same day delivery pricing calculator
Same-day delivery pricing calculator
Turn your estimated cost per stop into a delivery fee with margin—without guessing.
Summary
- Turns cost per stop into a delivery fee using a target margin
- Supports simple surcharges (distance, oversized, low-density zones)
- Great starting point for zone-based pricing
- Use it to avoid underpricing same-day delivery
Definitions
- Cost per stop
- Your total daily delivery cost divided by completed stops. Helpful for pricing and profitability.
- OTD% (On-time delivery rate)
- The percentage of stops delivered on time (within the promised window, or your chosen definition).
- Effective work minutes
- The realistic minutes a driver can spend delivering in a shift after breaks, loading, traffic, and end-of-day admin.
- Target margin
- The percentage of the delivery fee you want to keep after delivery costs (before broader business costs).
Fee vs margin simulation
Worked example
Inputs
- Cost per stop
- $6.75
- Stops per order
- 1
- Target margin
- 35%
- Surcharge
- $0
Outputs
- Estimated delivery cost
- ≈ $6.75
- Suggested fee
- ≈ $10.38
Use a margin target to protect your economics. If customers won’t pay the fee, use minimum order thresholds, delivery zones, or scheduled delivery instead of losing money on every order.
Benchmarks / ranges
These are conservative ranges. Your results depend on density, stops, traffic, and service type.
- Target margin for delivery fees20–50%Higher margins often needed when demand is volatile.
- Common surcharges$1–$10+Distance, low-density zones, heavy items, stairs, after-hours.
- When to add a minimum order thresholdIf fee feels too highThreshold lets you keep delivery fee reasonable while covering cost.
What to do next
- Calculate cost per stop first; don’t price from competitors alone.
- Create 2–4 delivery zones so pricing matches density and distance.
- Add surcharges only for the rare cases that truly increase cost.
- If you keep missing ETAs, widen windows or schedule deliveries—same-day promises are expensive.
- Run a 2-week pilot and compare fee revenue vs delivery costs by zone.
- Revisit pricing as fuel and wages change.
Turn your number into better delivery pricing with Lynxo
Once you know your cost per stop, Lynxo helps you reduce it (fewer miles, fewer reattempts) and keep service reliable.
- Tighter routing to cut wasted miles and backtracking
- Fewer failed stops with ETA sharing and better stop notes
- Proof of delivery to reduce disputes and chargebacks
- Reports by route/zone so you can see what’s expensive
Where this helps
- Pricing same-day delivery for retail
- Setting delivery fees by zone
- Building a minimum order threshold
FAQs
Is there a standard same-day delivery fee?
Not really. Fees vary based on density, stop count, fuel, wages, and customer expectations. Use your own cost per stop as the baseline.
Should I charge per stop or per mile?
Many teams use a base fee that covers average cost, then add surcharges for distance, oversized orders, or low-density areas.