When the Salvation Army first began their donation drive several years ago, staff would track pickup and delivery destinations separately. Each driver would spend the morning planning his route for the day from a map book, which usually took about an hour and limited truck stops to a maximum of 20 per day. Bennettt says when one woman called the Salvation Army recently with valuable donations, staff were unable to send a truck before the woman moved the following day. The old system could take as much as 10 days before a truck was available. With CDPD, maps can be updated with new destinations while the trucks are in motion.
Customers know when to expect our trucks and drivers have more time for pickups and deliveries.
CDPD will also allow the Salvation Army to better utilize their trucks. Currently only about half of their 12-truck fleet are used to pickup donations. By coordinating pickup and delivery routes together, Bennett expects all vehicles to be busy. And at the end of the day, it means more donations for those who really need it. This site will be updated frequently.