2026 Delivery Service Area Planning Spreadsheet Excel Free Template

1. Set the planning assumptions

On Settings, edit the green value cells in Settings!B4:B18. Enter the planning date, depot name, depot ZIP Code, average travel speed, service minutes per stop, and average fuel economy. Review the remaining cost rates and thresholds because they control fuel, vehicle, labor, fixed-route, capacity, margin, density, distance, and annualized contribution calculations. The supplied values are planning samples and should be checked for the fleet and operating period being evaluated.

2. Replace the sample service areas

Service Areas rows 6 through 205 are prepared for operating records. Yellow cells in A6:N205 are user inputs. The populated samples include Downtown Dallas and Uptown; blank prepared rows are available for actual areas. For each record, enter an Area ID, inclusion choice, area name, five-digit ZIP Code, city, state, primary service day, service days per week, estimated weekly stops, one-way miles, average miles between stops, average revenue per stop, and priority. Notes are optional.

Cell controls limit Include? to Yes or No, states to listed U.S. abbreviations, service days to 1 through 7, estimated stops to 1 through 500, and priority to High, Medium, or Low. Additional controls check weekday selections and numeric distance and revenue entries.

3. Review the calculated area results

Blue cells in O6:AJ205 contain formulas and are not operating inputs. They calculate base and local route miles, drive and service hours, weekly revenue, gallons, four cost categories, total cost, contribution, margin, stops per service day, and stops per route mile. They also assign capacity, financial, recommendation, and input-check statuses. The Input Check output flags duplicate Area IDs or required information that is missing or invalid.

4. Read the portfolio summary

On Dashboard, review included-area counts, stops, route miles, gallons, driver hours, weekly revenue, weekly cost, weekly contribution, contribution margin, and annualized contribution. Separate tables summarize recommendation categories and included areas by priority. The single chart shows area counts for the six planning recommendation categories.

Each service area can be identified by Area ID, name, ZIP Code, city, and state. Operational entries add a primary service day, weekly service frequency, expected demand, one-way depot distance, local distance between stops, revenue per stop, and priority. This structure lets dispatchers compare dense urban areas, suburban zones, and longer-distance territories with the same fields.

Primary Service Day is informational. Service Days/Week determines how many weekly depot round trips are included in the mileage calculation. Area IDs should be unique, while included records need complete location, demand, distance, revenue, and priority inputs to receive an OK input status.

Base route miles equal two times the one-way miles times service days per week. Local miles use estimated stops beyond the first stop on each service day multiplied by average miles between stops. Adding those figures produces total route miles per week.

Drive hours divide route miles by the average travel speed entered on Settings. Service hours multiply stops by service minutes per stop and convert minutes to hours. Total driver hours combine drive and service time, while average hours per service day support the capacity review. These are planning estimates rather than route-level schedules.

Weekly revenue equals estimated stops multiplied by average revenue per stop. Fuel gallons are based on route miles and the entered miles-per-gallon assumption. Fuel, other vehicle, labor, and fixed-route costs are added to produce total weekly cost in U.S. dollars.

Contribution/Week subtracts modeled weekly cost from weekly revenue. The sheet also calculates contribution margin, stops per service day, and stops per route mile. These measures make it possible to separate a pricing or cost concern from a route-density concern without treating contribution as accounting profit.

The Planning Recommendation applies a defined review order. Incomplete included records receive Complete Inputs. Areas over the hours-per-day or one-way-distance threshold receive Review Capacity/Distance. Areas below the contribution-margin target receive Review Pricing/Costs, and areas below the stops-per-route-mile target receive Build Density. An included area that clears those checks receives Recommended.

Rows marked No receive Exclude instead of being added to headline operating totals. Priority remains a separate user choice, allowing Dashboard to summarize included High, Medium, and Low areas by count, stops, revenue, and contribution.