I DO offer free local delivery, BUT what do most people charge for deliver of wedding cakes? Is it "per mile", etc.? This wedding is about 20 miles away, so I need to figure this out...before I send a quote tonight for the whole deal. (I don't charge for "set-up", just OOT delivery so I'm thinking "per mile") But how much per mile?

Thanks ~

First, do not confuse a delivery fee with the gov't tax allowance for vehicle expense (which is something like 58 cents/mile).

The gov't tax allowance is designed to cover business use of your vehicle. Period. It does NOT cover insurance for that vehicle, interest on that vehicle, payroll for the person driving the vehicle. Those are legit business expenses that you can charge for.

I charge $1.25/mile round trip (20 mile trip = 40 miles = $50).

I have a standard area that I don't charge for. Anything outside that, the entire trip gets charged the delivery fee. Meaning .... If I deliver 15 miles out for free, but then I get a 40 mile delivery .... I'm charging for the 40 miles, not for the difference between 15 and 40. They don't want to pay it? No problem ... sign the waiver and come and get it yourself.

Thanks Debi~ I also offer free local delivery (twin cities) but have no intention of deducting milage outside of that range.

$50 for one cake...$75 for two. It used to be free...but I found that I was still I spending about and extra hour and a half of work driving there, then doing any on site set up and finishing the cake plus I offer to set up their table decorations as a bonus service. Sometimes the cake table wasn't ready so I had to wait around 20 minutes. So then I was almost up to 2 hours of extra "work time".

I offer the bonus of doing the table decorations because I'm already at the table working on the cake...so it is easier if I also set up the decor for them so everything looks pretty. I do insist that everything is out of the packages and plastic or I won't do it. It must be in a box ready to go.

Plus...If someone else comes and touches the cake table after I have already left...and accidentally touch or bump the cake and there is a big chunk of icing gone....I cannot fix the cake because I've already left.