The Challenge

As mentioned, Tracy Sturdy is the owner of a US-based waste management company named Residential Cart Solutions. She had many clients who were yelling for untimely pickups of trash bins. When she started receiving phone calls, she had no idea if the waste pickup team had embarked on a trash exchange or not. Basically, she lacked a reliable way to confirm whether they had successfully completed deliveries. This is where Tracy was left stranded, as there were no tools that could help her team collect proof of service.

Later, Tracy also experimented with ordinary route optimization software but soon realized it lacked several crucial features. Still, the issue of maintaining transparency throughout the process was not resolved. Besides, the Residential Cart Solutions team encountered difficulties in managing entrance stops using spreadsheets. This is why it was getting difficult for them to accept more cart delivery orders.

Additionally, Tracy’s team faced challenges when reassigning or swapping routes in the event a driver became unavailable. Despite dispatchers having route plans ready, they often forgot to update the drivers, resulting in communication gaps.

Here’s a breakdown of the challenges for better understanding:

• Maintaining records of successful trash cart pickups and deliveries was not possible without errors.

• Route planning with additional entrance stops was inaccurate and tedious for Tracy’s team.

• With the expansion of Tracy’s business, managing hundreds of stops for cart deliveries became increasingly complex.

The Solution

Tracy’s team at Residential Cart Solutions had explored both manual route planning and routing software solutions, but managing paperwork remained a persistent challenge. Then, Tracy tried using Upper and was really impressed with its ease of use. Upper’s automated routing process proved vital in resolving their major challenges.

Upper empowered Tracy’s team with a range of features, including route optimization, proof of delivery, and robust reporting and analytics. This transition not only made maintaining delivery records significantly more convenient but also eliminated the need for stacks of paperwork.

The benefits extended beyond efficiency gains; Upper not only saved hours of route planning but also facilitated dispatchers to assign jobs in a click and maintain them in a breeze. Additionally, in cases where drivers were unavailable for assigned tasks, Tracy’s delivery manager could swiftly reassign routes, effectively eliminating timing issues with pickups and deliveries.

Collecting proof of delivery on successful cart exchange

For Tracy, Upper proved invaluable in addressing a significant challenge: obtaining delivery proof. Previously, clients frequently raised concerns about whether the waste collection team had indeed picked up the trash bins.

Upper came to the rescue by enabling Tracy’s pickup and delivery team to capture proof of delivery through photos. Now, her waste pickup team can efficiently complete deliveries by taking multiple photos as evidence.

This process also assists her in maintaining accurate records of completed deliveries. Whenever necessary, she can easily utilize the reporting and analytics features to generate summary reports. This capability empowered Tracy to provide her clients with precise and reliable details.

Importing hundreds of entrance stops in one go

Upper played a crucial role in reducing the route planning time for Tracy’s delivery team with its Excel import feature. Given Tracy’s prior experience with unexpected errors in route plans, Upper stepped in with a fully automated route planning process, eliminating any room for human errors and ensuring timely delivery assignments.

Moreover, Tracy no longer needed to adjust multiple stops during route planning manually. She simply imported the Excel file to add hundreds of stops and quickly obtained optimized routes. This streamlined process not only saved valuable hours but also significantly boosted business productivity.

Additionally, it became much easier for Tracy to incorporate more pickup and delivery orders into the route plan without any extra effort, further enhancing their operational efficiency.

One-click routes dispatch for hassle-free pickups and delivery

Tracy faced recurring issues with dispatching inaccurate routes to their drivers and occasionally forgot to update them about scheduled deliveries. The process of reaching out to drivers on the delivery day via phone calls was not only cumbersome but also time-consuming.

That’s when Upper stepped in and automated the dispatching process. Now, Tracy can schedule routes for trash bin pickups and deliveries in advance. Upper notifies the drivers about their delivery assignments and provides route plan details directly to their mobile phones.

As a result, she no longer needs to follow up with drivers, ensuring a smooth delivery process. All of this became possible thanks to Upper’s one-click dispatch feature.

The Impact

Moving to Upper, Tracy eliminated issues such as route planning, delivery management, task allocation, and proof of service. She began saving hours and significantly reducing operational costs. All she needs to do is import an Excel file, make necessary stop adjustments, and determine the shortest routes for drivers.

Once the route plan is ready, she can dispatch pre-planned routes, allowing drivers to start quickly. This means drivers no longer need to make unnecessary stops or experience communication gaps with the backend team.

As Tracy’s business expanded, she required advanced software capable of handling thousands of stops and creating efficient route plans. Upper filled this void by offering advanced features previously lacking for Tracy’s delivery team.

Today, Tracy’s team can collect proof of delivery information to confirm whether drivers reached the entrance and picked up trash bins on time. Tracy can also effortlessly add hundreds of stops to the route plan by directly importing Excel or CSV files, eliminating the need for manual route planning calculations.

This automation journey led Tracy to proper delivery route planning and increased productivity. Following the business expansion, Tracy’s waste collection team can easily accommodate more trash pickups and deliveries at the dump yard. Today, her waste collection team arrives for trash bin pickups in a timely manner.