4 Ways an Owner Driver Can Maximise Routes

As a courier, whether you run a single vehicle or a fleet you need to be on top of your routes. For the self-employed, this means maximising every opportunity you have on the road. Each time the wheels turn on asphalt, you need to be assured they are turning on the most efficient road to profit.

The simplest way to envisage such maximisation is through multiplying your routes. And while the more routes you have certainly does equate to having to earning more, there are other ways to make the most of your vehicle and your time on the road.

Use return load options

Any owner driver knows the long road back home can be the most wasteful. After a delivery, every courier should ideally be able to pick up another delivery rather than having to return back to the depot or home base to find out about the next assignment. This is because time spent travelling with nothing to deliver is a complete waste of fuel and time. While it can be hard for a self-managed operator to coordinate consecutive deliveries without a great deal of administrative assistance, it is possible to arrange a schedule whereby the amount of time spent on the road without a delivery is minimized through return loads.

Use versatile vehicles

The nature of modern courier work is that it follows the most frenetic zones of human activities – hence, the most business occurs within cities. For an owner driver to efficiently and effectively navigate a city, he or she needs to be able to bypass several obstacles. Traffic, road closures, one-way streets and hazards can impede delivery times. Therefore it is vital to choose the right vehicles for the right routes. On certain roads bicycles are better than trucks, on others trucks are more efficient than motorbikes, and so on.

Use smart routes

The nature of managing routes means you need to be able to manage options. For an owner driver to arrive at a destination on time and in such a way that maximises their capacity to move to the next route, they often do not have the privilege of several trucks to flood the variety of routes and meet client needs instantaneously. So they must be smart about their planning. Time must be spent choosing the best routes and adapting to changes in times so maximum efficiency on each job is achieved.

Use online exchanges

A very effective way to coordinate routes with minimum resources is through an online courier exchange. An owner driver, more often than not, lacks the resources to capture and coordinate an ever-increasing market share of routes. But an online exchange can offer much assistance in this regard, and at a great degree of efficiency, both in terms of cost and time. Drivers can reach out to a wide range of clients, establish communication, organise routes and create business with a simple Internet connection and a few clicks of the keyboard.

Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world's largest neutral trading hub for same day owner driver jobs in the express freight exchange industry. Over 2,500 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading jobs and capacity in a safe 'wholesale' environment.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.