The amazon delivery route (DSP) launch plan
Every step from deciding to opening, in the order it happens, shaped to your situation, with your own numbers beside it. About 47 steps in 8 phases, 21 of them specific to an amazon delivery route (DSP). Free to read; ticking steps off and putting in your own numbers come with membership.
The plan47 steps
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Decide with the numbersa week or two
Before a dollar is spent. Most expensive mistakes happen here, and this phase costs nothing.
A DSP makes money one way, and it is unglamorous: Amazon pays you per van per day to run routes, and you keep whatever is left after you pay the drivers and the overhead.
Typical for one unit is $1,500,000 to $6,500,000 a year; the owner keeps 8 to 14% of it before paying themselves. If that band does not cover what you need, that is the signal to pause and look again.
Thin reality. A well-run DSP nets roughly high single digits once the owner is paid, and route brokers put average operating profit near 13% before that.
Twelve questions about your money, time, experience and temperament, scored. Then the 5 questions this business asks of its owner, about the hours and the work. Answer both before you spend a dollar.
Rule of thumb: building is cheap to enter but slow to reach the scale where the works, while buying can hand you a running operation, provided the contract assignment, the metrics history,... Answer it in your situation above and the plan reshapes.
Customers, prices, rent, staff pay, what it costs to open. We filled in typical numbers; change what you know and everything on this page follows.
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Plan the moneya week
What it costs to open, where the money comes from, and the cushion that keeps you alive until the business pays for itself.
A DSP is unusually capital-light for a fleet business, because you do not buy the vans: you lease branded vans through Amazon, and its monthly van payment covers the lease.
The itemized cost to open7 lines
- Van lease deposits (22 vans): $22,000 to $22,000Up to $2,000 a van; Amazon’s monthly van payment covers the lease itself
- Driver phones, mounts, chargers & dispatch laptops: $5,600 to $19,700A phone for every van, spares at the high end
- Uniforms, hand trucks & van supplies: $4,200 to $10,800Branded uniforms for about 30 drivers, first aid and cleaning kits
- Insurance down payments, auto, liability & workers comp: $15,000 to $42,400The line that swings most; get quotes early
- Hiring the first 30 drivers: $3,300 to $10,300Background checks, drug tests and job ads
- Business setup & licenses: $450 to $3,300LLC, attorney review of the DSP agreement, employer registrations
- Initial working capital: $15,000 to $40,000Float payroll and fuel until route payments arrive
Costs start on day one; customers take months. Map the first twelve months of cash so the business does not run out of money while it is getting going.
The business has to earn your pay like any other bill. Set it in your numbers and watch the month it move.
How deals in this business are financed4 lines
- SBA 7(a) loan (Up to 10 yr · partial government guarantee)Used for working capital or to acquire an existing DSP.
- Working-capital line of credit (Revolving · secured or unsecured)A practical tool to float payroll and fuel between route payments.
- Amazon-facilitated van leasing (Per-van lease · Amazon-facilitated)The vans are largely financed and branded through Amazon-arranged leasing, which is why your upfront vehicle cost is so low compared with a normal fleet.
- Seller financing (Part of price · short term)When buying an existing DSP, the seller may carry part of the price, which keeps them invested in a clean handoff of the contract standing and the driver roster.
Most new shops pair an with 10 to 20% of your own cash. Know the monthly payment before you look at a single space.
Before you shop. A lender tells you what they would fund, what they need from you (credit, your cash in, a plan with numbers), and a pre-qualification letter makes a landlord or a seller take you seriously.
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Set up the companya day or two
A day of paperwork, and it has to come before the space: a lease, a loan application and every permit are in the company’s name.
Your state’s business name search, the trademark register, and the domain, before the name is on a sign, a van, or a lease.
A , an , and the S-corporation election each change what you keep and what you are exposed to. Compare them with the numbers, confirm with a CPA and an attorney, then file with your state.
After:The is free from the IRS in minutes once the company exists. The bank account needs both. Keep business money separate from day one.
After:Pick the accounting software and connect the bank account now, so every cost of opening is captured and the numbers you later are real.
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The territory and the vehiclea week or two
A DSP has no storefront; your "location" is the Amazon delivery station you launch from and the territory of routes assigned to it.
What decides it for this business: deep hourly-labor pool, dense, deliverable routes, strong, steady station volume, drivers can reach the station, manageable prevailing wage.
Mobile businesses still answer to city rules: where the vehicle can be kept overnight, whether you can run the business from home, and what the state licenses.
The van or truck is the shop. Price it, outfit it, insure it, and brand it before the first job. The quotes go into the loan application.
Most health departments require a licensed kitchen where a food truck preps, stores and cleans. The agreement is part of the permit application.
Commercial auto for the vehicle, for the work. Customers and any lender will ask for the certificate.
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Get the loanfour to eight weeks
Four to eight weeks with an SBA lender, longer if the file is incomplete. Everything else waits on this, so send a complete file.
Your plan with numbers (download it as a PDF from this page), the company’s papers, the vehicle and equipment quotes, your personal financial statement, and proof of the cash you put in.
The lender funds against the quotes and the insurance; the money goes to the vendors and the build.
After:
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Permits and the vehicletwo to four weeks
A DSP is less licensed than a regulated trade, but it is a commercial fleet with a large hourly workforce, so the requirements cluster around vehicles, employment, and insurance.
Bind the policies you had quoted before a contractor, a vehicle or a customer is in play. Keep the certificates; the landlord, the lender and the city will ask.
After:With the money in hand: the vehicle, the , the branding, and the state inspection most cities require before it can work.
After:Register your or corporation and obtain a city or county operating license to run the DSP.
With your state, before the first taxable sale. Usually free and online; check your state.
Acceptance into the Delivery Service Partner program and the operating agreement that defines routes, rate, and standards.
Coverage for every van in the fleet, with limits commonly specified by the DSP program.
Liability coverage for the delivery operation, frequently by the program.
Driving-record checks, eligibility, and any driver screening for a commercial delivery fleet.
Registration and ongoing compliance for the branded vans you operate.
The health department inspects the truck and the commissary agreement, then issues the mobile food permit.
After: ,
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Set up to runduring the build
During the build, so the business runs from day one: the systems, the prices, the people and the routine.
The backbone of a people business, build rosters, track hours, and fill no-shows fast.
Turnover never stops, so the hiring pipeline can never stop.
A large hourly driver workforce means compliant , , and workers’ comp are non-negotiable from day one.
A fleet of delivery vans and drivers requires commercial auto and liability coverage, much of it specified by the DSP program.
A dedicated account keeps the Amazon route payments and the outflow clean, essential for clear books on a thin-margin operation.
See the price the the business needs implies, then check it against what the market pays.
Pre-dawn: Confirm the day’s roster against assigned routes. Launch: Drivers arrive at the station, do vehicle checks, load, and roll out... Mid-route: Dispatch tracks progress, reroutes around problems, and sends...
Opening, closing, the sale, the complaint, the cash. One page each. This is the manual a franchise would have sold you.
Free, and it is how most people will find you. Address, hours, photos and the menu or price list, live before opening day; then the sign, the soft opening and the first regulars.
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Open and measurethe first ninety days
You own it. Now run it on the numbers.
Friends, neighbors and a short menu or list. Find the problems while the room is forgiving.
Enter the real numbers and see every cost line against the for this business.
Driver wages & turnover; Unstaffed and unfinished routes; Dispatch & admin overhead.
Wages are the start: , insurance, training time and the hours you stop billing. Register as an employer and carry workers’ comp before the first payday.
Growth consumes cash before it produces it. Find the rate your own cash funds before you push.
A DSP is a sellable operation, but a particular kind of one.