Logistics Operations: scheduling, contracts and insurance

01

From one driver to a schedule: demand and capacity

In simple words

Think of a bus. If more children want a seat than the bus has, someone gets left behind. If the bus is nearly empty, you waste fuel. A logistics business tries to have just enough seats for the children who will come, plus a few spare ones.

Key facts

Before this course: Fleet & Routes: costs, routing and safety (course 2.22.2). You can already work out utilization, total cost per paid km, cost per stop and profit per route. This course adds people, paperwork and systems around those numbers.
Demand is how many stops (or parcels, or loads) customers ask you to do, by day and by time window. Look at your last 4 to 8 weeks. Most businesses have busy days and quiet days.
Capacity is how many stops one driver and one vehicle can finish safely in one shift.
Productive hours per shift = shift length minus breaks, loading and cleaning time, and a buffer.
Minutes per stop = driving time between stops + handover time + parking and walking time.
Stops per shift = productive minutes ÷ minutes per stop.
Buffer capacity. Plan to use about 80 to 90% of capacity on a normal day (a planning habit, not a law). The rest absorbs traffic, a failed delivery and one extra order.
Peak day vs average day. Capacity must cover the peak days you promise to serve, or you need a rule such as "orders after 3 pm go on tomorrow's route".
Fixed vs flexible capacity. Your own driver and van are fixed capacity. Extra capacity can come from a part-time driver, a rented vehicle or a partner courier for peak days.
Cut-off times. A cut-off time (for example "orders in by 1 pm ship the same day") keeps tomorrow's workload known today.

Example (practice numbers only)

Item	Value
Shift length	9 hours (540 minutes)
Breaks, loading, vehicle check	90 minutes
Buffer	40 minutes
Productive minutes	540 - 90 - 40 = 410
Minutes per stop (clustered area)	14
Stops per shift	410 ÷ 14 = about 29
Normal-day load target (85%)	about 25 stops
Busiest day last month	41 stops

The gap (41 stops against 29) shows the business needs a second driver, a partner or a cut-off rule on its busiest day.

Step by step

Export or write down the number of stops for each day over the last 4 to 8 weeks.
Find the average day and the busiest day. Mark which days of the week are busy.
Time a typical route: shift length, breaks, loading, and time per stop. Calculate your minutes per stop (names of apps and menus can differ by version).
Work out productive minutes and stops per shift with the formulas above.
Set a normal-day target of 80 to 90% of capacity and write it down.
Compare your busiest day with one shift of capacity. Choose one option for the gap: second driver, partner, rented vehicle or a cut-off rule.
Check: you can say, in one sentence, "One driver can do about X stops, my busiest day is Y, and I cover the gap by Z."

LESSON 01From one driver to a schedule: demand and capacity

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "Before you hire anyone, count the seats on your bus. That is capacity."
[Text on screen: Productive minutes ÷ minutes per stop] "Take the shift, subtract breaks and a buffer, then divide by the minutes each stop takes."
[Screen: calendar with busy and quiet days] "Now look at your busiest day. If it is bigger than one shift, plan for it before the orders arrive."
[Host] "A second driver, a partner, or a cut-off time. Pick one on purpose."

Try it now

Using your real or practice stops from the last few weeks, calculate stops per shift for one driver, your normal-day target, and the size of the gap on your busiest day. Write the option you choose.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Logistics Operations: scheduling, contracts and insurance" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "From one driver to a schedule: demand and capacity".

What the lesson teaches:
- Before this course: Fleet & Routes: costs, routing and safety (course 2.22.2). You can already work out utilization, total cost per paid km, cost per stop and profit per route. This course adds people, paperwork and systems around those numbers.
- Demand is how many stops (or parcels, or loads) customers ask you to do, by day and by time window. Look at your last 4 to 8 weeks. Most businesses have busy days and quiet days.
- Capacity is how many stops one driver and one vehicle can finish safely in one shift.
- Productive hours per shift = shift length minus breaks, loading and cleaning time, and a buffer.
- Minutes per stop = driving time between stops + handover time + parking and walking time.
- Stops per shift = productive minutes ÷ minutes per stop.
- Buffer capacity. Plan to use about 80 to 90% of capacity on a normal day (a planning habit, not a law). The rest absorbs traffic, a failed delivery and one extra order.

The exercise I'm working on:
Using your real or practice stops from the last few weeks, calculate stops per shift for one driver, your normal-day target, and the size of the gap on your busiest day. Write the option you choose. ---

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "From one driver to a schedule: demand and capacity" from the course "Logistics Operations: scheduling, contracts and insurance".

Here's what the lesson says:
Think of a bus. If more children want a seat than the bus has, someone gets left behind. If the bus is nearly empty, you waste fuel. A logistics business tries to have just enough seats for the children who will come, plus a few spare ones.

The activity:
Using your real or practice stops from the last few weeks, calculate stops per shift for one driver, your normal-day target, and the size of the gap on your busiest day. Write the option you choose. ---

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

Open Claude

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