A $90 route sounds like good money for an afternoon. Whether it is depends on numbers that never appear in the offer: the miles you drive before the first pickup, the time you spend waiting, and what each mile really costs your vehicle. This article works through one clearly hypothetical route, step by step, so you can repeat the method with your own figures.
Hypothetical example. Every number below is invented to show the method. It does not describe a real company, a real route, or typical pay. Your miles, times, fuel price, and vehicle costs will be different.
The example route
Imagine an offer: pick up specimens at a clinic and deliver them to a lab, flat pay of $90. Here is how the route actually breaks down once you count everything, not only the loaded leg.
| Segment | Miles | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Approach: home to the clinic | 18 | 30 |
| Waiting at pickup (check-in, packages not ready) | 0 | 25 |
| Delivery leg: clinic to lab | 38 | 60 |
| Parking and walking at the lab | 0 | 10 |
| Handoff and signature at the lab | 0 | 10 |
| Return: lab to home | 18 | 30 |
| Total | 74 | 165 (2.75 hours) |
The offer mentioned “38 miles.” The route you actually drive is 74 miles, almost twice as much, because the approach and the return are unpaid.
What does a mile cost?
There are two useful ways to price a mile, and they answer different questions.
1. Out-of-pocket cost per mile
This is the money that leaves your pocket because you drove: fuel, plus maintenance, tires, and repairs that rise with mileage. For our example, assume:
- Fuel: $3.60 per gallon at 22.5 miles per gallon, which gives $0.16 per mile.
- Maintenance, tires, and repairs: an estimated $0.16 per mile.
That gives a hypothetical out-of-pocket cost of $0.32 per mile.
2. Full cost per mile
Your car also loses value, and you pay insurance, registration, and financing whether or not you drive. A full cost per mile includes those fixed costs too. As a reference point, the IRS business standard mileage rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile. The IRS says this rate is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating a vehicle. It is a tax deduction rate, not a measure of your personal costs, but it is a reasonable benchmark for the full cost of driving.
Revenue, estimated margin, and profit
These three numbers are often mixed up. Keeping them separate is the whole point of the exercise.
| Line | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (what the company pays) | Flat route pay | $90.00 |
| Out-of-pocket vehicle cost | 74 mi × $0.32 | − $23.68 |
| Parking at the lab | Hypothetical meter fee | − $5.00 |
| Estimated margin | Revenue minus direct costs | $61.32 |
| Extra fixed vehicle costs | 74 mi × ($0.725 − $0.32) | − $29.97 |
| Profit after all vehicle expenses, before taxes | Revenue minus full vehicle cost and parking | $31.35 |
Now divide by the real time and the real miles:
| Per hour (2.75 h) | Per mile (74 mi) | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $32.73 | $1.22 |
| Estimated margin | $22.30 | $0.83 |
| Profit after all vehicle expenses | $11.40 | $0.42 |
Same route, three very different stories. Looking at revenue alone, it is about $33 an hour. After the cash you spend, about $22. After the full cost of the car, about $11, and that is still before taxes.
Do not forget taxes
If you work as an independent contractor, nobody withholds taxes from route pay. The IRS lists the self-employment tax rate as 15.3% (12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare) on net earnings from self-employment, on top of regular income tax. How much you owe depends on your total income, deductions, and situation, so this example stops at “before taxes.” A tax professional can help you estimate what to set aside.
What changes the result the most
- Unpaid miles. If the clinic were 5 miles from home instead of 18, the route would drop to 48 miles, and the out-of-pocket cost would fall by about $8.
- Waiting time. Twenty-five minutes of waiting at pickup is 15% of the whole route. Ask how long pickups usually take.
- Chaining routes. If a second paid pickup starts near the lab, the return miles are shared between two routes and both look better.
- Your vehicle. A car that uses less fuel or costs less to maintain lowers the cost per mile directly.
- Parking and tolls. Small fees add up on a route that pays a flat rate.
How to decide
Pick the number that matters to you before you look at offers. Some drivers set a minimum estimated margin per hour; others care about profit after all vehicle costs, since the car will need replacing one day. Then compare every offer against it, using the full miles and full time.
You can run this calculation in seconds with our route profit calculator. Enter the pay, total miles, total hours, your cost per mile, and fees. To see the “profit after all vehicle expenses” result, use a full cost per mile such as the 72.5-cent IRS benchmark; to see the estimated margin, use your out-of-pocket cost.
New to the job? Start with How to Start as a Medical Courier, and keep the pickup and delivery checklist handy for the route itself.
Summary
The $90 on the offer is revenue, not income. Count every mile and every minute, price your miles honestly, and separate estimated margin from profit after all expenses. In this hypothetical example, a route that looks like $33 an hour leaves about $11 an hour once the full cost of the vehicle is counted, before taxes. Your numbers will differ, but the method stays the same.