Luba / Guides

How to organize your party rental deliveries and pickups for the day

We make Luba, the app in the “With Luba” boxes. The list, the order and Google Maps work just as well without the app.

What you need: Tomorrow’s bookings · Each customer’s exact location · Google Maps or Waze on your phone

1. Make the day’s list the night before

   Put everything that happens tomorrow on one list: deliveries and pickups, including anything that was due back and hasn’t come back. For each stop:

   Who: the name and phone number of the customer or whoever will be there.

   Where: the address, a map pin and a note for finding it (“blue house, side gate”).

   When: the delivery window you agreed on. If the party starts at 3 PM, setup can’t finish at 2:55.

   What: how many of each item you drop off or pick up.

   How much: the balance due and the security deposit, if it’s collected on delivery.

   With Luba

   Luba notifies you the night before how many deliveries and returns you have tomorrow. Today shows what goes out and what comes back, with the time and the address, and at the top, who hasn’t returned on time.

   

2. Get the exact location

   An address alone isn’t always enough: venues with several buildings, a backyard reached through a side gate, a park pavilion. When you confirm the booking, ask the customer to send their location pin and a note on where to unload.

   A text you can copy:

   “Hi Emily, for Saturday’s delivery, could you send me your location pin? And if you can, a note on where we should unload (side gate, driveway, back door). Thanks!”

   With Luba

   In Luba, in the customer or the booking, copy the location they sent you on WhatsApp (or a Google Maps link) and tap Paste location. Write the note under How to get there: it shows up in the booking and on the route.

   

3. Order the stops: time first, then area

   Put the stops with a fixed time first, the ones that can’t wait. Group the rest by area so you don’t cross town twice. Pickups go in when you’re nearby or at the end of the day.

   Count the time at each stop, not just the drive: unloading 100 chairs takes a while, and putting up a tent takes much longer. Leave room for rush-hour traffic.

   Load the truck in reverse delivery order: the last drop-off goes in first. Keep each order together and label it, so no one ends up with pieces from another order.

   With Luba

   In Luba, tap Route on Today: you see today’s or tomorrow’s stops on a map and in a list. Hold a stop to move it and put them in the order you want.

4. Build the route in Google Maps with multiple stops

   In Google Maps, search for the first stop and tap Directions. Then, in the three-dot menu, tap Add stop and add the rest. You can drag them to change the order.

   Two things to know: Google Maps follows the order you enter (it doesn’t reorder the stops for you), and it takes about 10 locations per route, counting the start. If you have more stops, split the day into two routes, morning and afternoon.

   Note

   Waze isn’t built for routes with many stops: use it to get from one stop to the next.

   With Luba

   In Luba, every stop on the Route that has its location shows Go: it opens that spot in Google Maps or Waze, whichever you choose.

5. Send the list to whoever drives

   If someone else delivers, send them the list in order, with everything they need so they don’t have to call you at every stop. For example:

   “Route for Saturday. 1. Deliver at 10:00 AM · Sarah Davis · (512) 555-0174 · 1507 Maple Dr, blue house, side gate · (location) · Take: 120 folding chairs and 12 round tables · Balance due: $544. 2. Pick up · David Miller · (512) 555-0119 · Pick up: 20 folding chairs and 2 round tables.”

   Ask them to count with the customer at drop-off and pickup, and to send you a photo if anything arrives or comes back broken. And to text each customer half an hour ahead: “Hi Sarah, we’re on our way with your chairs, about 30 minutes out.”

   With Luba

   In Luba, Send to my helper, on the Route, sends the stops in your order by WhatsApp: what to do and when, the customer and their phone, the address with the note and the location link, what to drop off or pick up, and the balance due.

6. At the end of the day, record what went out and what came back

   Mark every delivery as done and every pickup as received, with anything that came back broken or missing. If someone hasn’t returned their items, call them that same evening: you’ll need those pieces for the next booking.

   For deposits and damage, see the guide on party rental security deposits. To avoid promising pieces that haven’t come back yet, see how to avoid double booking.

   With Luba

   In Luba, in the booking, tap Mark as out when you deliver and Receive return when you pick up. Anything not back on time shows up at the top of Today, with Message to text the customer.