I own a Laser Welding business and weld on prodution Tooling for the injection molding industry. customers appreciate the fact that I provide a pickup and delivery service for them. what would be a fair charge for this service? I am the sole owenr/driver/welder.
You need to charge enought to cover your travel expenses and time. There are two ways you can do it.
One is to charge a lump sum and include it in the price of the job, either as part of the job or as a separate line item.
The other is to charge a lump sum and bill it separate from your job invoice (more bookkeeping that it’s worth).
You don’t say how big an area you serve, or how big your jobs are. If your jobs are small enough to be carried in a pick up, I would think that $1.50 per mile, up to 25 miles one way, with a minimu charge of $50.00 would be in line. For instance, if your pick up is 25 miles, one way, from your shop – 25 miles x 2 x $1.50 = $75.00. If the milage is such that it yields less that $50.00, then charge the minimum.
The regular pick up and delivery services set their rates according to zones that are generally 5 miles in diameter.
Zone A extends 5 miles from the center of operations, Zone B is from 5 to 10 miles, and so on.
Hope this helps.