Should You Use Google Maps to Route Multiple Stops?

It's time to stop using Google Maps and Waze for last mile route plans. 

Sure, you can use Google Maps to route multiple stops—but their system notoriously lacks a dedicated truck route finder. You can jerry-rig a solution to last mile routing using their system, but what’s the point of doing that when there are so many purpose-built route planning and optimization options out there for last mile delivery management?

After all, last mile route optimization is about a lot more than just navigation. It’s about more than minimizing total mileage or finding the perfect sequence of stops. It’s really about finding a way to keep your customers happy without breaking the bank—something that requires a wider view of your entire last mile logistics operation. Integration, connectivity, and intelligence are key, and it can be difficult to get that with free route planner apps like Google Maps, Waze, and the others that are on the market.

Just as importantly, these lightweight solutions are ultimately disconnected from the rest of your last mile delivery operations. A SaaS-based truck route finder that sits at the heart of a last mile solution offers more than just routes—it can automatically dispatch those routes to drivers, update delivery ETAs during the day of delivery, and ensure accurate communications to customers. When you have Google Maps route multiple stops, there’s no clear-cut way to export those routes into a form that’s usable for your entire end-to-end team. 

A route optimization solution that’s actually built with the needs of last mile delivery organizations in mind might be more expensive—but it has much greater potential to help you reduce costs in the short, medium, and long term. 

If you’re serious about last mile deliveries, you need a dedicated route planning app that’s designed specifically for logistics operations. Here's why:

Using Google Maps to Route Multiple Stops in Last Mile Logistics

Simply put, the goal of a route planning app is to find the optimal route from point A to point B. This may sound easy, but once you add in multiple stops with different requirements and sort those stops into multiple different routes, the complexity mounts exponentially.

Google Maps is a basic route planner that's sometimes used for route planning. Casual drivers can use Google Maps to see several ways to get to their destination and get detailed directions so they can spend less time on the road. While convenient for lighter use cases, using Google Maps to route multiple stops doesn't give you the ability to really grapple with the challenges of last mile logistics.

For logistics operators who want to lower shipping-related expenses such as fuel bills, increase productivity, and meet customer demand for fast and on-time deliveries, you need something that can help you create routes with a large number of stops—all while accounting for the factors that impact drive time. Google Maps and Waze can't factor in things like customer tier priorities and customers’ desired time windows—meaning they’re not enough for true last mile optimization. 

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Benefits of the Right Truck Route Finder

Smart route optimization offers great value to delivery organizations and to their customers Below are some of the main benefits of a route planning app.

1. Better Route Optimization 

If you’re only routing a few trucks, and time windows aren’t a major factor in delivery, it is possible to find relatively short routes by hand—though it may take a bit of time. However, businesses that aren't using cloud-based, AI-powered routing applications for their route planning generally can’t find the optimal routes for an entire fleet in a timely manner. On the other hand, businesses that have a route planning tool can cut through the complexity by using advanced algorithms to find the quickest and most cost-effective routes. Even when there are scores of complex factors at play, the right app can still optimize delivery route for distance, truck capacity, crew skills and more. 

2. Faster Route Planning 

Relying on manual route planning and navigation apps means spending a lot of time just finding the possible best routes. And despite all the time spent, manual routes won't be the fastest nor most economical.

In contrast, a smart truck route finder provides the quickest and most cost-effective routes for drivers in less than a minute. The solution makes complex calculations, factoring in multiple variables affecting delivery times—all within seconds. This can save your business hours of effort, which can be used for other high-value assignments.

It's not just the human route planners and fleet managers that get to save time. Likewise, drivers no longer have to consult paper route assignments and input each delivery address one at a time to get Google Maps to route multiple stops. Instead, drivers only need to consult a mobile app that shows their sequence of stops with turn-by-turn directions. 

3. Increased Productivity

Route planning applications ensure that drivers’ routes cover the least miles in the shortest time possible, allowing drivers to deliver to more stops during their shift. The right routing software also ensures that drivers spend less time responding to last-minute changes and allows operators to be more efficient. Their mobile app acts as a one-stop-shop for the entire delivery route, streamlining the process. 

4. Reduced Travel Time and Mileage

Optimizing routes will also help companies cut down overall drive times as well as miles traveled. Naturally, reducing drivers' miles translates to cost savings. Delivery operators lower fuel costs. Route optimization also cuts vehicle maintenance costs, since less time is spent on the road, reducing required maintenance.

Spending less time on the roads can also reduce accidents, helping lower insurance premiums and vehicle downtime.

5. Improved ETA Accuracy

The right solution will leverage AI and machine learning to make sure your delivery ETAs are precise and accurate. They can do this by factoring in historical delivery data on things like traffic and service times, as well as drive time differences between cars and trucks, and a host of other factors—the result of which is that drivers are empowered to show up at the right time, every time. The added benefit here is that better ETAs means you can more effectively visualize your capacity, ultimately enabling you to get more out of your fleet.

<< Learn how Ryder achieved 98% on-time delivery rates with DispatchTrack >>

6. Minimized Customer Service Calls

Manual route planning is inefficient and error-prone. Pen-and-paper planning can’t compete with a proper routing app. Its inefficiency results in inaccurate ETAs and, ultimately, irate customers.

Luckily, modern truck route finders can produce accurate ETAs based on a whole host of complex factors. Plus, a more advanced fleet routing software might also include features to provide customers with real-time alerts and live location tracking, informing them of possible delays in delivery. Providing customers with accurate ETAs and real-time alerts reduces the calls and inquiries received by the customer service team—as well as outbound calls for things like scheduling deliveries and communicating delivery information—all of which can dramatically reduce costly phone time. 

Standard navigation apps are a casual driver's best friend. But for last mile delivery fleets, a basic route planner like the free ones available on the internet can't address the many challenges in fleet management. A sophisticated route planning application can help delivery operators increase productivity, improve driver safety, reduce overall costs, and ultimately increase profitability. Keep that pen and paper for taking notes, but for routing, implement full-featured optimization software. The right truck route finder solution can revolutionize the delivery process for operators and the delivery experience for your customers.