Delivery charge calculator
How much should I charge for local delivery, and when should it be free?
Showing for United States
What one delivery costs you
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- Cost of the whole round
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- Vehicle cost for the round
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- Driver's time for the round
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Use your own cost per mile or km: fuel, wear, repairs and insurance divided by the distance you drive. The IRS publishes a standard mileage rate each year (irs.gov/tax-professionals/standard-mileage-rates). It is a tax figure, so this calculator never fills it in.
The driver's time counts only when you enter both the hours and the wage.
Each stop's cost is the whole round divided by the stops, rounded once, so it can differ by a cent from adding up each cost per stop.
Order size at which delivery pays for itself
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- Delivery charge that covers a typical order below it
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- Your profit on a typical order
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The minimum and the charge are rounded up to the cent, so an order at the minimum always covers its delivery.
Your margin on the goods is the share of each sale left after what the goods cost you. An order pays for its own delivery once that share of it covers the delivery's cost.
Enter your numbers to see the result.
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Get started with TallyTill for freeUse this calculator in an AI chat
You can ask Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app to work this out for you, and this calculator opens right inside the chat. You connect TallyTill to your AI app once. It is free, and there is no account and no sign-in.
AI apps call add-ons like this connectors, apps or MCP servers. They all mean the same thing: a way for the AI to use a tool someone else made.
1. Copy this address
2. Add it to your AI app
Claude (claude.ai and the Claude desktop app)
- Open Customize, then Connectors.
- Press + Add, then Add custom connector.
- Name it TallyTill calculators, paste the address and press Continue.
- Under Authentication choose No sign in, then press Add.
- In a new chat, press + at the bottom left, choose Connectors and switch TallyTill calculators on.
On Claude's free plan you can add one custom connector.
ChatGPT
- In Settings, turn on Developer mode. OpenAI moves this switch from time to time; it is usually with the settings for apps and connectors.
- Add a new connector (ChatGPT may call it an app), paste the address and choose No authentication.
- In a new chat, choose TallyTill from the tools menu, or type @ and pick it.
Not every ChatGPT plan lets you add your own connector. If you cannot find the option, your plan may not include it.
Using another AI app? Look in its settings for MCP, add the address as a remote server, and choose no sign-in.
3. Ask your question
Say "use TallyTill", so the AI uses the calculator instead of doing the sum itself. For example:
"Use TallyTill: How much should I charge for local delivery, and when should it be free?"
What you will see
- The calculator opens in the chat with the numbers you gave already filled in. Change any number and the answer updates.
- If a number is missing, the box is highlighted, or the AI asks you for it in plain words.
- The answer links back to this page, so you can check the working.
- The first time, your AI app asks if it may use TallyTill. Choose Allow.
The calculators take numbers only. They never ask for your name, your email or a password.
How this is worked out
The round costs the distance times your cost per mile or km, plus the hours times the driver's hourly wage, plus anything else the round costs. Each stop costs the round divided by the stops, rounded once to the cent. Delivery pays for itself on an order whose profit covers it: the delivery's cost times 100, divided by your margin on the goods, rounded up to the cent. For a typical order, the profit is the order times your margin divided by 100, and the charge that covers the delivery is the delivery's cost less that profit, rounded up to the cent, or nothing when the profit already covers it.
A worked example
Example numbers only; use your own. A round of 48 miles at 0.70 a mile costs 33.60 in the vehicle. It takes 3 hours at 18.00 an hour, 54.00, and 6.00 of ice and boxes. The round costs 93.60, so each of 8 stops costs 11.70. At a margin of 35 percent on the goods, an order of 33.43 or more pays for its own delivery. A 28.00 order makes 9.80, so charge 1.90 for delivery below the minimum.
Nothing you type here is saved.