How Route Optimization Software Reduces Delivery and Pickup Backlogs

Tony Tye

Rental equipment transport backlogs don’t develop all at once. One delayed delivery here, one missed pickup there, one driver calling out sick... it all gradually snowballs until suddenly your team is stuck in a cycle of rollover that’s hard to break.

You schedule 10 deliveries for Monday. Without the right tools in place, the day becomes chaotic. Crews backtrack across town. Routes aren’t optimized. Traffic, jobsite delays, and inefficient sequencing take their toll. By the end of the day, only six deliveries are completed. The remaining four roll into Tuesday.

Now, a handful of Tuesday’s 10 deliveries end up getting pushed to Wednesday. Pickups start piling up, and before long, you’re managing a full-blown rollover backlog.

Why Backlogs Happen in the First Place

Pickup and delivery backlogs aren’t usually caused by lack of effort or poor planning. They’re the result of manual processes that can’t keep up with the complexity of modern rental operations.

Most rental companies naturally prioritize deliveries over pickups. You can’t start billing a customer for a $100-a-day bulldozer until it’s delivered. If a customer is finished with a machine, that pickup can often wait a day or two without immediate revenue impact.

But those delayed pickups come at a cost. Equipment sits idle in customer yards instead of turning for the next rental. When pickups keep rolling over day after day, outside hauling costs often follow to dig your team out of a hole that’s too large to handle without help.

The Rollover Effect

Each missed stop doesn’t just affect today; it disrupts tomorrow’s schedule, and the next day’s, and the next. Dispatchers end up fighting fires instead of proactively planning, drivers spend more time on the road than necessary, and even with experienced teams, it becomes nearly impossible to consistently “dig out” of the backlog using spreadsheets.

Reducing Pickup Backlogs

When internal fleets are stretched thin by inefficient routing, outsourcing becomes the default solution. Route optimization software helps rental companies regain control of their schedules, freeing up capacity within their own fleet and keeping hauling dollars in-house.

InTempo’s customer, Black Diamond Equipment Rental, saw this firsthand. Within several months of implementing InTempo CTX, they reduced their pickup backlog by more than 60% while also lowering outside hauling costs by more than 80% and improving their yard turn times.

“InTempo CTX has fixed our number one problem with excessive outside hauling. 95% of our customers have us deliver and pick up their equipment. It’s cheaper to do this in-house. Additionally, by using our workforce more efficiently – the trucks we already have, the drivers we already have – we have substantially reduced the cost of retrieving our gear.”

-Oliver Herndon, Chief Analytics Officer

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From Reactive to Predictable Operations

With route optimization software in place, dispatch teams move from reacting to yesterday’s problems to confidently planning today’s work. Instead of constantly reshuffling schedules, they can trust the system to account for constraints and build routes that work. Drivers spend less time driving empty miles and more time completing revenue-generating stops. Customers get their equipment when promised and pick up when expected.

See What Route Optimization Software Can Do for Your Operation

Rollover backlogs don’t have to be “just another day in the rental industry”. With the right technology, rental companies can break the rollover cycle, improve efficiency, and get more value out of their existing resources.

If you’re interested in seeing how InTempo CTX can help reduce backlogs, optimize routes, and lower hauling costs in your operation, contact us today or schedule a demo.