How do I plan delivery routes for multiple drivers?

Decide who takes which stop before you sequence

With one driver, planning is a question of which stop comes next. With three or more, a second question comes first: which driver takes which stop. A bad split cannot be fixed by good sequencing: two vans crossing the same neighborhood, one driver with a full day while another is done by 1 p.m., a heavy order on the small truck. By hand, this is where spreadsheets and map tabs give out.

• Write the rules down first: for each order the address, service time, delivery window and weight or size; for each driver the shift, breaks, vehicle capacity and any special skill
• Group stops by neighborhood or ZIP, one rough territory per driver, so nobody crosses the whole service area
• Check capacity first, because it is a hard limit, then windows and shifts, then windows and shifts; the planning setup can allow late stops or late finishes (off by default)
• Compare each driver’s total hours and move stops from the longest route to a neighbor with time to spare, then sequence each route and look at all of them side by side; routes that cross the same streets with no time window to explain it usually mean the split is wrong

Review, send, and re-plan when someone calls in sick

Look at every route on the day board and map before you send, and move stops where you know better. Afi Planner plans within shifts, windows and capacity, and “Share the work fairly between drivers” (on by default) evens out route hours where those rules allow; windows and distance still come first, so check each driver’s finish time before you send. Drivers open the route in the Afi Driver app on Android or iPhone, or from a text-message link with no install, and navigate in Google Maps, Waze or Apple Maps. If a driver calls in sick, mark the time off in the schedule and plan again.