Frequently Asked Questions

Customers

How do I add a customer?

There are several ways to add customers:

1. Dashboard — go to Customers > Add Customer, fill in their name, email, phone, address, and select a service plan
2. Enrollment form — share your public enrollment link (nextroute.app/enroll/your-slug) and customers sign up themselves
3. Field sales — use the mobile app's field sales flow to enroll customers door-to-door
4. Import — use the CSV import tool under Tools > Migration & Import to bulk-import customers
5. API — call POST /api/customers with the customer data

After creation, the customer's address is automatically geocoded and matched to a service zone if one exists.

How do I change a customer's service plan?

1. Go to Customers and find the customer
2. Open their profile
3. Under Service Plan, select a new plan from the dropdown
4. Save the changes

The plan change takes effect on the next billing cycle. If the customer is on a master route, their stop frequency will update to match the new plan's frequency.

Can a customer have multiple properties?

Yes. Each customer can have multiple properties (e.g., a primary residence and a rental property). Each property has its own address, zone assignment, bin configuration, and service plan. Properties are managed from the customer detail page or via the Properties API.

Routes

Why didn't my route generate?

Route generation can be skipped for several reasons. Check each of these:

What is the difference between a master route and a daily route?

A master route (route template) is a reusable template that defines which customers/properties are serviced, in what order, and how often. It is linked to a service zone and optionally a default driver.

A daily route is a concrete instance generated from a master route for a specific date. It contains the actual stops to be completed that day, accounting for frequency, skips, blackouts, and vacation holds.

See Master Routes and Daily Routes for full details.

How do I optimize the stop order?

1. Open the master route in Master Routes
2. Click the Optimize button
3. NextRoute uses the Mapbox Optimization API to calculate the shortest driving path
4. The stops are automatically reordered

You can also provide a depot location to optimize with a start/end point. If the Mapbox API is unavailable, a nearest-neighbor algorithm is used as a fallback.

Skips

How do skips work?

A skip marks a stop as intentionally not serviced on a given route. Skips can happen in two ways:

1. Driver-initiated — the driver taps "Skip" in the mobile app and selects a reason (e.g., "Gate locked", "Contaminated", "No access")
2. Dispatcher-initiated — a dispatcher skips a stop from the route detail page in the dashboard

Each skip requires a skip category (reason). Common categories include:

• Gate locked
• No access
• Contaminated bin
• Weather
• Customer request

Do skipped stops get rescheduled?

This depends on your settings. Some skip categories can be configured to trigger automatic rescheduling. When a stop is skipped with a reschedulable reason, it can be added to the next available route. See Skip & Reschedule for details.

Can I create custom skip categories?

Yes. Go to Settings > Routes & Scheduling to add, edit, or remove skip categories. Each category has a name and an optional flag for whether it triggers rescheduling.

Billing

How does auto-billing work?

Auto-billing generates invoices automatically based on each customer's service plan and billing frequency. When enabled:

1. At the start of each billing period, an invoice is created for every active customer
2. If the customer has a payment method on file, the invoice is charged automatically
3. If payment fails, the invoice is marked as overdue and a retry is attempted

See Auto-Billing for setup instructions.

What happens when a customer misses a service?

If a stop is skipped due to a company-side reason (weather, driver error, etc.), a missed service credit can be issued. This reduces the customer's next invoice by the prorated amount. See Missed Service Credits.

How do promo codes work?

Promo codes offer a discount (percentage or fixed amount) to new customers during enrollment. They can be limited by total uses and optionally combined with referral rewards. See Promos.

Scheduling

How do blackout dates work?

Blackout dates are company-wide non-service days (holidays, weather events, etc.). When a blackout date is set:

• Route generation is suppressed for that date
• The calendar shows a red indicator
• Existing routes on that date can optionally be canceled

Manage blackout dates from Settings > Routes & Scheduling or see Blackout Dates.

How do vacation holds work?

Customers can request a vacation hold for a date range. During the hold:

• Their stops are excluded from generated routes
• Billing can optionally be paused
• The hold is shown on the customer's profile and in the calendar

See Vacation Holds.

What do "weekly", "biweekly", and "monthly" frequencies mean?

Account & Team

How many users can I have?

This depends on your plan tier. Owner and dispatcher seats are unlimited on all plans. Driver seats are billed per-seat and the maximum is determined by your subscription plan. See Plans & Pricing.

Can I have multiple owners?

Yes. There is no limit on the number of owners. Multiple owners is recommended so that team management is not dependent on a single person.

Integrations

Does NextRoute integrate with Stripe?

Yes. NextRoute uses Stripe for:

• Customer billing — invoices and payment collection
• Tap to Pay — in-person payment collection via the mobile app
• Subscription billing — your NextRoute account subscription
• Webhooks — payment status updates are received via Stripe webhooks

See Webhooks for technical details.

Related Pages

• Getting Started — initial setup walkthrough
• Onboarding — step-by-step onboarding guide
• Glossary — definitions of key terms