Calculate Your ROI With Route Optimization – Circuit for Teams

Wondering if route optimization is right for your delivery teams? Use our Return on Investment (ROI) calculator to find out. 

It’s a rewarding time to be in the transportation industry, but only for those willing and able to adapt to survive. With fuel costs and consumer demand fluctuating, running your company like a well-oiled machine has never been more important. 

Many teams use route optimization software to manage and track delivery schedules. But how can you know if this software investment is the best option to meet your unique dispatching requirements and challenges?

Route optimization ROI calculator

The calculator is simple to use. All you need to know is the number of vehicles in your fleet, how much each driver is paid, the number of miles traveled and hours driven by each vehicle, their fuel economy, and the cost of fuel per gallon. 

These data points, unique to your fleet’s size, operation, and location, are the most crucial to determining how route optimization will impact your dispatch. 

Once you hit “calculate,” you’ll see how much time and money route optimization can save you by month and year. Give it a try and see how easily you can maximize your savings. 

What is route optimization?

The best path to get where you’re going isn’t always obvious. Planning delivery routes involves so much more than where stops are on a map — and that’s where route optimization can help. 

Route optimization means taking all available metrics into account to plan the best possible delivery route. It considers not only the distance between stops but also fuel prices and efficiency, driver scheduling, local environmental and traffic conditions, the size and availability of trucks in a fleet, and space requirements for a delivery load.

All of these factors impact time and cost. You can account for many of them by planning your routes manually, but route optimization software is far more effective in streamlining the process. 

What are the benefits of route optimization?

The bottom line of route optimization is efficiency. More efficient routes make for a more productive workforce, lower overhead costs, a happier customer base, and, ultimately, higher profits. 

The benefits of route optimization break down into seven main categories: 

Time savings

On the surface, the time-saving benefits of route optimization seem obvious: The most efficient routes take less time to complete, allowing drivers to make more deliveries. But a less obvious advantage is the time saved organizing those deliveries in the first place. 

Planning delivery routes may be your job, but it’s probably not your only job. A well-integrated route optimization software helps you get your drivers on the road faster so you can get back to the million other tasks on your plate.

Cost savings

They say time is money, but your overall cost is affected by many other variables. Since these can be inconsistent and unpredictable (like gas prices, for example), it’s hard to know exactly how much money you’ll need to keep dispatches running. 

Route optimization helps you plan the most efficient routes both in terms of fuel economy and cost based on your service area. Here’s one of the many ways this software can easily save you time and money:

Say two routes will take approximately the same amount of time, but one goes through an area with better fuel prices. Your route optimization software will prioritize that one, allowing you to save on fuel costs without tediously comparing them yourself.   

Increased route efficiency

Here’s another example: You have x number of trucks in your fleet, y number of stops along your route, and z miles between each one. There are potential traffic jams, road closures, toll bridges, and inclement weather along the way, and you need to make all your deliveries on time.

Route optimization takes a lot of the guesswork and uncertainty out of the equation. 

This simple tool provides the most effective route available by accounting for all these factors, so you don’t have to. 

Improved productivity

You know how hard your drivers work and the high demands placed on them. Long hours, uncertain schedules, and unrealistic delivery expectations all contribute to delivery driver burnout.

Any improvement that alleviates these stressors helps the overall productivity of your fleet. Drivers with clear, uncomplicated directives are not only going to be more productive; they’re ultimately going to be happier as well. 

That means something as simple as an optimal route could decrease employee dissatisfaction and turnover, further improving your bottom line. 

Reduce number of vehicles

Why buy two machines to do half a job each when you can invest a little more in a single machine that does it all? Likewise, investing in route optimization can allow a single truck to do the job of two or even three. 

Exactly how much an optimized route can reduce your vehicle requirement will vary depending on the size and scope of your fleet. That’s why our calculator can save you some serious annual expenses by showing you exactly where you can cut costs. 

Lower maintenance costs

Fewer vehicles in your fleet means fewer oil changes, faulty transmissions, and tire replacements to deal with. It also means fewer insurance cards, brake tags, inspection stickers, and, generally, fewer headaches for you and your team. 

When you can cut maintenance costs and still maintain or exceed your productivity levels, you can invest those savings where you need them most.

Improved customer experience

No one likes a delayed delivery, including your company’s bottom line. So, how do you maintain low costs and reliable shipping deadlines at the same time?

Route optimization allows you to plan and stick to the best course to help avoid delays, keeping your customers, team, and profit margins happy.

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