Start by pricing each type of work on its own terms. A courier company usually does several kinds of delivery, and each one earns money in a different way. A strong delivery service business plan shows this clearly.
In Crosshaul’s example, contract routes bring in 40% of income, on-demand delivery 25%, medical and pharmacy runs 20%, and fuel surcharges 15%. A fuel surcharge is an extra fee added to the bill when fuel gets more expensive. By Year 3, those lines reach $682,000, $426,000, $341,000, and $256,000.
Each type of work is priced in its own way. Contract routes are sold by the day or by the month, and the customer is billed afterward. On-demand jobs are priced per drop, meaning per delivery, and the company can say no to them when all its vehicles are busy. Medical runs pay premium rates because the packages must be kept at the right temperature, and the company must keep records of who handled them at every step.
The plan should explain how each price is set and what it costs to deliver. It should also show which type of work pays for the fixed costs of the business, the costs that stay the same no matter how many jobs come in. In most local courier companies, that is the contract routes, because they keep vehicles busy on a predictable schedule every working day.
Second, show how the vehicles are used across the day. Eight vehicles can run contract routes in the morning, take on-demand jobs in the middle of the day, and cover scheduled pharmacy runs in the afternoon. The plan should lay out that schedule, say how many drivers it needs, and say what share of the vehicles’ hours each type of work uses.
That schedule is the real limit on how much work the company can handle, and it is where most of the profit is won or lost. It also shows when a ninth vehicle makes sense: when the company is turning away on-demand jobs because every van is already busy.
Third, decide how drivers are hired. Crosshaul uses two kinds of drivers. Some are employees. Others are owner-operators, which means drivers who own their own vehicles and are paid by settlement, a payment calculated from the work they completed. The two kinds cost different amounts, give the company different levels of control over service quality, and come with different legal obligations.
The plan should say which work each group does, how owner-operators are paid, and how the company makes sure medical runs are always handled by trained drivers who follow the rules. It should also say how a route gets covered when a driver is sick or a vehicle is off the road.
These obligations belong in the risk register, because disputes over whether a driver is an employee or a contractor can be costly. Owner-operators bring their own vehicles, so the company has to pay for fewer of its own. But the company then has less control over the condition of those vehicles and how they look to customers. The plan should say how that trade-off is handled.
Fourth, choose customers that fit the vehicles. Local shops, law firms, labs, pharmacies, and clinics all need different vehicles, hours, and handling. A florist wants a morning delivery, while a pharmacy wants a guaranteed delivery window. The same van rarely suits both. Pharmacy and medical customers pay more, but they require equipment and procedures that ordinary couriers don’t have.
Count how many customers can realistically be reached in each group using bottom-up market sizing, which builds the market number from real customers instead of from a big industry total. Then map the other companies already serving them with a competitive analysis. Deciding which group to win first is also the most important step in defining the idea.
