Delivery Driver Profit Calculator

Why Delivery Gig Pay Looks Better Than It Is

Delivery platforms quote gross hourly figures, and those are the numbers before a single driver cost comes off. Three costs sit between them and what stays in the account: fuel, vehicle wear, and everything else the shift consumed. The loaded figures show the size of the gap. A 200 shift over 120 miles at 25 miles per gallon and 3.50 a gallon costs 16.80 in fuel and 21.60 in wear, with 5 of other expenses, leaving 156.60 net. That is 78.30% of gross retained, so the shift is 21.7% below the headline. How wide the gap runs depends almost entirely on distance: the same 200 gross over 200 miles retains only 65.50%, because both fuel and wear scale with the odometer while the pay does not. Delivery work is typically engaged as non-standard employment, which is why these costs sit with the driver rather than an employer.

Vehicle Wear Per Mile Is the Hidden Cost

Wear is the cost drivers most often leave out, because nothing is paid at the time it accrues. Tyres, servicing, brakes and the depreciation the mileage causes are all real costs that arrive later as a bill or as a lower resale price, and spreading them over distance is what makes them comparable with fuel. The rate depends on the vehicle rather than on the work: a newer car in its first years sits at the low end, a mid-life car in the middle, and a car near the point of major repairs well above. The spread is worth quantifying, because it moves the answer more than fuel does. On the loaded shift, wear at 0.12 a mile leaves 163.80, at 0.18 leaves 156.60, at 0.30 leaves 142.20, and at 0.40 leaves 130.20. A rate taken from a national mileage allowance usually bundles fuel in with wear, so subtracting the fuel element first avoids counting it twice.

Fuel Cost Math

Fuel cost is miles driven divided by miles per gallon, multiplied by the price per gallon. A driver covering 150 miles in a 25 mile-per-gallon vehicle at 3.50 a gallon uses 6 gallons and spends 21. Real consumption in stop-and-go delivery conditions typically runs below the manufacturer's published figure, so a rate measured from recent tanks describes the work better than a rating measured on a test cycle. Two practical notes on this tool. It uses miles and gallons, so a driver working in kilometres and litres can convert the inputs, since one mile is roughly 1.61 kilometres and one gallon is roughly 3.79 litres. And it requires a fuel price above zero, which means an electric vehicle cannot be modelled by entering zero: setting the two fuel fields so that price divided by efficiency equals the actual energy cost per mile reproduces the right total.

What Typical Numbers Look Like

A shift paying 200 across eight hours and 120 miles gives fuel of 16.80, wear of 21.60 at 0.18 a mile, and 5 of other costs. Net profit is 156.60, or 1.31 a mile, and 78.30% of gross survives. Gross works out at 25.00 an hour and net at 19.58, so the shift lands 21.7% under the headline rate. The per-hour figures are worked out separately here, since this calculator takes no hours input and reports per-mile rather than per-hour results. Change one variable and the picture shifts: the same 200 gross spread over 200 miles of suburban driving nets 131.00, or 0.66 a mile, and retains 65.50%.

The Self-Employment Tax Layer

This calculator stops at operating profit. Delivery drivers are usually engaged as independent contractors rather than employees, which in most systems means the contribution an employer would otherwise share becomes the driver's own charge on net earnings. The size varies by jurisdiction: at a combined rate of 15.3%, a driver netting 20,000 a year would face 3,060 in contributions on top of income tax, while other systems apply graduated rates, earnings ceilings, or no separate self-employment charge at all. The Gig Economy Net Income Calculator on this site adds that layer to platform fees and expenses, so running the two together gives the fuller picture.

When Delivery Is Worth It

The arithmetic reduces to one number: the cost of the next mile. At the loaded values that is 0.14 of fuel plus 0.18 of wear, or 0.32 a mile, which is why an extra ten miles on the same shift costs 3.20. Set against that, the shift earns 1.67 a mile gross. The gap between those two figures is what the work actually pays per mile, and it narrows fast as trips get longer or the vehicle gets older. Dense areas with short hops between drops keep miles low against the same pay, which is why the same platform rate produces different economics in a city centre and in suburban sprawl. A vehicle already owned and fuel-efficient starts from a lower per-mile cost than one bought for the work, and a fortnight of measured fuel, mileage and earnings gives a per-mile cost specific to the vehicle rather than an assumed one.