Tools · For drivers and operators
Peak offer checker
More parcels during peak can make a route quicker per parcel, but not by as much as the extra volume. This compares a normal day with the peak offer per hour, which is the only measure that counts the extra time, whether peak is paid on a parcel rate, per drop or by the day.
What the peak offer does
Pay per hour, normal day (after fuel)
£15.33
Pay per hour, peak offer (after fuel and extra costs)
£16.89
Change in pay per hour
10.1%
Peak parcel rate that would hold your pay per hour
£1.19
Change in parcels
30%
Change in parcel rate
0%
Change in hours
20%
Change in pay per day (after fuel and extra costs)
32.2%
How this is calculated
Pay per day = parcels × parcel rate, plus any peak support payment, minus fuel (miles × fuel cost per mile) and any extra peak costs. Pay per hour divides that by working hours, including loading and unpaid time, because that time is still worked.
The peak parcel rate that holds your pay per hour = (normal pay per hour × peak hours + peak fuel + extra costs − support payment) ÷ peak parcels. It is worked out from your own figures and is not a guide to what any offer should be. Paid per drop, it is restated as a rate per drop (× parcels per drop); on a day rate, as a day rate (× peak parcels).
A peak offer paid per drop or by the day is converted to what each parcel earns: the rate per drop ÷ parcels per drop, or the day rate ÷ parcels expected. Paid per drop, a second parcel to an address already on the route earns nothing; on a day rate, extra parcels and extra hours do not change the pay. That is how each parcel can earn less without any rate being cut.
The starting figures are an example, not typical rates, and show no cut. On the example normal day, £1.30 a parcel works out at about £15.33 an hour after fuel, in the same range as the £15.26 an hour average gross earnings reported in research by Spark Insight for Citizens Advice (2026). Replace every figure with your own.
The optional hours estimate uses published route timings. In parcel routes measured in central London, each parcel took on average about 2.3 minutes parked, walking and at the door and about 1.5 minutes driving (Allen and others, Transportation Research Record, 2018). When the same area gets busier, only the driving gets shorter: as a rule of thumb from routing theory, the driving distance per stop falls with one over the square root of the number of stops, so twice the stops cut it by about 30% (Beardwood, Halton and Hammersley, 1959). Some of that driving is the run to and from the depot, which does not shrink, so the estimate if anything overstates the saving. It scales your time on the route accordingly and keeps loading and depot time unchanged. That flatters the busier day: in practice more parcels take longer to load, and waits and failed deliveries often rise during peak. If parcels per stop rise during peak, the saving is larger. Your own hours are always the better figure.
Fuel is the only running cost that changes with miles here. Van, insurance and other fixed costs are the same on both days, so they do not change the comparison of the two days; use the true earnings calculator for what you keep after all costs.
This calculator provides general information based on the figures you enter. It is not financial, tax or professional advice, and results depend entirely on your inputs. No account is required: when you use this tool without signing in, the information you enter remains in your browser and is not saved by Wentworth Ridge. If you sign in and choose to save, the selected information is securely transmitted to and stored in your account.
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