Free tool
Local delivery cost calculator
Enter a normal week of deliveries made with your own vehicle and the calculator shows what each one costs you, split into fuel, driver time and vehicle wear, and what routes a little shorter would save each month. Use the number to set a delivery fee or a free-delivery minimum, and to check whether route software pays for itself.
Last updated By Porch Routes
Each delivery costs you about
$6.05
20 stops a route · $121 a route · $1,573 a month · $18,876 a year
- Driver time
- $1,170/mo
- Fuel
- $227/mo
- Vehicle wear
- $176/mo
- Saved a month
- $118
- Saved a year
- $1,420
- Driving saved a month
- 117 mi · 4.3 h
At about 260 deliveries a month: Starter, $39/month
Routes 10% shorter would save $118 a month — more than the plan costs. Every feature is on every plan, with unlimited drivers.
Who this calculator is for
It's for local deliveries you make yourself: a farm's weekly CSA and meat-share runs, a bakery's morning drops, a florist's afternoon route, a shop's home delivery. It works out the cost of your own vehicle and your own driver's time. It isn't a parcel shipping calculator; for USPS, UPS or FedEx rates, use the carrier's own calculator.
How to work out what a delivery costs
Add up a week of driving
Miles per route times routes a week gives the week's miles. Divide by the vehicle's miles per gallon and multiply by the price of fuel for the week's fuel bill.
Count the hours
Hours per route times routes a week times hourly pay gives the driver cost. If you drive yourself, use what your hour is worth; it's still a cost even when nobody sends you a paycheck.
Add wear on the vehicle
Tires, oil, brakes and repairs grow with every mile. Multiply the week's miles by a per-mile figure: a year of maintenance bills divided by the year's miles is the most honest one.
Divide by the deliveries
The week's total divided by the week's deliveries is what one delivery costs. Multiply the week by 52 and divide by 12 for an average month.
Turning the number into a delivery fee
Once you know what a delivery costs, there are three common ways to charge for it, and many farms and shops mix them:
- A flat delivery fee close to the cost per delivery, so every order pays its own way.
- Free delivery over a minimum order, with the minimum set so the margin on an order that size covers the delivery.
- Different fees or minimums by area, higher at the far end of the route, where each stop costs more miles.
Porch Routes sets delivery days and a minimum order for each delivery zone, so the far zones can be served on fewer days with fuller routes instead of a long drive for one box.
Where shorter routes save money, and where they don't
Driving fewer miles saves fuel and wear in proportion, and it saves the driving part of the driver's day. The time at each stop doesn't shrink, which is why the calculator takes minutes per stop out before it counts driving time saved.
How much shorter your routes can get depends on how they're planned now. Stops driven in the order the orders arrived usually have the most room; a route you've driven for years and sorted by hand may have little. Porch Routes shows the difference on every plan, in miles, time and fuel dollars, against the order the stops came in.
Questions
Should I count my own time if I do the deliveries?
Yes. An hour spent driving is an hour not spent packing orders, growing or selling, so price it at what you'd pay someone else to drive. Leaving it out makes delivery look cheaper than it is.
What wear per mile should I use?
Your own records are best: a year of maintenance, tires and repairs divided by the miles driven that year. The calculator starts at 15 cents a mile as a placeholder to change, not a published rate.
Does the cost include the van payment or insurance?
No. The calculator counts the costs that grow with each route: fuel, driver time and wear. Add payments, registration and insurance separately if you want the full cost of owning the vehicle.
Is anything I type saved or sent?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser, and nothing you enter leaves the page.
Which Porch Routes plan fits my numbers?
The plan shown is the smallest one whose monthly order allowance covers your deliveries: free up to 150 orders a month with one vehicle, then Starter, Porch and Route. Every plan has every feature and unlimited drivers.
Plan your next delivery day in a few minutes.
Add your vehicles and a day of orders — by hand, from a CSV or over the API — and build your first routes.
Free up to 150 orders a month · No credit card