Delivery Driver Job Description Template
A delivery driver moves goods the last few miles in a vehicle under 26,001 pounds — which means no CDL, and a completely different hiring problem from over-the-road trucking. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median at $21.13 an hour, but that single figure hides a $6,090 split between two jobs that get posted under the same title. Getting that split right is most of what this template is for; what reaching either driver costs, in Boostpoint's campaign data, is below.
What a delivery driver does
A delivery driver loads a route, drives it, and hands goods to the person at the other end. The vehicle is a van, a box truck or a light truck under 26,001 pounds, which is the line that decides whether a commercial driver’s license is needed — below it, a regular state license and a clean driving record are what the job asks for. Training is short: the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts it at one month or less on the job.
The occupation held 1,511,400 jobs in 2025 and is projected to grow 7% through 2035, which BLS describes as much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 152,700 openings a year. Unlike most frontline roles on this site, a real share of that is growth rather than replacement.
The pay figure is where postings go wrong. The combined median is $43,950 a year, but BLS reports the two halves separately: light truck drivers at $44,860 and driver/sales workers at $38,770. The difference is selling. A driver/sales worker takes orders, upsells and is often paid partly on commission; a light truck driver delivers. Advertising one at the other’s rate is the fastest way to fill a route with people who quit in the third week.
Delivery driver job description template
Copy this, replace everything in brackets, and delete any line you cannot honestly stand behind. Route shape, start time and home time do more work here than any adjective.
Job title
Delivery driver
Summary
[Company] is hiring delivery drivers to run [local / regional] routes out of [location] in [company-provided vans / box trucks under 26,001 lb — no CDL required]. Routes are [X] stops over [X] hours, [Monday to Friday], home every night. Pay is [$XX.XX an hour] plus [overtime / route completion bonus].
Responsibilities
- Load, secure and verify freight against the manifest before leaving
- Run an assigned route of about [X] stops, [X] miles, in [company vehicle]
- Complete pre-trip and post-trip vehicle inspections and report defects
- Deliver, obtain signatures and capture proof of delivery in [handheld / app]
- Handle packages up to [X] lb with [hand truck / lift gate / two-person lift]
- Communicate delays, refusals and address problems to dispatch in real time
- Keep the vehicle clean, fuelled and legally parked at every stop
- Reconcile undelivered items and paperwork at end of shift
Requirements
- Valid [state] driver’s license — no CDL required
- Clean driving record for the last [3] years, checked at offer
- 21 or older [for insurance purposes]
- High school diploma or equivalent [preferred, not required]
- Able to lift [X] lb repeatedly and get in and out of the cab [X] times a day
- Pass a background check and [DOT physical / drug screen] where applicable
Preferred
- Prior route, courier or last-mile experience
- Experience with [route or scanning app]
- Comfort with [lift gate / pallet jack / refrigerated freight]
- Familiarity with [service area]
- [Forklift certification] for dock work between routes
Schedule and pay
- [Monday to Friday, X am start, home every night — no overnights]
- [Route is fixed — the same stops and the same customers each week]
- [Overtime after X hours, paid at time and a half]
- [Weekly pay]; [route completion or safety bonus of $X]
- [Company vehicle, fuel card and uniform provided]
Benefits
- Health, dental and vision from day [1 / 30 / 60]
- Paid time off and [X] paid holidays
- [401(k) with X% match]
- [Safe driving bonus]; [annual boot or gear allowance]
- [Path to a CDL, paid for, if you want it]
What the role actually requires
Six things decide whether the right drivers apply, and the first one is the one most postings forget to say.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| License | A regular state driver’s license. No CDL, because the vehicle is under 26,001 lb — say this in the first line of the ad, because a large share of drivers searching assume otherwise and never click. |
| Driving record | A clean record is the real screen, and it is the one that ends offers late. Name the lookback period in the posting so the check is not a surprise. |
| Age | Often 21 rather than 18, set by the insurer rather than the law. If yours is 18, that is a genuine advantage worth advertising. |
| Physical demands | Repeated lifting and cab entries. Give the actual weight and the actual stop count — “must be able to lift heavy items” tells a candidate nothing and screens out the wrong people. |
| Route shape | Stops, hours, home time and whether the route is fixed. Home every night is the single strongest line available to a local employer competing against over-the-road carriers. |
| Selling | If the role takes orders or upsells, it is a driver/sales worker and BLS puts its median $6,090 lower. Decide which job you are advertising before you set the rate. |
How to customize it for your setting
Last-mile and parcel
Volume hiring, short training, high early turnover. Lead with the start time, the stop count and the end time, because the candidate is comparing your route against one they already know. Vagueness here reads as a bad route.
Food and beverage distribution
Heavier freight, earlier starts, and often a driver/sales element. If the role sells, say so and price it as the different job it is — and if it does not, say “no selling”, because plenty of candidates are avoiding exactly that.
Retail, furniture and appliance delivery
Two-person crews, in-home placement and customer contact. The skill you are screening for is not driving; it is being in someone’s house without incident. Write the ad around that and the interview around a real scenario.
Local courier, pharmacy and medical
Small vehicles, many stops, chain-of-custody and confidentiality requirements. Name the compliance requirement in the posting; it filters better than any screening question and it reads as a serious employer.
What it costs to reach delivery drivers on social
Our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark publishes fifteen role families and none of them is a delivery driver family. This page is not going to borrow one, and there is one borrowing in particular worth naming: the CDL truck driver family sits at a $26.86 median, and a delivery driver is not a CDL driver. Using that row would overprice this role by roughly double and set a budget expectation your campaign will beat by a wide margin.
The honest reference point is the sector. Across 184 campaign-months of transportation and logistics campaigns the median cost per applicant was $13.34, the middle half landed between $5.26 and $25.17, the apply rate was 13% and impressions cost $14.82 per thousand. Treat that as a wide band containing both CDL and non-CDL roles rather than as a forecast for a van route. Cost per applicant is also not cost per hire — a cost per hire only exists once you divide by your own screening and driving-record pass rate, which is a number only your systems hold.
The hiring side of this role — where local drivers come from and what those campaigns cost — is covered on our delivery and last-mile driver recruiting page, and the CDL side sits separately on how to recruit CDL drivers.
Writing the ad version
The description above is a document. The ad is forty words, and for this role the first eight of them should be “No CDL required.” A large share of drivers searching assume a delivery job needs one and never open the posting, which is the cheapest applicant you will ever fail to get. After that: the start time, the end time, home every night, the vehicle, and the rate.
Then be specific about the route. “Approximately 90 stops, 6am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, company van, no overnights” outperforms “competitive pay and great benefits” every time, because the candidate is comparing your route against one they have already run. Where applications leak after the click is covered in our candidate conversion rate guide, and fifteen worked examples are in our help wanted ad examples library.
Frequently asked questions
What does a delivery driver do?
A delivery driver loads and verifies freight, runs an assigned route in a vehicle under 26,001 pounds, completes pre-trip and post-trip inspections, delivers and captures proof of delivery, handles packages by hand or with a lift gate, and reports delays and address problems to dispatch. Some delivery roles also take orders and upsell, which makes them driver/sales work and a materially different job.
Do delivery drivers need a CDL?
No. These roles use vehicles under 26,001 pounds, so a regular state driver’s license and a clean driving record are what the job requires. Many employers also set a minimum age of 21 for insurance reasons and run a driving-record check at offer. Putting “no CDL required” in the first line of the ad is worth doing, because a large share of drivers searching assume otherwise.
How much do delivery drivers make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the combined median at $21.13 an hour, or $43,950 a year (May 2025 data; the occupational page was modified August 27, 2026). The two halves are reported separately and differ by $6,090: light truck drivers at $44,860 and driver/sales workers at $38,770. The gap is selling — driver/sales workers take orders and upsell, often partly on commission.
Is delivery driving a growing job?
Yes. The occupation held 1,511,400 jobs in 2025 and is projected to grow 7% through 2035, which BLS describes as much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 152,700 openings a year. Unlike most frontline roles, a real share of that is genuine growth rather than replacement, so local employers are competing for the same drivers year over year.
Other job description templates
See all job description templates — free, editable templates for frontline, trades, healthcare and warehouse roles.
Filling routes?
The job description is the document; the ad is the thing that gets read. We write it, run it where local drivers are actually scrolling, and report what each applicant cost — cost per applicant, not cost per hire.
Pay, employment, outlook, education, training and license requirements: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, Delivery Truck Drivers and Driver/Sales Workers (last modified August 27, 2026; 2025 employment and May 2025 wage data, including separate medians for light truck drivers and driver/sales workers), read August 29, 2026. Cost-per-applicant figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark — transportation and logistics sector, 184 campaign-months, advertising costs only; no delivery driver role family is published, and the CDL truck driver family is not a substitute for it. Cost per applicant is not cost per hire. Last updated August 2026.