The productivity of a delivery process is measured by the time used and by the quantity of goods delivered on as single delivery.  The time factor means that delivery productivity is restricted by the available time per day (and is dependent on the driver’s maximum shift time).  Since each stop consumes a certain amount of time the typical daily number of stops (in the logistics service provider industry it is called “stop factor”) is betwween 15 and 20 per day in LTL.

The weight factor implies that in case of large shipments the stop factor will be lower than 15-20, because the vehicle load capacity will be reached already with few deliveries.  This load capacity (approx. 2.8-3.2 t for a truck with 7.5 t overall weight) allows for about 15 stops of 0.2 t each.

Time restriction is the most relevant one in typical LTL (and DSD) operations since for delivery routes with lower stop numbers, the costs per stop increase correspondingly.

On the level of the individual delivery it is still necessary to distinguish between the delivery stop on the one hand and the delivery of one order on the other hand.  In case of one order being delivered in one stop both are identical.  If, however, two or more orders are delivered withing the same stop, the stop costs are allocated so several orders and the delivery costs for each individual order decrease to 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc. of the stop costs.