Outcall Dispatch — Plan The Pick-Up When You Plan The Drop-Off

Five drop-offs between nine and ten. Three drivers get everyone out. Then you notice nobody is free for the 10:10 pick-up — every car is across town.

⚠️ Plan around drop-offs alone and the cars vanish when pick-ups come due.

The short version

• Every booking is two jobs: the drop-off and the pick-up
• Plan them as if different drivers can take each
• Track each driver in five states: dropping off, picking up, waiting, heading back, finished
• Work pick-ups back from the end of the session
• Record departure, pick-up and return times — they change how you plan next week

Why pick-ups go short

Drop-offs arrive as bookings come in
Pick-ups arrive bunched at the end of sessions
⇒ a wave of pick-ups lands 60–90 minutes after the wave of drop-offs

⇒ If drop-offs are planned without looking at that second wave, everyone is far away when it hits.

Split the drop-off from the pick-up

Drop-off …base → guest (driver A)
Pick-up  …guest → next job or base (driver B)

⇒ A driver who drops off and waits takes a car off the road for the whole session. If another driver is nearby, they can collect instead.

⚠️ Whether to split depends on distance. Set a line — same driver for short runs, split for long ones.

Five states

Dropping off …entertainer on board, heading out
Picking up   …heading to collect
Waiting      …parked near a job
Heading back …returning to base
Finished     …done for the night

⇒ Without this, the desk phones drivers one by one to find out where they are. Have drivers set their own state.

Work pick-ups backwards

Session ends 22:10
⇒ want a car nearby by 22:00
⇒ who can leave at 21:40?

⇒ When you plan a drop-off, decide who will do its pick-up at the same time.

Record the times

Left base ／ arrived ／ collected ／ back at base

⇒ After a few weeks you know real journey times by hotel and area, and pick-ups stop running late.

The numbers to keep

One   pick-up delay (minutes after session end)
Two   jobs per driver per night
Three total waiting time
Four  one-way minutes by hotel and area

⚠️ When One climbs, drop-offs are being planned without the pick-ups in view.

A sheet for the office

────────────────────────────────────
  Dispatch

  One booking = drop-off + pick-up (can be different drivers)
  Driver states: dropping off / picking up / waiting / heading back / finished
  Pick-ups planned back from session end
  Record: left / arrived / collected / back
────────────────────────────────────

Common objections

"It's simpler if the driver just waits"

⇒ It is. Count the car you lose for the whole session.

"Drivers won't update their state"

⚠️ They will once it means less time waiting for the next job.

"No time to record times"

⇒ One line when the driver checks in is enough.

This week

One   count last night's pick-up delays
Two   chart the drop-off wave against the pick-up wave
Three set the distance line for splitting jobs
Four  get drivers setting their own state
Five  start noting journey times by hotel and area

Doing it by hand, or on a screen

Splitting drop-offs and pick-ups across drivers on a whiteboard turns into a mess of arrows.

By hand …whiteboard, drop-offs and pick-ups in different colours
On screen …each booking with its own drop-off driver and pick-up driver

⇒ In tasteck, each booking takes a separate drop-off driver and pick-up driver. Drivers set their state — dropping off, picking up, waiting, heading back, finished — and their expected return time from their phone, and each booking has fields for departure, pick-up and return times (entered by the desk).

⚠️ It doesn't plan routes or pick the fastest order automatically. Who goes where is still the dispatcher's call.

Wrapping up

• Each booking is a drop-off and a pick-up
• The pick-up wave lands 60–90 minutes after the drop-offs
• Track drivers in five states
• Plan pick-ups backwards from session end
• Record times and planning gets better

A venue whose pick-ups are never late gets chosen by entertainers and guests alike.