First attempt delivery rate (also called first-time delivery success) is the percentage of deliveries completed successfully on the first try: completed first attempts divided by total first attempts. For big and bulky fleets, it's the single most expensive metric on the dashboard, because every failed first attempt means re-dispatching a truck and a two-person crew to do the same work twice.
How to calculate first attempt delivery rate
First attempt delivery rate = (deliveries completed on first attempt / total first attempts) x 100
Three rules keep the number honest:
- Count attempts, not orders. An order delivered on the second try is one success and one failure, not a success.
- Define "completed" by service level. A white glove order left at the threshold because the room wasn't ready is a partial, not a completion.
- Segment by reason code. An aggregate rate tells you that you have a problem; reason codes tell you which one.
What's a good first attempt delivery rate?
For furniture, appliance, and retail fleets running scheduled home delivery:
- 95%+ is strong execution: self-scheduled windows, proactive notifications, access notes on every stop
- 90-95% is typical for fleets with confirmations but wide windows or weak access capture
- Below 90% signals a planning and communication problem; every point below 90 is pure re-delivery cost
These are directional operating targets. Establish your own baseline by store and crew before setting goals. Parcel benchmarks (often quoted near 90%) aren't comparable: parcel can succeed without the customer, while scheduled big and bulky usually can't.
What a failed first attempt actually costs
A failed big and bulky attempt costs the full marginal cost of the stop, twice:
| Cost component | Why it doubles |
|---|---|
| Crew time | The same two-person crew returns for the same dwell time |
| Truck and route capacity | The redelivery consumes a slot that could have been a new order |
| Customer service | Failure call, reschedule call, and often an escalation |
| Customer lifetime value | A failed appointment the customer waited home for is the #1 review killer |
At typical crew and truck costs, each failed attempt on a scheduled two-person route costs $75 to $200+ before any goodwill damage. A 200-stop-per-week fleet moving from 90% to 95% removes roughly 500 failed attempts a year.
The five levers that move it fastest
- Customer-chosen windows. Self-scheduled appointments fail far less than assigned ones. The customer planned their day around a window they picked.
- Day-before confirmation with reschedule option. Catch the "I forgot, I'm traveling" failures 24 hours early, while the route can still absorb the change.
- Honest, narrowing ETAs on delivery day. A live two-hour window that narrows as the crew approaches keeps the customer home and ready.
- Access capture at booking. Stairs, elevators, gate codes, parking: collected when the appointment is booked, attached to the stop, visible to the crew.
- Service-level clarity. Refusals at the door are usually expectation mismatches (threshold vs white glove). Repeat what was purchased in every notification.
Note what's not on the list: routing. Route optimization protects window compliance, but most first-attempt failures happen because of what did or didn't happen before the truck rolled.
FAQ
What is first attempt delivery rate? The percentage of delivery attempts completed successfully the first time, calculated as completed first attempts divided by total first attempts.
What is a good first attempt delivery rate for furniture delivery? 95% or higher is strong for scheduled furniture and appliance delivery. Below 90% signals a scheduling and communication problem.
How is it different from failed delivery rate? They're complements measured against attempts: a 94% first-attempt rate implies roughly a 6% failure rate on first attempts. Failed delivery rate is often also tracked across all attempts, including redeliveries.
What causes most first-attempt failures? Customer not available, access issues, and refusals, in that order for most fleets. All three are predominantly communication and booking failures, not driver failures.
Operator takeaway
Measure first attempt rate by store, crew, and reason code, then attack scheduling and communication before touching routes. The fleets above 95% didn't get there with faster trucks; they got there because customers chose, confirmed, and remembered their windows. Start with retail delivery management and customer delivery notifications.