Solo softener salt delivery routes: price every stop so the bags, the carry-in, and the windshield time all get paid. Free, no signup. All defaults are editable starting points, not market rates.
The per-bag price is what customers see. The stop fee is where the carry-in, the stairs, and the brine tank check actually get paid.
Windshield time is route labor. Twelve minutes between stops at your target rate costs the same as twelve minutes carrying bags.
Salt delivery looks simple: bags in, money out. The trap is that the per-bag price customers compare is the smallest part of the stop. Your real costs are the salt itself, the minutes carrying forty-pound bags down basement stairs and filling the brine tank, the drive to the next stop, and the truck miles spread across the whole route. Price only the bags and the route quietly pays you less every week.
Enter your target hourly rate, margin, and minimum stop charge. Pick the service preset closest to the stop: porch drop, garage stack, or carry-in and fill. Set bags per stop, your cost per bag, minutes at the stop, and what you currently charge per bag plus per stop. Then set the route: stops per day, drive minutes between stops, route miles, and vehicle cost per mile. The tool builds the true cost of one stop, a recommended per-stop price, the hourly rate your current pricing really pays across a full route day, and a gut check on the flat number you were about to quote.
Example only, not typical pricing. A carry-in and fill stop at a $60 target rate: 5 bags at $6.50 cost is $32.50 of salt, 12 minutes at the stop is $12.00, 12 minutes of drive is $12.00, and 85 route miles over 14 stops at $0.67 a mile is $4.07 of truck per stop. True cost is $60.57 and the recommended price is $73 a stop. Charging $11 a bag plus a $15 stop fee brings in $70 and pays $83.58 an hour across the route day. A $45 flat quote pays $21.08 an hour and lands $15.57 under true cost on every single stop.
Per bag alone ignores the stop itself. Two customers can take the same five bags while one is a porch drop and the other is a basement carry-in with stairs. A per-bag price plus a per-stop fee, with a minimum charge per stop, is how the time difference gets paid.
At a $60 target rate, 12 minutes of driving is $12 of labor, the same as 12 minutes at the house, plus its share of route miles. On a 14-stop day that is $168 of windshield labor before a single bag moves.
Small stops still cost a drive, a park, and a walk to the door. A two-bag top-off priced by the bag alone can pay less than the drive that delivered it. The minimum keeps short stops from dragging the whole route down.
Divide your monthly goal by the profit per stop, then by stops per day. The month planner does this and flags it when the stop count needs more hours than a month of route days holds.
No. Every number here is an editable starting point based on your own costs and target rate. Salt prices, route density, and service levels vary by area, so run your own figures.