One critical aspect of changing route days is making sure the customer doesn’t run out of product. If their delivery day is being moved later in the cycle, it’s important to leave extra water or salt before the change takes place. A simple rule of thumb is to double the average delivery, but that almost always leads to problem with truck capacities and customers complaints about getting too much product. It also leaves commission revenues short the following month since customers already have enough product on hand.

Instead, use an Excel spreadsheet to calculate exactly how much extra product is needed. If a customer typically gets four bottles and is being delayed by five days, you need to drop off one extra bottle. If a customer is being delivered earlier, don’t drop off any extra product.

This approach will greatly reduce the problems noted above.