If your business delivers items to clients, you are probably always looking for ways to reduce your delivery time and get items to customers sooner. Not only will this keep your customers happier, but it will keep your costs down as it maximizes your efficient use of drivers and non-human resources. But how should you go about reducing delivery times? Here are a few key strategies.
1. Keep GPS data on drivers.
Include a GPS data logger on each of your delivery vehicles so that you are able to track where your drivers go, and in what order. Periodically review this data to see whether drivers are taking the most direct route. For instance, perhaps they are driving to the east side of the city to make deliveries there, while driving to the west side first would be more direct from your place of business. Make sure your drivers know that you are logging GPS data. This will keep them checking for the most direct routes since they know you will be checking, too.
2. Ask drivers for input.
If you do find that your drivers are not taking what appears to be the most direct route, discuss it with them before you demand that they make changes. Sometimes, there may be reasons for the route they are taking that you can't obviously see just from GPS data alone. For example, maybe they deliver to a certain neighborhood first because there is less traffic in that neighborhood in the morning, and it would take them twice as long to deliver there in the afternoon due to slow-downs and traffic jams.
3. Assign certain drivers to certain areas.
Give your drivers the same route every day -- or as close to it as possible. Over time, they will get to know their route, and they will be able to deliver faster because they are familiar with the streets and the stops in that area.
4. Reduce wasted space in vehicles.
If your drivers have to come back partway through the day to reload because all of the items won't fit in the truck at once, this is wasting a lot of your time. See what you can do to create more space in the trucks. Are there back seats you can remove? Could you pack your items in smaller boxes so more can fit at once?
With the tips above, you can save time on delivery and get items there sooner! Get in touch with a company like Data Loggers Solutions for more information.
Share24 May 2019
Businesses come in all shapes and sizes. They provide us with all of the things that we need each day to live the lives we are used to. Are you considering starting up a business of your own? Do you have a hobby, interest, or skill that others could benefit from? Having watched as my son build a concrete finishing company from scratch, I have witness what persistence, patience, and hard work can do for a person. My blog focuses on what it takes to start a business and what you must do to ensure that your business is on a path to success.
