Fleet & Routes: costs, routing and safety

01

From cost per kilometre to cost per paid trip

In simple words

In the first course you learned that every kilometre costs coins. Now we look at the kilometres that earn coins and the ones that do not. If half your driving is empty, every paid kilometre has to carry the cost of two.

Key facts

Before this course: Delivery & Transport Business (course 2.22). You already know fixed and variable costs, how to work out variable cost per km and fixed cost per hour, and how to quote a job. This lesson builds on that.
Paid km vs total km. Total km is everything you drive (including the trip to the first pickup and the drive back empty). Paid km is the distance for which a customer pays you.
Utilization = paid km ÷ total km × 100. If you drive 1,000 km in a week and 600 km are paid, utilization is 60%.
Total cost per paid km = (all costs for the period) ÷ (paid km for the period). All costs means variable costs, fixed costs, and your own pay for the hours you worked.
Cost per stop = (cost of the route) ÷ (number of stops). More stops close together lowers the cost per stop.
Break-even = total costs ÷ revenue per paid km tells you how many paid km you need before you start making a profit.

Example (practice numbers only, not real prices)

Item	Week of a courier with a small van (CAD)
Fuel + maintenance + tyres	CAD 330
Fixed costs (insurance, phone, loan, parking) for the week	CAD 270
Own pay for 40 hours at CAD 20	CAD 800
Total cost for the week	CAD 1,400
Total km driven	1,000 km
Paid km	600 km
Utilization	60%
Total cost per paid km	1,400 ÷ 600 = CAD 2.33
Revenue the week must reach to break even	CAD 1,400

If the same driver reaches 75% utilization (750 paid km out of 1,000) with the same costs, total cost per paid km falls to 1,400 ÷ 750 = CAD 1.87. Better planning changed the cost without changing the vehicle.

Step by step

Take last week's total km from your odometer (or app) and write it down.
Mark which km were paid and which were empty. Add them up: this is your paid km.
Divide paid km by total km and multiply by 100. That is your utilization.
Add your total costs for the week: variable, fixed (weekly share) and your own pay for the hours worked.
Divide total costs by paid km. That is your total cost per paid km.
Count the stops you made and divide the route cost by the number of stops to get cost per stop.
Check: your quoted price per paid km (or per stop) is higher than the number you just worked out.

LESSON 01From cost per kilometre to cost per paid trip

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "Cost per kilometre is only half the story. What matters is cost per paid kilometre."
[Text on screen: Paid km ÷ total km = utilization] "If only six of every ten kilometres are paid, the other four still cost you fuel and time."
[Screen: spreadsheet with total cost divided by paid km] "Add every cost, including your own pay, then divide by the paid kilometres."
[Host] "Fewer empty kilometres lowers your cost without touching the vehicle. That is the goal of this course."

Try it now

Using last week (or a week you estimate), calculate your utilization, total cost per paid km and cost per stop. Write the three numbers on one page. Use your own figures.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Fleet & Routes: costs, routing and safety" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "From cost per kilometre to cost per paid trip".

What the lesson teaches:
- Before this course: Delivery & Transport Business (course 2.22). You already know fixed and variable costs, how to work out variable cost per km and fixed cost per hour, and how to quote a job. This lesson builds on that.
- Paid km vs total km. Total km is everything you drive (including the trip to the first pickup and the drive back empty). Paid km is the distance for which a customer pays you.
- Utilization = paid km ÷ total km × 100. If you drive 1,000 km in a week and 600 km are paid, utilization is 60%.
- Total cost per paid km = (all costs for the period) ÷ (paid km for the period). All costs means variable costs, fixed costs, and your own pay for the hours you worked.
- Cost per stop = (cost of the route) ÷ (number of stops). More stops close together lowers the cost per stop.
- Break-even = total costs ÷ revenue per paid km tells you how many paid km you need before you start making a profit.

The exercise I'm working on:
Using last week (or a week you estimate), calculate your utilization, total cost per paid km and cost per stop. Write the three numbers on one page. Use your own figures. ---

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "From cost per kilometre to cost per paid trip" from the course "Fleet & Routes: costs, routing and safety".

Here's what the lesson says:
In the first course you learned that every kilometre costs coins. Now we look at the kilometres that earn coins and the ones that do not. If half your driving is empty, every paid kilometre has to carry the cost of two.

The activity:
Using last week (or a week you estimate), calculate your utilization, total cost per paid km and cost per stop. Write the three numbers on one page. Use your own figures. ---

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

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