← Wash and fold price per pound calculator
Every quick answer to this is a range — a dollar to two-fifty a pound, more in cities. The range is not wrong, and it will not tell you whether your own minimum charge covers what a small order really costs, which is where most of the money is actually lost.
Open the free wash and fold calculator
A 22 lb order run on 0.9 labour minutes per pound, an $18.88 loaded wage, two 20 lb washers, one 30 lb dryer, two delivery stops, and a $2,400 monthly overhead spread across 6,000 lb comes to $31.79 — $1.445 a pound:
| Cost component | Per order | Per pound |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | $9.06 | $0.412 |
| Machine cycles (2 wash, 1 dry) | $3.80 | $0.173 |
| Supplies | $1.32 | $0.060 |
| Pickup and delivery (2 stops) | $8.81 | $0.401 |
| Overhead share | $8.80 | $0.400 |
| Total cost | $31.79 | $1.445 |
| Charged at $1.75/lb | $38.50 | $1.750 |
| Profit (17.4% margin) | $6.71 | $0.305 |
17.4% is above break-even and short of a healthy target. Hitting a 35% margin on these same costs needs $2.22 a pound instead of $1.75 — a 47 cent increase, not the couple of dimes it might feel like it should take.
Now price a 10 lb order at the same $1.75 a pound. The list price is $17.50, so a $20 minimum charge kicks in and looks generous. It is not checked against the actual cost of that order, which is where the trap is:
| Line | 22 lb order | 10 lb order |
|---|---|---|
| Washer/dryer loads | 2 wash, 1 dry | 1 wash, 1 dry |
| Labour | $9.06 | $5.66 |
| Machine cycles | $3.80 | $2.45 |
| Supplies | $1.32 | $0.60 |
| Pickup and delivery (2 stops either way) | $8.81 | $8.81 |
| Overhead share | $8.80 | $4.00 |
| Total cost | $31.79 | $21.52 |
| Revenue at $1.75/lb, $20 minimum | $38.50 | $20.00 |
| Profit / (loss) | $6.71 | ($1.52) |
The $20 minimum still loses $1.52 on this order. Intake, tagging, staging and checkout take nearly the same minutes on a 10 lb order as a 22 lb one, a pickup and a drop-off are two stops either way, and a half-full washer costs the same as a full one. A minimum charge only protects an order if it is set above what that order actually costs to process — here, $21.52, not $20. Round numbers picked by feel are the most common way a minimum ends up below cost.
Strip the two delivery stops out of the same 22 lb order and the cost drops from $31.79 to $22.98 — $1.045 a pound instead of $1.445. Delivery is adding about 40 cents a pound, roughly 28% of the total:
| Service | Order cost | Cost per pound |
|---|---|---|
| Counter service (0 stops) | $22.98 | $1.045 |
| Pickup and delivery (2 stops) | $31.79 | $1.445 |
| Difference | $8.81 | $0.400 |
Because delivery cost is per stop, it falls per pound as an order gets bigger and rises per pound as it shrinks. A single per-pound rate across both counter and delivery customers means the delivery route is either underpriced or the counter is overpriced — a separate delivery fee or a route-specific rate is what usually fixes it.
At 6,000 lb a month of 22 lb orders — about 273 orders — and $0.305 profit per pound, the numbers above net $1,830 a month. Reaching a $3,000 target is a volume question, not a pricing one, once the per-pound margin is already healthy:
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Current monthly volume | 6,000 lb (~273 orders) |
| Current monthly profit | $1,830 |
| Target monthly profit | $3,000 |
| Volume needed for target | 9,837 lb (448 orders) |
| Additional orders needed | 175 a month (~40/week) |
Forty more orders a week is a concrete thing to go find — another delivery day, a second driver, or a push on repeat customers — in a way "$1,170 more a month" is not. Seeing the order count is what turns a revenue gap into a plan.
There is no single number, because the cost side varies far more than the price side. On a typical 22 lb order — 0.9 labour minutes per pound, $16 an hour loaded to $18.88, two 20 lb washers, one 30 lb dryer, two delivery stops, and a $2,400 monthly overhead spread across 6,000 lb — the order costs $31.79 to process, which is $1.445 a pound. Charging $1.75 a pound brings in $38.50 and profits $6.71, a 17.4% margin. Hitting a 35% margin target on the same costs needs $2.22 a pound instead. Work out your own cost per pound first, then set the price above it by the margin you need.
Because a minimum charge only works if it is set above the true cost of the smallest order it covers, and $20 sounds generous without ever being checked against that cost. A 10 lb order at the same $1.75 a pound would list at $17.50, so the $20 minimum kicks in and looks like it is protecting the order. But that 10 lb order still costs $21.52 to process — one washer, one dryer, the same two delivery stops, and the same per-order intake and tagging time that a 22 lb order also carries in full. The $20 minimum covers $17.50 of list price with room to spare and still loses $1.52 against the real cost. The minimum charge that actually breaks even on this order is $21.52, not $20.
On the 22 lb example, two delivery stops (a pickup and a drop-off) cost $8.81 of the $31.79 order total — about $0.40 a pound, or 28% of the cost. Strip the delivery stops out and the same order costs $22.98 to process, or $1.045 a pound, against $1.445 a pound with delivery. Delivery cost is per stop, so it falls per pound as the order gets bigger and rises per pound as it shrinks — which is why a delivery route needs either a higher per-pound rate than counter service, a delivery fee, or a route minimum to cover the same stops on a smaller order.
Divide the gap between your current monthly profit and your target by your profit per pound, then convert pounds to orders using your average order weight. At 6,000 lb a month of 22 lb orders — about 273 orders — and $0.305 profit per pound, the shop nets $1,830 a month. Reaching a $3,000 target needs 9,837 lb, which is 448 orders of that size: 175 more orders a month than today, or about 40 more a week. Seeing the order count rather than the dollar gap is what makes a target concrete, because orders are what has to fit on the intake counter and in the delivery route.
The calculator does this arithmetic on your own labour, machine, supply, delivery and overhead rates — not the illustrative figures above — and reports your cost per pound, break-even price, margin at what you charge today, and the volume a profit goal needs. It runs entirely in your browser.