A delivery note template is quick to build because the document is short. The two settings that matter are both defaults on this sheet: prices off, signature block on.
Fix these once
- Your business name, address and contact number.
- Your standard despatch address, if you ship from one place.
- The signature block, switched on.
- Your standard line about recording shortfalls.
Leave these blank
The customer, the delivery address, the note number, the date, and the lines. The delivery address especially, because copying it from the last note is how a consignment goes to the wrong site.
A template to copy
[Your business name]
[Address] · [phone]
DELIVERY NOTE No. DN-____
Date sent: ____
Deliver to
[left blank]
[contact name and number]
Against order ____
Description Item code Qty
____________________________ __________ ___
____________________________ __________ ___
Please check the consignment before signing.
Note any shortfall or damage here:
________________________________________________
Received by ______________ Signature ______________
Delivered by ______________ Signature ______________Keeping prices off
The Amount column and the totals block are off by default on this document. If you have added them for some reason, remove the Amount column from the column bar and the totals go with it.
Check this before you save the template. A delivery note that shows your cost price to a customer’s warehouse staff is a mistake you only make once.
Columns
The defaults are Qty and Item code, which is what most consignments need. Add a Unit column if you ship in cases and singles, so “6” is never ambiguous.
Remove anything you do not use. A narrow table fits more lines on a page, which matters when the alternative is a second sheet in the crate.
Variants
Own vehicle. Two signature columns, one for your driver and one for the receiver.
Courier. One signature column plus a field for the tracking number, since the receiver may sign for the carrier rather than for you.
Part shipment. An extra Outstanding column so what is still to come is on the page rather than in an email.
Each is a saved file. Save as file writes it to your own disk.
A barcode
If the receiving site scans documents in, the sheet can carry a Code 39 barcode holding the delivery note number. It sits at the top or the foot.
A check before saving
- Are prices and totals off?
- Is the signature block on?
- Is the delivery address blank?
- Is there somewhere to write a shortfall?
The delivery note format
The format has one governing rule: it is read standing up, by someone with a pen in one hand. Big quantities, plain descriptions, no prices unless you have a reason, and space to sign. Sender and receiver at the top, the order or invoice reference beside them, the goods in the middle, the signature block at the foot.
Prices are usually left off deliberately, since the person signing for boxes is rarely the person who agreed the money. See delivery note or packing list, which also covers what American suppliers call a packing slip.
A worked delivery note example you can copy
A sample delivery note, as the driver hands it over:
DELIVERY NOTE DN-0033
Against order PO-0112
Description Qty Received
Floor tile, grey, 600x600, boxed 24 ____
Adhesive, 20kg 6 ____
Received by (name): __________________
Signature: ____________ Date: ________The blank Received column is the point of the example: the person signing counts and writes, rather than confirming a printed number they never checked. A note that comes back with “22” written against a printed 24 has just paid for itself; see short and damaged deliveries.
Next
For what belongs on the document, see how to write a delivery note. For the receiving side of the same transaction, see what is a goods received note. For the same document pointed the other way, when goods go back, see paperwork for returns. Or open the delivery note generator.