How to Plan Water Delivery Routes: Standing Routes, Will Calls and Skips
Water delivery runs on standing customers, but no two days have the same stops. Here is how to plan routes that stay tight when the skips and will calls come in.
The short answer
Give each part of town a route day so standing customers always fall on the same day and the same truck. Each morning, start from who is actually due, take out the skips, and put every will call on the truck that already passes closest. Plan by bottles and time at the door, not just stop counts, put office hours in first, and photograph every drop so a short bottle complaint is settled with a picture instead of a second trip.
Why water routes are different
Most delivery businesses start every day from a fresh list. Water delivery does not. Most of your stops are the same homes and offices on a weekly or every other week cycle, so the route feels fixed. But every day some regulars skip because they still have full bottles, a few will calls phone in because they ran out, a new office signs up and another closes. The route that was perfect in March is driving past empty driveways by October.
The work itself is heavier too. Five gallon bottles weigh about forty pounds full, a truck can only carry so many, and every stop is an exchange: fulls off, empties on. A good plan has to fit the truck and the driver's day, not just the map.
How to plan the day, step by step
- 1
Give every part of town a route day
Split your service area into areas and give each one a day: the north side on Mondays, downtown offices on Tuesdays, and so on. A customer on a weekly or every other week schedule then always falls on the same day, and each truck spends its day in one part of town instead of crossing it.
- 2
Start each morning from who is actually due
Pull today's list from wherever you keep schedules, whether that is your billing software, a spreadsheet or a printed book. Take out the skips (customers who still have full bottles) and closed offices before anything else, so nobody drives to a stop that does not want water.
- 3
Fold the will calls in where they cost least
A will call is a customer who calls when they run out. Put each one on the truck already passing nearest, at the point in its route where it adds the fewest miles, not at the end of whichever driver has room.
- 4
Plan for weight and truck space, not just stops
Five gallon bottles are heavy and bulky. Know how many full bottles each truck carries and how many each stop needs, and do not load a route the truck cannot carry. Leave room for the empties you pick up on the way.
- 5
Give each stop a realistic time
A house that takes two bottles at the front door is quick. An office on the third floor that swaps eight bottles and checks a cooler is not. Count that time, or the routes will look fine on paper and finish after dark.
- 6
Respect the offices' hours
Commercial accounts are often only open nine to five and some want deliveries before lunch. Put those windows in first and let the home deliveries fill around them.
- 7
Photograph every drop
Most water deliveries happen with nobody home. A photo of the bottles left, with the time and GPS location, settles a "you only left three" call in seconds and stops repeat trips you are not paid for.
An example morning
A water company runs three trucks. Tuesday is the north side and the downtown offices. The schedule says 64 customers are due; 9 of them called to skip, so 55 are left. Overnight, 6 will calls came in by phone and email, and two downtown offices only take deliveries before noon.
- The two morning offices go first on the downtown truck.
- The 55 regulars stay with their usual drivers, split across the three trucks by area.
- Each of the 6 will calls goes to the truck that already passes nearest; four of them land on routes that were driving within a few blocks anyway.
- The bottle count per truck is checked against what each truck carries, and one big office order moves to the truck with room.
- Each route is put back in driving order, and every drop is photographed.
The result is 61 stops on three routes that finish at a sensible hour, with no truck crossing town for a will call it could have picked up on the way.
The mistakes that cost the most
Driving the printed route sheet for months
Accounts come and go, and a sheet nobody re-sequences slowly turns into a zigzag across town.
Tacking will calls onto the end of the day
The truck ends up crossing town twice for one customer who was on the way in the morning.
Counting stops instead of bottles
Two routes with 40 stops each can carry very different loads and take very different times.
No proof at the door
Every disputed delivery becomes a free re-delivery, and the customer believes you less each time.
Where software helps, and where it does not
Re-sequencing 60 stops by hand every morning is the part nobody has time for, and it is exactly what a route planner does in seconds. In Raute you paste or upload the day's list as it comes out of your schedule or billing system, add the will calls as they arrive, and press Plan. Each driver gets their stops in order on their phone, office windows are kept, and every drop is closed with a GPS stamped photo. Office accounts can also get a link to follow their own deliveries.
What Raute does not do is keep bottle deposits, bottle balances or invoices. That belongs in your route accounting or billing software, and Raute works next to it rather than replacing it. If you want to see the planning side, our water delivery page shows how it fits, and the guide to splitting deliveries between drivers covers the general method.
- Your standing routes have drifted and nobody has re-sequenced them in months.
- Will calls get tacked on at the end of the day.
- You give away re-deliveries because you cannot prove a drop.
- Planning tomorrow takes someone more than half an hour.
Questions people ask
How do I add will calls to a standing water route?
Plan the standing customers due today first, then put each will call on the truck that already passes closest to it, at the point in that route where it adds the fewest miles. Adding it to the end of whichever route has room is what turns a tidy route into a zigzag.
Should the same driver always serve the same customers?
Where you can, yes. Drivers learn the gates, the garages, the office receptionist and where the empties are left, and customers trust a face they know. Let the route change around the edges, with will calls and new accounts, rather than reshuffling everyone every day.
How do I stop "you only left three bottles" disputes?
Have the driver take a photo of every drop showing the bottles left, with the time and GPS location attached. When a customer disputes a delivery, you send the photo instead of sending a driver back out.
Does route planning software handle bottle deposits and invoicing?
Route planners usually do not. Deposits, bottle balances and invoicing live in route accounting or billing software. A planner like Raute handles who goes where, in what order, with live tracking and photo proof, and works next to the system that bills.
How often should water routes be re-planned?
Every day the stop list changes, which in water delivery is most days. Skips, will calls, new accounts and closed offices all move the best order. Re-planning takes seconds in software, so there is no reason to drive last month's sequence.
Plan tomorrow's water routes in Raute
Paste tomorrow's stops and will calls, press Plan, and see every truck's route before you pay anything. 7 days free, no credit card.
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