High-Stakes Mail Screening Demands Reliable Logistics
SoBran Incorporated is a multidisciplinary government contractor that also serves commercial clients. Among its portfolio of services, including bioscience and medical research support, SoBran operates SafeMail, a mail security program that screens incoming mail for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive contaminants before it reaches a client’s facility.
The service is built for organizations with high public profiles: political organizations, financial institutions, nonprofits, and other entities that could be targets. As Adam Oliver, Vice President of Operations at SoBran, puts it: “If your name is a household name, it would benefit you to have your mail screened.”
SafeMail is an entirely mobile operation. SoBran’s drivers travel to postal hubs, pick up mail on behalf of clients using caller service holds, transport it to a screening facility, and, once it’s confirmed clean, deliver it directly to the client. The company essentially becomes the client’s mail carrier, mapping out pickup, screening, and delivery routes much like a UPS, FedEx, or USPS operation. The program originated in response to the anthrax attacks following September 11, 2001, and has operated continuously since.
“Back-of-the-Napkin” Planning Slowed Quoting and Operations
Before adopting the Route4Me last mile transportation platform, SoBran’s route planning was a manual, time-intensive process. When prospective customers requested pricing, Oliver and his team had to work through each address by hand, determining which existing route a new stop fit into, then calculating the added mileage and cost impact.
“A lot of that route planning was back-of-the-napkin type route planning,” Oliver explains. The team would review their existing routes, identify which one a new address best aligned with, and then try to calculate the financial impact.
Quoting a single prospect with multiple locations could consume every available hour before a pitch meeting. Splitting transportation costs between clients sharing overlapping routes added another layer of complexity.
The process left little room to do what actually mattered: spending time with the customer. “They really don’t care how the sausage is made,” Oliver says. “They just want it made.”
SoBran Turns Days of Planning Into Minutes
SoBran began using the Route4Me last mile transportation platform in June after being introduced to it through their existing Geotab telematics provider. Oliver had been tracking vehicles with Geotab for several years but lacked a route planning layer. When he asked Geotab for help closing that gap, they connected him with Route4Me.
The impact on quoting was immediate. A prospect requesting coverage for seven locations in Washington, D.C., a scenario that previously required every available hour before a pitch meeting, became a 10-minute exercise. “That frees me up so much,” Oliver says. “I can actually focus on the customer, explain the services, and spend time with them instead of spending time for them by planning routes.”
Precise Cost Allocation Delivers Better Pricing to Clients
The platform also transformed how SoBran allocates transportation costs across its client base. Rather than estimating per-mile charges and splitting expenses between clients on overlapping routes, Oliver can now see exactly how much drive time each client adds. He can show a client that a specific 15-minute segment belongs entirely to them, and if that client departs, so does that cost.
“It keeps us better situated, better organized, and allows us to provide better pricing to our clients,” he says.
Drivers Still Bring What No Software Can
Oliver is quick to point out that route optimization works best alongside the institutional knowledge his drivers carry. His team averages at least seven years with the company, and they know things no system can replicate: which construction crews on the Beltway will shut down 15 lanes when 2 would do, and which streets lack loading zones (and when the cops check).
The platform handles the logic. The drivers handle the reality. “Route4Me tells you that, logically, this is the right place to put that route,” Oliver says. “But we don’t live in a logical world. We live in the District of Columbia.”
About SoBran Incorporated
SoBran Incorporated is a multidisciplinary government and commercial contractor. Its services span bioscience research support and the SafeMail program, a mail security operation that screens mail for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threats. SoBran’s SafeMail teams operate in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, California, and New York, providing end-to-end mail pickup, screening, and delivery for high-profile organizations.
