Any recommendations for the above?
Planning office is marvelous [emoji849]
It would make my life easier if I could do it properly myself, so any suggestions?
Thanks
Are you working the same patch each day?
Leaping to the assumption that you are and you may have some regular drops / collections daily, you might be surprised how you quickly establish a core plan to work with without assistance. If you have stops that close for lunch, half day Friday (?) or are one of a few places you can get tipped early, that might influence the route more than the shortest road miles or least driving time. Plus perhaps where you might like to be for lunch and around what time of day.
Sometimes routes are planned for a reason, may not look like it to you or I or others, but planners often take into account something you won’t necessarily know anything about. I’d suggest you check with the company if you can alter your run route before just doing it, as you could end up causing the company a lot of grief etc.
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Not an app as such.
But you ever though about putting all the postcodes into Google maps then you can see where they are reaarange them accordingly. Can be a bit time consuming.
Thing is if you work out an easier route and your trucks already loaded basically your stuck. has have do them in drop order on your truck unless you can %100 guarante places have a forklift and the driver is willing to move a few pallets to get to the ones he wants
I use an app called DelM8
It’s £5 a month but you can select the address and it pin points the exact building and is rarely wrong. You can do single addresses or multiples. It’s great for multidrop as it will take you to the exact house every time, tap continue when you’re at the drop and it’ll start navigation to the next one.
Do you load the truck yourself or its done by the clowns. When I did multidrop the forklift driver loaded by post code the nearest near the yard at the back. Never had a problem.
Thanks everyone for the replies.
I’m well aware of the possibility of the office having a good reason for routing the way it has done. I’ve experienced both, i.e. timed deliveries first, as well as driving up and down the same road after deliveries & going in and out of the same estates multiple times for no good reason.
It really is my job to route, but the office will do it if I don’t. And the loading is done after the routing, obviously.
I’ve used delm8 before, and have gone back to it. It is good, only I find the single delivery I can choose to use Road Lords, but multiple deliveries default to Google maps, is that right?
Hopefully, in time I will just learn my route.
If you do same area your soon work out where places are.
Few bits advice if go same places all the time ask if they close early Fridays.
Also ask what time they close in the week. Most close around 5 or 6 . Few places have a late shift open untill 10.
Also what time do they shut for dinner. Have there breaks
One of my pet hates when did multidrpp… every body has there dinner at same time .
Why they can’t stagger there breaks leave at least one forklift driver on and have his break earlier or later.
Worth asking and knowing all this .
as saves you time and you can plan accordingly…IE you know drop 5 be shut for dinner can do others come back or have your break while waiting for them to come back etc.
Thanks Edd, I am learning a route, having been to a drop once before can make it a [emoji817] times easier.
Anyway I’ve just learnt from Yourhavingalaugh that The Maoster is on multidrop now, so hopefully he can give me his pearls of wisdom, he helped me out so much with my Renault.
As it happens I actually am on multi drop today! The ignominy 
don’t they know who I am? 4 drops between Edinburgh and Inverness, I don’t know how I’ll cope tbh.
the maoster:
FOUR ■■■■ drops?? 
I feel your pain mate.
This is what you do…
Hi viz buttoned up to neck whilst driving…(hands at 10 to 2 …obvs. )
Sat nav fully concentrated on, and relied on FULLY without question.
Phone office every 2 minutes to ask them what to do…its the way to go nowadays apparently…
You’re welcome. 
Btw full marks for the use of the word ‘ignominy’ even I had to google it. 
The best way to plan a multi drop route must surely still be a map or for more localised runs an A-Z
Robroy, it’s law now that every lorry driver must wear a hi-vis while driving as I got stopped the other day by PC Plodd and he let me off with a warning, if he sees me again without it then it’s a £100 fine and 3 penalty points.
He abruptly said everyone else has to wear one so should I.
When I did multi drop the planner numbered the drops in order but only did it for me and not the other drivers.
The guys that had done the same routes and drops for 20 years or more didn’t need their routes numbered and sometimes would suggest the best way to do the run.
Sometimes the truck was already loaded in sequence to the run sheet but if I had to locate each individual pallet that could be anywhere in the yard then get the FLT driver to load it was time consuming and I missed the timed deliveries all the time as the pallet hub would penalise the operator/transport firm.
With all the addresses clutched in my hand the FLT driver didn’t have time to wait for me to locate every single address and tell him where to position on the truck.
Then the ■■■■■■■ about with taking photos of unusual pallets with odd dimensions as the managers wanted those measurements recorded to charge accordingly.
A money earner.
Bone Shaker:
When I did multi drop the planner numbered the drops in order but only did it for me and not the other drivers.The guys that had done the same routes and drops for 20 years or more didn’t need their routes numbered and sometimes would suggest the best way to do the run.
Sometimes the truck was already loaded in sequence to the run sheet but if I had to locate each individual pallet that could be anywhere in the yard then get the FLT driver to load it was time consuming and I missed the timed deliveries all the time as the pallet hub would penalise the operator/transport firm.
With all the addresses clutched in my hand the FLT driver didn’t have time to wait for me to locate every single address and tell him where to position on the truck.
Then the ■■■■■■■ about with taking photos of unusual pallets with odd dimensions as the managers wanted those measurements recorded to charge accordingly.
A money earner.
That’s almost exactly how we operate.
I first tried following the office numbering, as I said above, back and forth in myself once out on the road. So now I take it to an old hand Driver and he resorts it for me. But I’m slowly learning though.
Loaded trucks? If only! That’s the drivers job