22 February 20224 minute read

Ask the Expert: How Much to Charge Per Mile for Delivery in the UK

Learn how much to charge per mile for delivery from Pete the Courier Driver.

Time is money. Do you want to finish work an hour early? Try Circuit Route Planner free now for one-tap optimization.

No one can say that courier driving is easy.

The key to making money as a courier driver is to make sure you know what to charge per mile. Doing so makes your life easier.

But if you ever wonder how much to charge per mile for delivery to make it all worthwhile, then you’re not alone.

And it’s not always that straightforward.

It depends on whether you are driving as a subcontractor for FedEx, Amazon, Hermes, or another multi-stop courier delivery company – or whether you’re doing delivery for one of your own customers.

So what should you know about how to cost per mile and whether you’re charging enough?

In this post, I’ll teach you all about what you can expect to charge per mile for each type of courier delivery. It helps you make delivery a little easier and, ultimately, increase your earnings by making sure you:

choose the right type of delivery service
charge the right amount
leverage tools to reduce time on the road

Let’s jump straight in 👇

How much to charge per mile for delivery

This is part of a series of regular posts from Pete the Courier Driver with hints and tips for delivery drivers. If you’re new to delivery driving, make sure to also check out How to Make Money as a Courier.

How much to charge per mile for delivery if you subcontract with a company

If you’re doing delivery as a subcontractor, the person who gives you the job is going to want their share of the fare.

So, if you got the job through somebody else, you can expect:

Vehicle	Cost per mile
Small van or car	50p
Medium van or truck	65p
Medium wheelbase	80p
Long wheelbase	90p
Extra-long wheelbase	£1 to £1.10
Luton van	£1.20
Curtain tail-lift	£1.30
Lorry or large truck	£2.00+

You should should add at least 50 percent on these prices for your own customers.

How much to charge per mile for delivery: subcontracting for yourself

How Much to Charge Per Mile for Delivery: A stack of dollar bills with angel wings

For a small job, I recommend that you charge £1.00 a mile – 65p to cover the truck rental and 35p for you.

With a larger truck, you can expect £1.50 to £2.50 per mile.

How much can you get?

Your own customers can be very difficult to find. But they tend to be loyal once you have them.

And some customers will pay more than others.

You want to charge them a competitive rate so they don’t go off with somebody else.

But at the same time, you don’t want to charge less than they are willing to pay.

You don’t want to charge them £1.50 a mile when they will happily pay £2.00.

Also bear in mind that if you give them a good service, they will hopefully become repeat customers.

Top tip: Include a minimum mileage fee

Suppose you have a small truck and a customer wants you to take their cargo three miles down the road.

Don’t just charge them £3.00.

Because you’ve got to send the truck there, you’ve got to wait for the load to get on board, you’ve got to ship it, and you got to unload it.

This all takes time.

It’s going to take at least an hour, plus diesel, plus your truck rental.

So the minimum price on a job should be £25.00 up to about £65.00, depending on the size of your vehicle.

How much to charge per mile for delivery: working multi-stop delivery

How much to charge per mile for delivery: Icon of a piggy bank and a cent

Of course, you don’t have to do it by the mile. You can do it as a multi-stop job.

There are advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantage is the more stops you have to find, the more difficult the job is.

This is why I’ll always say that I recommend you get a decent route optimization app. The advantage of a multi-stop job is you’re not going to be doing that many miles.

Optimize your delivery route and get home earlier with Circuit Route Planner. Click here to download now.

You will get on average about £1.00 a stop for gig work like Amazon Flex.

But you’re going to make a stop every three minutes, or so. And you can do an awful lot of stops in a day if you are efficient.

Let’s calculate that:

If the most efficient drivers can make roughly 20 drops an hour, then that’s £20. If you do five hours of work, that’s £100 a day, or £500 a week.

Not bad.

The advantage with this is you won’t be doing anything like the amount of diesel.

Suppose that you’re going to do a large truck job that’s a hundred miles there and back.

That’s 200 miles in a loop, it’s going to be half a tank of fuel. That’s probably going to cost you around £50.00.

Whereas, you can run around town all day if you have your routes optimized properly, on a tank of fuel twice a week.

The other advantage you’ve got with multi-stop is that you can use smaller vehicles.

It’s just convenient that you’ve got the family car or something like that you could use to get started.

Plus it’s far easier to park in some residential situations.

How much to charge per mile for delivery: Conclusion

There’s your long and short of it.

You’re going to be looking at a small van, 50p a mile, going all the way up to medium truck at £1.10, £1.20 a mile.

Just don’t forget about your minimum charges between £25.00 and £65.00, depending on the size of your vehicle.

For a multi-stop job, you’re looking at around about £1.00 a stop, getting in about 200 to 250 stops a day, if you can.

Now that you have seen how much to charge per mile for delivery, Try Circuit Route Planner free now and make delivery easy by saving at least an hour a day.