Sussex Transport has been using What3Words to increase the accuracy of its deliveries rather than relying solely on postcodes.
The system divides the globe into 3m squares that all have their own three word codes, which when typed into What3Words’ website, reveal the squares’ real-world location.
MD Damian Pulford told CM: “Of course you can use Google maps, plenty of phone calls, interpretations and annotations. You get drawings and mock-ups, and instructions like ‘just over that wall’. But that can and does lead to confusion, especially as instructions filter through multiple contacts.”
What3Words is free for both the haulier and its customers to use, and it has made Sussex Transport’s life easier when delivering to more obscure locations without postcodes, such as fields or load bays.
Pulford said: “We do a lot of deliveries to larges offices like Facebook in London, and we cant always find the load bay at first. But after we looked it up on What3Words we knew exactly where to drop our load. Knowing exactly where to go when on site has saved our drivers lots of time, and they can even deliver when the customer isn’t present, because we already have their three words highlighting the drop-off point.”
Sussex Transport has created and launched a web-based quoting tool too using the software, which allows potential and existing customers to run through a quote request, and at the same time advise its planning team of collection and delivery locations, as well as upload additional images and files.
The firm’s drivers receive the three-word code from the planning team ahead of departure via Android tablets inside of Sussex Transport’s 20-strong fleet of Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Scania tractors and rigids.
