When is it time to Split your FedEx Route? There are a few factors that both make it smart for a FedEx route owner to split a route and allow FedEx to approve the split. The owner then can continue to run both routes, or sometimes can opt to sell one of them.
“We had two things happen that made us split this area,” says John Kimber, a FedEx route owner in Spokane, Washington. “Both of them increased our stop count and route time, but they also increased revenue from the route.”
Of course, this took time, and for a while, Kimber just added an extra driver to the existing route. This wasn’t ideal, but it worked. What happened? What caused the route to split, and why did FedEx approve the split as two routes rather than one?
Here’s what you need to know, and how you know it is time to split your FedEx Route.
New Residential Development
One thing to keep an eye on is new residential development. More and more people are shopping online, and a large apartment complex (or sometimes more than one) a new residential neighborhood, or a mixed housing development can mean a large increase in stops.
With the current housing boom, if there is empty land or lots in your area, watch for the signs that it will be developed soon. Find out, if possible, how many homes or residences will be added to that area.
You’ll have to wait until you actually have data about how many additional residential deliveries this might mean, but it never hurts to be ready with a plan for an additional vehicle and a standby driver should they become necessary.
Increased Stop Count Means It’s Time to Split Your FedEx Route
In some cases, even without a huge amount of new development, your stop count will simply increase as more people choose FedEx as their delivery preference. This can mean rentals filling up, additional businesses moving into the area, or simply a surge in orders.
It’s important to note that if the surge occurs during peak, this is not the time to think of splitting a FedEx route. Peak is a natural surge time annually, and there is also a natural drop-off. An increase in stop count should be a consistent increase over time before you make this kind of business decision.
Additional Pickup Times
Shipping can also have a huge impact on how busy your route is. If a number of new businesses move into your area that ship with FedEx or some existing businesses switch to FedEx for their shipping needs, the result is often more pickup times.
Sometimes these can be scheduled close together, and if the businesses are not consolidated in a single area on your route, this can mean not only extra time spent on pickups but the possibility that you would be delayed and miss a pickup window.
As customer service, especially for pick-ups, is paramount, this may indicate it is time to split your FedEx route.
A Large Business Moves into Your Area
Lastly, watch for large businesses moving into your area. A large retailer or a manufacturing plant that does a lot of shipping can have a huge impact on not only the time spent on route, but the amount of money that route makes.
“One large business shipped a number of smaller packages every day,” Kimber told us. “And sometimes the driver would spend nearly an hour on that one pick up.” Those packages added up to dollars as well, and along with other route growth, made a split imperative.
To Sell or to Manage
Once your one route is officially split into two, you have choices. You can either manage the additional route yourself, adding a driver and a vehicle to your business. This can be good for your route business, and many FedEx route owners have multiple routes.
Another option is to sell the route. You might consider this if you already own multiple routes, you are reaching the maximum number of routes you can own in your FedEx station, or you simply don’t want the additional responsibility of managing another route and driver.
Often these new routes can be good ones to sell. It gives a new owner an in to the business with a proven and growing route in an established area, and it can inject needed revenue into your own business.
Have you split a FedEx route, want to sell, and are not sure where to find a buyer? Then contact us at Route Advisors today. We’d love to connect you with the right buyer at the right time.