Field Notes: What a Week of Wholesale Routes Actually Looks Like

Field Notes is a short monthly write-up pulled straight from the recaps we send our dealer partners every week. No theory, just what happened on live wholesale routes and what we changed because of it. Written for VPs of Fixed Operations who want to know how the delivery side actually behaves.

What we saw this month

• Late-morning add-on orders, not the first run, are where most missed promise times start.
• Oblong freight, bumper covers, fascias, glass, still drives the majority of re-loads. Vehicle sizing matters more than route count.
• Body shops with a single receiving door lose more time to the door than to the drive.

What we changed

• Moved the second run 45 minutes later on two markets so the add-on window lands inside it.
• Flagged oblong-heavy accounts for a larger vehicle by default instead of on request.
• Added a receiving-door note to every stop record so a covering driver isn't guessing.

What it means for your parts department

None of the above required your team to do anything. That's the point: the delivery operation should be adjusting around your counter, not the other way around. If your parts manager is still triaging routes and fielding "where are my parts?" calls, that time is showing up somewhere in your P&L.