Can anyone help i started a new job with about 15 drops aday & i,m having a hell of a time finding places due to my inexperience an the fact i seem to be usless reading maps an well sat navs just take me all over the place , i love the job but its getting me down getting lost all the time . Anyone any tips ? 
If you have android try bestroute from android market.
I keep the satnav on silent most of the time cos then I look at signs and the road more hope this helps.
Hi mate
Try not to let it get to you too much, although i know itās easier said than done.
Might sound obvious but try and keep postcodes on your delivery notes as close a possible. Over time you will become familier with areas etc.
Failing that, a Snooper S7000pro sat nav has a multidrop function of up to, i believe, 14/15 drops. Type them all in, in any order and it will route them for you the most efficient way. I use one (not for muliti though) and its very good. Also avoids low bridges etc. But not cheap.
Ben
The more you do it, the better you will get at it! 
Personally I find that, when using my pratnav, I leave it either face down on the passenger seat or facing away from me so that all I receive are the verbal directions, that way I can spend more time looking at the actual road and signs in front of me, not looking at a computer generated/cartoon image of what purports to be the same 
But maybe thats just me!
Good luck and stay cool
Tazbug
i call them tw-t navs lol
Well I love my sat nav purely for the fact that itās a āliveā one and gives me traffic updates and regularly offers alternative routes for major delays or forthcoming road closures.
Unless you know the drops you will lose time, if you are new or agency you will get the ā ā ā ā (hard) runs although you wonāt even know it due to your āinexperienceā. I done 3 B+Q drops in the north east of england, darlington, hartlepool, newcastle. The job sheet had (started at 6am) a 9am book in time when the sat nav (snooper 7000 pro) told me it was 3hr 40 mins away and thats before i had even checked the truck over. When I got there 3hrs 30 later the postcode was WRONG, and the address did not match, head out window, hoi mate whereās B+Q.
Iāve had a job where I had been sat outside the place and phoned them to say I could not find them, girl says oh I can see you outside, the company had changed itās name 3 YEARS AGO. Moral the usual guy is a fly barsteward and knows the run inside out. Do what you do if itās not good enough ā ā ā ā them agency and āclientā, if you donāt get this attitude expect a heart attack. 
I had to
P.S this post is dedicated to Mr ukthugz who has helped me before on this subject.
a word from the wise mate having worked on agencys for quite a while ā¦ dont stress yourself your not exactly getting paid as much as the company drivers , so why bother caring or stressing that you cant make it to ya drops when expected. Just take ya time and remember take your breaks at your leisure after all the more hours you put in the more you get paid. Working only 3 days a week wont go far to pay ya household bills. Dont be a numpty and run your self ragged ā¦afterall your only a fill in driver. Always remember " Your helping the company out just by being their".
agency work is and always will be sporadic . sign up with as many as you can , and let them know that your working for other agencys ā¦ try to play them off against each other.
for example one will ring me up and offer me a few days work doing multi drop in a poxy van iād just blag em and say another agencys offered me a weeks class 2 work and wait and see what they say.
theyll soon ring ya back offering you some class 2 work. Dont take any crap work off em otherwise thats all you will be getting . another tip if ya stuck on an asignment you hate, make ya self heard . dont suffer in silence , tell the agency what you want and what you wont accept of em.
all companys tend to push newbies and throw loads of crap at ya or try to make you run bent saying " their regular drivers would do it", dont risk your licence for anything - consider all the time and money you have invested in getting it.
Hi rubberfrog
I know where you are coming from. I am on an agency job at the minute delivering feed to farms and individuals alike. The job can be anywhere in a radius of about 160 miles from the depot and it usually entails about 4 to six drops. Most are at least a ton or two and it is bagged stuff on pallets. I have a moffit on the back to help get them of with but by far the most stressful bit is getting to some of the remote locations.
I have a pro nav truck sat nav that you can program the lorry details in and this along side a Phillis truck atlas is a big help. When I first started I was so keen to get out on the road and then found myself struggling to get to the address. Since then I have asked a few of the regular drivers what they do and it seems they are expected to take at least half an hour in the morning to check the lorry and load and then plan the delivery. Now what I do is set up the Sat nav with the post code, then go into the route option to see the actual route and the destination and I use this to draw in the route on the atlas. When I am about an hour away from the first drop I ring them and get directions which I then add to the atlas if they are different. Most of the time the customers are happy to give you pointers as to landmarks or things to look out for on the way to them. Lets face it they want what you are delivering and the less time you are lost the quicker they get it.
I must admit it did get me down for the first week when I came back to the yard to find I was the last one back and still had to re fuel and off load pallets etc but most days now it is getting a bit better. Get a good atlas and spend the companies money on the phone to get you there. I hope you heed the other advice about getting stressed, no job is worth a heart attack and you are getting paid by the hour.
best of luck
Truckist 
I just use google on my phone to find addresses or verify post codes, then use street view on google maps to have a key idea were it is, as often is the case Iām given bum addresses with wrong post codes or addresses. Just spend a few minutes each day sorting your run out cross reference with a decent a-z map before you set of, best source of info is ask another driver whoās done them drops or get close by and ask a local, if out doing drops in the sticks
20 minutes with a map in the morning can save you a couple of hours by the end of a shift. I was told that 20 years ago - and itās still true today
just been surfing on my android fone ā¦ just noticed this free navigation app called Mapfactor navigator ( has a truck route mode ) in beta mode at the moment but available to download at the play store . It works in offline mode so no active data connection required. link below
ukthugz:
just been surfing on my android fone ā¦ just noticed this free navigation app called Mapfactor navigator ( has a truck route mode ) in beta mode at the moment but available to download at the play store . It works in offline mode so no active data connection required. link below
Have you tried out the lorry mode yet? I downloaded ānavfree worldā for android and it to has a lorry mode and you download the maps you want to your phones memory. Havent had chance to test the lorry routing yet though.
Phil
The Sarge:
20 minutes with a map in the morning can save you a couple of hours by the end of a shift. I was told that 20 years ago - and itās still true today
Amen to that. I only ever use maps. Having Ā£300+ worth of Philips county maps, I donāt intend to stop using them ever! They are brilliant and it is only really the final few miles I refer to them for.
I also enjoy planning my routes
Stick with maps as much as you can, that way you learn the road layouts in relation to the map.
Using satnav you simply follow blindly and in reality havenāt the foggiest bloody idea where you are, barely even taking notice of the road signs or street names or even know which town you are entering.
Satnav is a great tool in its basic formā¦used as a pocket sized street map of the country and nothing else, its good to let it run silently as you drive to your destination by map and your own chosen route, it comes into its own when you get close to the destination and its very good for precise counting down to a junction or turning which isnāt marked.
Do not rely on sat nav, down that road lies disaster, it is not a tool for professionals, it is a toy sized map for people who donāt normally drive.
Donāt ponce about with truckers sat navs, far too bloody dear and not a patch on a good dose of common sense.
Righto, maps.
Get yourself the AA truckers atlas in both scales from Amazon or similar, and if they still make them buy a Collins standard road atlas too, and the AA colour A to Z of the west midlands.
Collins are very good in that they show every single roundabout, and their urban area maps are simply brilliant, but over the years the urban areas shown have got fewer so if you spot an old Collins somewhere buy it and take the relevant pages out and laminate them, they are gold dust.
EDITā¦if your deliveries are anywhere in the south east, from say Oxford down to Southampton to Dover to Ipswich up to Luton IIRC and the whole of London, do consider one of theseā¦punch inā¦āāAA Street by Street London and the South Eastāā on Amazon, Ā£16.45 delivered free.
This maps book is simply astonishing, i used to use one on transporters for years, my lad whoās on the trucks has one, stepdaughter has one too, in both cases this is their bible used before satnav every time, its basically a street map of the whole of Southern England, i only wish you could get similar for the rest of the country.
Donāt worry, it will come to you in the end, the first year or two is always a trail.
Rubberfrog, read what Juddian said and do exactly as he says. Sat Navs are the Devils Spawn and truck drivers should be banned from using them. I have used maps for years and wouldnāt even have a sat nav in the cab.
Using maps is THE only way of finding your way around the country (and in my case, Europe). I do have autoroute on my laptop and if I come across a delivery in Europe that I have never heard of then I will power up the laptop but only to save myself driving around looking for a place.
I gave someone instructions once on a drop in Budapest. Told 'em, turn left off the ferry in Calais, head for Ostende then turn right until Aachen. Follow the signs for Koln (Cologne) and then turn right down the A3. Drive straight for 16 hours and you will be in Budapest High Street LOLOL ā¦ they found it.