I was reading a thread about mileage and it got me to thinking--- mostly looking for responses from people in large cities/metro areas.

I often read that some people have delivery charges per mile for cakes delivered outside of a 5-10 mile area... that always cracks me up.... because for most cakes I'd be making, I have a minimum 30-100 mile drive... and I'd sell nothing charging delivery on that mileage.

Just for an idea, I live in the Phoenix Metro area... HUGE population, and most of my business would come from 30-100 mile radius (I live about 20 miles from where the majority of my customer base would start). So for those who live in areas like that where a 100 mile round trip commute to work each day is nothing.... and delivering a cake 40 miles is the normal, what do you do for delivery charges? A flat fee?

I'd love to be able to work a few miles from home... but tis the big city life huh?

I don't charge for delivery, but thank goodness most my clients are close by. On ocassion I've had to deliver a little far, but when it's a regular customer well I don't mind. My husband suggested I had a minimum purchase to deliver, per say more than $20.00 (That's more than $200 pesos, so i'm ok with it). But we haven't asked customers for that minimum purchase.

I rarely do non-wedding cakes but if I do, I don't deliver.... they pick up. Weddings have a 30-min free delivery (approx 30 miles). We used to be 1-hour (60 miles) but changed it due to gas prices. Anything over the 30 miles/minutes (as determined by Yahoo! Maps) has a delivery fee added on. I don't use a rate-per-mile, but just add a fee depending on where it is and how rough a drive it is (straight highway or backroads?). Usually it's a $25 minimum. The highest I've ever added is $50.