Save fuel and kilometres with planned delivery routes
Riders who pick their own order of stops drive extra kilometres every day. How planned routes cut fuel and travel time for your shop.
4 min readUpdated Outlet owners
Your fuel bill comes at the end of the month, and it is always a surprise. The riders worked hard. Nobody wasted anything on purpose. And still the number is higher than you hoped.
A good part of that bill is not fuel for deliveries. It is fuel for the extra kilometres between them: a rider crosses town, comes back, and crosses it again because the stops were visited in the wrong order.
Planned routes are the simplest way to cut those kilometres. This guide shows where they come from and what changes when each trip is planned.
Where the extra kilometres come from#
Stops in the order they were typed. The first order entered is delivered first, even when the third order is next door to it.
Two riders in the same area. Orders are handed out as they come, so two riders end up driving the same road.
Back and forth. A rider goes north, comes back past the shop, then goes north again for the next order.
One order per trip. Every order is a round trip to the shop and back.
A good rider reduces these by memory and experience. But nobody can hold a map of ten orders in their head while also packing bags and answering the phone. And you cannot be sure it is done the same way on a Saturday evening as on a quiet morning.
How MiniDrop plans the order of stops#
When you press Dispatch now on the Dispatch page, MiniDrop looks at all the waiting orders and your online riders. It shares the orders between the riders so that each rider's stops are close together, and it puts each rider's stops in an order that keeps the trip short. It plans around how many orders each rider can carry.
Each rider's card shows the number of orders and the kilometres of the trip, so you can see the plan at a glance. The rider then gets the stops in the planned order, with one-tap directions to each, so they do not have to decide anything on the road.
You can read more on the route planning page.
You approve it, and you can still change it#
A plan is only a suggestion. Before the rider gets anything, you look at the route on a map and approve it. If you know that a customer is in a hurry, or that a road is blocked, you can drag the stop up or down the list.
This is the best of both worlds. The planning is done in seconds, and your local knowledge has the last word.
A worked example#
Fewer kilometres also mean#
Less time on the road, so a rider can take another trip in the same shift.
Less wear on the vehicle.
Fresher orders, because they spend less time in the bag.
Happier riders, who spend less time in traffic.
To see how this fits into your total cost, read how to reduce your delivery cost per order.
Frequently asked questions#
How much fuel will I save?
It depends on your area, your orders and how riders plan today. Shops that send riders with several orders on one trip usually travel fewer kilometres than shops that send one order at a time. Measure your own numbers before and after.
Can riders still choose their own route between stops?
Riders follow the stops in the order you approved, and use their phone's directions between them. The order of stops is planned; the road between stops is the rider's choice.
What if the plan does not look right?
Open the route on the map, drag stops into the order you prefer and then approve it. Or move the orders back to the queue and plan again.
Does it work for a small shop with one rider?
Yes. Even one rider with three or four orders benefits from stops in a sensible order. The savings are bigger as the orders and riders grow.
Try it on one busy evening. Plan the trips, approve them, and compare the kilometres with a normal evening.
Related guideHow to reduce your delivery cost per orderWork out what each delivery really costs you, then lower it with grouped trips, planned routes and better use of every rider's time.Related guideReview, adjust and approve each rider's routeLook at every planned route, change the order of stops if you know better, and approve so the rider gets the trip.Was this page helpful?
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