When I got legal in PA last month, one of the rules was that I can not advertise my home address, put up a sign, or have people come to my house.
Now my question is...since I have to deliver, do I charge a delivery fee, or suck it up and deliver for free. My clients don't have a choice about picking up their cakes, so is it fair to charge them a delivery fee?
Also, would it be rude to arrange delivery at a midpoit if they live far away??
TIA!
if you are going to stick to the rule and deliver all your cakes then yes you should charge for delivery. THey are getting a service and you should cover your cost for that service. I would have a base charge and then determine the rest based on distance. Fuel is expensive and your time is valuable so you need to cover these costs. As far as meeting mid way... not sure, depends what the mid way point is going to be.
Don't feel bad about charging.
I would say you can absolutely but call it a delivery/set up charge. When I got married the cake shop was like 15 minutes (at most) from where we were having the reception and when I heard the set up and delivery fee was $50.00. I nearly had a heart attack but my husband said that the hassle of transporting the cake and worrying about it was worth the 50 so I was ok with it. Now obviously I would never pay that kind carge for any other type of cake but I do not think it is unreasonable to have a sliding scale for distance - it could be .35 cents a mile and absolutely you could meet them half way. It really stinks you can't have people pick up at your house - what is the thought behind that?
I thought they could pick up, but not take up parking spots. Is it as long as it's not disrupting your neighborhood, they could pick up? It' not like you have 5 people coming to get cakes at one time right? You should charge for delivery. Gas is not cheap. Good Luck!
My town is very strict! The zoning guy DID NOT want me to pass inspection. He told me that if I wanted to have a sign or have people come to my house, then I had to plead my case in 2 hearings at a cost of $200. My no impact permit (no delivery/no clients) was free. I figure that until my business soars and I become a cake millionaire, delivering is not that big a hardship.
I have to deliver-only also and am questioning the same thing. Some places are only about 5 minutes away so I hate charging delivery to them, but you have to remember it is time and money to do this --I'm thinking of only charging a small rate to deliver if it's close by and like .30 cents or whatever the rate is per mile after that. Now I just need to figure out what is the limits on the "close by me" thing.
you could meet the person ordering somewhere nuetral also.
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