I always loaded by zone meaning that I spent little time loading, but still knew almost exactly where the package was and manifest stop number meant nothing , and in most cases, I saw the package a couple times more while grabbing the package for the current stop. Fedex stop numbers meant nothing on my rural route because the route could change drastically every day because of just 1-2 packages being so far off the path. And when I grabbed the package for the current stop, I always located the package for the next stop, and if small enough, put it next to the drivers seat. If I had allowed anyone else to load by stop number, I would have been screwed with packages buried. My route ran about 30 miles along a freeway and 20 miles into the forests on either side, with some deliveries separated by 20 or more miles because roads didn't all connect- Roads ran parallel to the freeway miles away with one package sometimes throwing off the whole route. Computer routing ALWAYS started me closest to the terminal and ended me at furthest point, while sometimes (often) the most efficient was to make a loop, or a loop inside a loop, or a figure 8, with sometimes the last cluster of stops in a town being the last stops of the day, or possibly one stop on my way home 50 miles from my next to last stop. But no matter what order I delivered in, I always knew where the package was in the truck. The one-off rural stops were one 'zone' in themselves, even if they may have been 100 miles apart by road between them.
