why delivery rounds take so long to plan
Delivery is often a service that grew from a few favours for regular customers. It never got a system, so everything is done by the person who knows the customers, using paper and memory.
- Orders come in by phone, text, email and at the till, and are gathered by hand.
- The route is planned by eye from addresses on paper.
- Access notes, such as leave in the porch or ring twice, are in someone's head.
- Customers do not know when to expect the van.
- Failed deliveries are only discovered when the driver gets there.
What an unplanned round costs
Every extra mile and every failed drop costs driver time and fuel, and the driver is usually one of a small team. Customers who wait in all day and then find their order came at the wrong time are less likely to keep using the service. The morning planning itself takes time away from opening the shop.
Without a record, you also cannot see whether delivery pays for itself, which areas are worth serving, or whether a delivery charge makes sense.
Delivery rounds planned for you
- All delivery orders, however they arrive, go into one list with the customer, items and delivery day.
- Customers have saved addresses with access notes, safe place preferences and a phone number.
- Each delivery day, the system groups orders and plans a route using a route planning service, with the start and end at your shop.
- Staff pick and load in drop order, from a printed or on-screen list.
- The driver uses a phone app showing each drop, the access notes and a button to mark delivered, left in safe place, or not in, with a photo.
- Customers get a text on the morning of delivery with a time window, and another when the driver is on the way.
| Task | Paper rounds | Planned rounds |
|---|---|---|
| Gathering orders | From several places | One list |
| Route | Planned by eye | Planned automatically |
| Access notes | In someone's head | On the driver's app |
| Customer notice | None | Time window by text |
| Failed drops | Found on arrival | Fewer, and recorded with a photo |
We use an existing route planning service where one fits your volume, rather than building routing from scratch.
Delivery days that start with a plan
On Friday morning, the round is already planned. Staff load the van in drop order, the driver opens the app and sets off. Customers know when to expect the van and more of them are in, or have said where to leave the bags.
At the end of the day, the app shows what was delivered and what was not, with photos for safe place drops. Over time you can see how much time and mileage each round takes, which helps you decide delivery days and charges.
Is your delivery round planned on the counter?
- Rounds are planned by hand each delivery morning.
- Drivers ring back to the shop for addresses and notes.
- Customers are often out when the van arrives.
- Customers ring to ask where their order is.
- You do not know whether delivery pays for itself.