Every delivery run hides a quiet decision: which stop first, which next, which last. Made by hand, that decision is almost never the cheapest one — and the cost shows up as fuel, overtime and missed drops.
Last-mile delivery alone can account for close to 28% of total transport cost. Getting the route right is one of the biggest levers a fleet has.
Why the route is where the money leaks
When drivers plan their own routes, they double back, hit congestion, and sequence stops by habit rather than efficiency. Industry analyses put the fuel saving from proper route optimization at roughly 15–25%, with some operations reporting more.
It's not only fuel: optimized routing has been shown to cut harsh stop-and-go driving by up to 25%, which means less brake and engine wear too.
What the “vehicle routing problem” actually solves
The vehicle routing problem (VRP) is a well-studied optimization challenge: given a set of stops, vehicles, time windows and capacities, find the sequence that covers them in the fewest kilometres and hours.
It's the kind of problem humans are bad at and software is very good at. The result is a plan that squeezes more drops into the same shift, with predictable arrival times.
Beyond fuel
Tighter routes mean more deliveries per vehicle, fewer overtime hours, and ETAs you can actually promise customers. Paired with live tracking and proof-of-delivery, the whole last mile becomes something you control instead of hope for.
How Stratevo helps
Stratevo Fleet auto-assigns jobs and builds optimized multi-stop routes, then puts them in the driver's hand with navigation and proof-of-delivery — all tied to live GPS.
Measure your current fuel and drops-per-shift first; we'll track the change with you.
Sources
- 1. How route optimisation helps cut costs and boost efficiency — Geotab
- 2. 10 ways route optimization software saves fuel costs — Cigo Tracker
Figures are drawn from the cited public research and industry studies and are provided for general guidance. Results vary by operation — we measure your own baseline with you.