Equalizers
In complex vehicle routing scenarios, optimization focused solely on minimizing total cost commonly produces unbalanced routes. One vehicle might be assigned 18 drops while another gets 4; one driver might run from early morning to late evening while another finishes before lunch. Each plan is cheap, but the shift pattern behind it is rarely something a depot manager can hand to drivers, and it leads to problems with driver fairness, overtime costs, and inconsistent vehicle utilization.