What do you charge for cake deliveries?
My cake order is about $210 and it is being delivered about 30 miles into Chicago. According to Google maps the estimated time is 40-50 min depending on traffic. Some assembly will have to be done at my destination and I'll have my hired help (my boyfriend) to drive me there in his car (much larger than my hatchback) and help me carry in the cakes. They're getting a really good deal on their cake, but I want to make sure that we don't get screwed on the delivery because gas here in Chicago is about $4.20 in the burbs, more in the city. Any advice?
I charge $2 per mile one way....but, gas is not even $4 dollars a gallon here YET!!
So $2 a mile one way... $1 a mile round trip is what my boyfriend suggested. So that works out the same then. Thanks!
and yeah, Chicago has the worst gas prices in the country, and it sucks!
Ok, another question, what do you base the milage off of? Should I just base it off of the milage I got off of the Google Maps? It gives me 28.3 miles from my house to the destination... should I keep that or round up or down at all? LOL... I'm making this way too complicated.
an excel worksheet to play w/ to assist in setting fee.
(note IRS allows 50.5 cents/mile for reimbursing business mileage driven by employees)
EXAMPLE of how to play with it.
using IndyDebi's $2.50/mile ROUNDtrip....
change the flat fee in columns I & J to $50 and the per 5 mile fee in I to $12.50 and to $25 in J.
then in Columns K & L change the flat fee to $65 and the 5 mile fee to $12.50 in K and $25 in L.
note how charging $65 for first 25 round trip miles and then $25 for each additional ten maximizes the amount received for delivery fee.
note also how the sheet is set to crank up the fee in 5 or 10 mile increments and uses the same method the IRS uses for calculating taxes -- ROUND UP!
have fun!
We charge $25 dollars unless it is a long distance..then it goes up!
Edna
Mine is a $50 minimum. It's free delivery inside of 15 minutes (miles).
Boofy, I go by mapquest numbers AND I had PITA charges if it's a lot of backroads vs straight highway; if it's big-city-downtown vs. 2 blocks off of an exit ramp, if the 30 mile distance will take over an hour to actually drive (because I'm covering payroll for the people in the car doing the delivery, too).
And I round numbers because I like dealing with nice neat clean numbers. 28.3 = 30 miles x 2 (round trip).
We charge $25 dollars unless it is a long distance..then it goes up!
Edna
Mine is a $50 minimum. It's free delivery inside of 15 minutes (miles).
Boofy, I go by mapquest numbers AND I had PITA charges if it's a lot of backroads vs straight highway; if it's big-city-downtown vs. 2 blocks off of an exit ramp, if the 30 mile distance will take over an hour to actually drive (because I'm covering payroll for the people in the car doing the delivery, too).
And I round numbers because I like dealing with nice neat clean numbers. 28.3 = 30 miles x 2 (round trip).
We are actually trying to raise delivery price.. With the raise in gas prices and everything else is going to have to happen. We never do free delivery since delivering the cake is the stressfull part. Some people do decide to take their own cake..That is scary!!! 
Thank you for all your help! I really appreciate it! This is the first time I've had a delivery out of my county. Otherwise I charge $15 for delivery/set up in the county. Most deliveries in my county don't take more than 1 hour total (including round trip driving and set up).
Thanks again!
And I agree with tonedna, I hate delivering cakes. And gas this summer is going to be INSANE! If I didn't really need the money, I would almost rather pay THEM to come and pick it up! lol. 10% off if you come and get it yourself!!!!
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