I only offer delivery for wedding cakes. Other cakes must be picked up. For delivery charges, figure your gas and time.
I always deliver and set up my cakes. I charge $60.00 That is the going rate in Bham. I do not want somone else to toutch my cake, beacause if they mess it up it looks bad on you.
With me, local (within 25 miles) delivery is free with orders over $350, beyond that, and for orders less than that - I mapquest it and charge $50 per hour (round trip).
I charge per serving for tiered cakes which includes local delivery. If someone wants just a regular single layer cake (or anything else) delivered, I charge $15 for local (within 15 miles) and .50 mile for each additional.
I did not, however, come up with this myself, lol. It was someone here on CC that I got that from. HTH
I deliver within 15 miles for free, and then I charge $0.35/mi after that..... sounds like I should probably increase that to about $0.50... I always include delivery for free with my wedding cake orders as well, unless they are delivered out of my 15 mile radius. My website designer was also helping with thoughts for my business & thought "free delivery" would be a huge draw. Well, it was & is, and now I feel I have a very good customer base & can probably start charging for delivery. Good luck with your decision!
I only deliver wedding cakes, and I charge LOTS.
My TIME is very expensive.
Of course, if they don't want to pay then they can always pick up the cake, which many people do. I really explain to them that they are responsible for the cake from the moment it leaves my countertop, and make them sign a waiver, too.
I was initially nervous about charging for delivery but I learnt the hard way. I charge a rate based on mileage and for those not willing to pay, they are free to pick up. However, I will give them detailed instructions on handling the cake and since a couple of weeks ago when someone had an accident with a cake, I now make them sign a waiver too.
Just another thought... WOW! Cakes become quite expensive when you charge for delivery, too.
So is the amount of money you have to lay out for a 1 hour drive. When you order anything via a catalog or over the internet, AND IT'S DELIVERED TO YOU, then there's a delivery fee. It part of the cost of the product. The customer is not paying for just the cake ... they are paying for the convenience and the service of not having to get off their OWN butt and go get their own dang cake.
OCakes, the gov't just increased the allowable mileage rate to $0.58 cents. If you're going to raise, at least get it up to the gov't allowed limit.
I live in a small town, so delivery in town is free for orders over 100.00.
I do charge a flat fee based on mileage after that.
Jen 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%