JunkBossPro Blog — Junk Removal Software

Auto-Routing Junk Jobs Closest First or Furthest First From the Yard

Putting stops in a sensible order by hand is fine for four jobs. At ten jobs across two trucks, it eats your evening. JunkBossPro auto-routes each truck's day from the yard with one of two choices: Closest First or Furthest First.

Where Auto-Routing Fits

The dispatch board itself is covered in Dispatch for Junk Removal: Jobs by Day, by Truck and in Route Order. Auto-routing is a button on that board. Pick a truck and a day, choose Closest First or Furthest First, and the stops are put in order starting from your yard.

It doesn't lock anything. After auto-routing, you can still move stops up or down by hand. The crew sees whatever order you end up with.

Closest First

Closest First starts with the stop nearest the yard and works outward. It suits days when:

• The truck starts empty and you want early, easy wins before the long drive.
• The dump or transfer station is out past the far end of the route, so the truck finishes full near the drop-off.
• Customers near the yard are the ones most likely to want a morning slot.

For a single-item truck running a dozen small pickups, Closest First is a good default. The truck fills gradually as it works away from the yard.

Furthest First

Furthest First sends the truck to the far end of the route first and works back toward the yard. It suits days when:

• The dump is near the yard, so the truck ends the day full and close to the drop-off.
• The far stop has a time window, like a morning cleanout before a realtor's showing.
• You want the crew close to home at the end of the day in case a same-day call comes in nearby.

Many junk companies find Furthest First fits better than you'd expect, simply because the dump is usually closer to the yard than to the customers.

Adjusting Around Time Windows

Auto-routing doesn't know that one customer has to leave by noon, so set those by hand afterward. A good routine:

1. Auto-route the truck.
2. Move any stops with a hard time window to where they need to be.
3. Check that the rest of the order still makes sense around them.

Customers with alerts turned on get texts when they're next and when the crew arrives, so even customers without a hard window know roughly when to expect the truck.

Adjusting Around Dump Runs

The other thing auto-routing can't see is the box filling up. Look down the day's load sizes after you route it. If the truck will be full after the third stop, the order needs a dump run there. You can move a stop that's close to the transfer station right before the run, or move a big load to the end of the day so the truck goes straight to the drop-off. The crew taps Go on the job to navigate to the dump, transfer station, donation center or metal recycler listed on it.

For days with a big cleanout, put it at a natural break in the route: first thing, so the truck dumps and comes back empty, or last, so the crew dumps and goes home.

Routing Two Trucks

With two trucks, route each one separately. Filter the board to Truck 1, auto-route, adjust. Then Truck 2. If both trucks are working the same side of town, check whether a stop or two would be better on the other truck. Moving a job between trucks takes a moment on the board, and the crew phones update. If the trucks split work by type, single items on one and cleanouts on the other, routing each is simpler because each has a clear job.

The Route Reaches the Crew

Once the order is set, it's on the crew's phone. They work top to bottom, tapping navigation to each customer and Go to each drop-off. Changes made on the board during the day show up on the phone, so the office can reroute around a cancellation without a phone call. How the crew works through that list is in The Junk Removal Crew App: The Day's Jobs, the Load and the Dump on One Phone.

Less Driving, Same Day

Auto-routing won't plan your business for you, but it takes most of the busywork out of putting stops in order. Combine it with your own knowledge of time windows and dump runs and the trucks spend more of the day loading than driving. For the bigger picture, go back to the JunkBossPro junk removal software page.