# Route Optimization Software for Small Business: Twelve Stops, Two Vans, One Morning

Route planning and optimization software for small business puts each day's stops in order on the driver's phone, with ETAs. Worked example, costs, setup.

Source: https://www.highpointgps.com/resources/route-optimization-software-for-small-business
By Israel Margulies, CEO & Founder, published 2026-09-18, updated 2026-10-13

## What Does Route Optimization Software Do for a Small Business?

Route planning and optimization software puts a small business's daily stops in a sensible order on each driver's phone, with an ETA you can give the customer. A plumber with three vans, a bakery with two delivery routes and a florist on a Saturday all face the routing problem large fleets solve, at a size where the owner has been solving it in their head. Stops come in from a booking system, a spreadsheet or a phone call. Someone groups them by area and hands each driver a list, and the drivers reorder it in the van. That works until the day has twelve stops and a time window, and the two vans cross paths twice.

## How Much Does Optimization Save? A Before and After

Take twelve stops across a city and two vans, with one customer on a 9 to 11 window and another who is not home before ten. Planned by hand along neighbourhood lines, the two routes ran 128 km and the last drop landed at 3:40 in the afternoon, with one van backtracking across town for the time window. Given the same stops, the same vans and the two constraints, the optimizer produced routes totalling 91 km that finished at 2:05. It put the windowed stop second on the nearer van and the late customer last on the other. On one ordinary day, that saved 37 km and an hour and a half of driver time, and for a small business that recovered time can mean a van it does not have to add.

![Diagram of a dispatched job from orders in, route optimization, the driver app and proof of delivery](https://www.highpointgps.com/images/figures/dispatch-route-flow.webp)

*How a job moves through dispatch software: orders become an optimized route, a stop list in the driver's app and a signed, timestamped delivery.*

## What Does Small-Business Routing Cost, and How Does It Connect?

Small-business routing tools are often billed per driver or per vehicle per month, and each vendor quotes its own rate. You get a planning screen for whoever builds the day and a phone app for the driver with the stop list, navigation and proof of delivery. Connected to a GPS tracking platform such as the High Point GPS platform through the add-on library, the tool also knows where the vans are. A stop added at eleven goes to the closest van, and the owner can give a customer an ETA from the screen without calling the driver. If you already track your vans, routing comes in as an app on that system.

## How Do You Choose a Route Planning Tool?

Ask whether it handles time windows and vehicle-specific rules, and whether the driver app works offline. Check that it imports stops from the booking or invoicing system you already use and re-sequences during the day from live positions. Then ask what happens to the price when the fleet grows from three vans to eight. High Point GPS sets up routing tools connected to the High Point GPS platform for small fleets across Canada and the United States, alongside the tracking device install.

## The Twelve Stops, Both Ways

Here is the example above as the two plans a small business would compare. The figures are an illustrative example, rounded.

|  | Planned by hand | Optimized |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Total distance | 128 km | 91 km |
| Last drop completed | 3:40 p.m. | 2:05 p.m. |
| Time-window stop (9 to 11) | Van 2, fourth stop, arrived 10:52 | Van 1, second stop, arrived 9:20 |
| Customer not home before 10 | Van 1, third stop, re-visited at 2:10 | Van 2, last stop, arrived 1:45 |
| Cross-town backtracks | 2 | 0 |
| Driver hours | 12.4 | 10.9 |

## FAQ

### Is route optimization worth it for a small business?

Yes, once each van has more than a handful of stops and any time windows. Savings depend on your stops and time windows; in the example above, one day saved 37 km and an hour and a half of driver time. For a small business, that recovered capacity is a van it does not have to add.

### What does small-business route optimization cost?

Routing tools are often billed per driver or per vehicle per month, and each vendor quotes its own rate, so ask for a quote. The price normally includes the planning screen for whoever builds the day and the driver app with the stop list, navigation and proof of delivery. Ask how it changes as the fleet grows.

### Can it connect to my GPS tracking?

Yes. Routing tools in the add-on library available on the High Point GPS platform use your vans' live positions to assign new stops to the closest van and to give customers ETAs. If you already track your vans on the High Point GPS platform, routing runs as an app on that same system.

### Do I need a dispatcher to use it?

No. The owner or office staff can build the day in a few minutes by loading the stops and letting the tool sequence them. Drivers then follow the stop list in the phone app, so a small business can run optimized routes without hiring anyone to plan them.

### What about free route planners?

Free route planners sequence a single route well. They rarely handle multiple vehicles, time windows, a driver app with proof of delivery, or live re-sequencing during the day, the features a business running two or three vans needs every day.