What is Delivery density?
How many deliveries fit into a given area or driver-hour — the variable that decides cost per delivery more than wages ever do.
Density is the number of completed stops per paid driver-hour, or equivalently how tightly deliveries cluster in an area. It is the single most important economic variable in local delivery, and it is routinely overlooked in favour of pay rates, which matter far less.
The reason is structural: most of your cost is fixed once a driver leaves the depot. The van, the insurance, the paid hour and the fuel to reach the area are spent whether that hour contains two stops or five. So cost per delivery falls steeply as density rises, while a courier’s flat per-delivery fee does not.
Local fleets typically run between two and six stops per driver-hour. Moving from three to five cuts cost per delivery by roughly a third without changing anybody’s pay, which is why planning, batching and territory design belong in a cost conversation.
In PrivateMile: stops per driver-hour and distance per stop are reported per route and per driver from completed work, so density is a number you watch rather than a feeling you have.