Delivery pricing and free delivery
Choose a pricing method and understand how fees, thresholds and card requirements work together.
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Choose a pricing method
Zone pricing assigns fixed fees within delivery zones. Route pricing calculates a fee for a driving journey. You can also use zones inside their boundaries and route pricing outside them.
Changing the pricing method changes which settings determine the fee. Editing a zone does not make it the active method when route-only pricing is selected.
Route-based prices
Time-and-distance pricing combines a time rate with a distance rate. Base-and-distance pricing starts with a base fee covering an included distance, then charges for additional distance increments, rounded up.
Review the chosen unit and rates together. Changing the displayed distance unit alone should not change the actual price. Delivery-pricing configuration does not book a courier.
Free-delivery thresholds
A general free-delivery rule uses its configured threshold. If free delivery is limited to zones, each active zone’s threshold is used instead.
A campaign can impose additional requirements, including selected products, minimum spend or delivery-zone eligibility. A free-delivery setting does not erase those campaign conditions.
Card requirements and estimates
The card-payment threshold controls when delivery orders require a card. A threshold of zero requires a card for every positive delivery total when the rule is enabled.
Pickup and delivery estimates describe the expected timing shown to customers. Keep them realistic and review them separately from the fee calculation.
Choose the pricing method
| Method | How delivery is priced |
|---|---|
| Fixed zones | The fee for the applicable configured zone. |
| Journey pricing | A driving-route calculation for every delivery. |
| Zones with journey pricing | Fixed fees inside zones; a driving-route calculation outside them. |
Journey pricing supports either time plus distance or a base fee plus distance increments. It requires a positive applicable rate. Estimated pickup time can be 1–240 minutes. These settings price a delivery; they do not book a courier or establish the courier's actual cost.
Time plus distance
The fee is estimated one-way driving hours multiplied by the hourly rate, plus road distance multiplied by the distance rate. The sum is rounded once to the currency's smallest unit. Preparation time and a return journey are not included.
A quote expires after 30 minutes or a settings change. A failed route lookup is not free delivery.
Base fee plus distance increments
The base fee covers the included distance. Beyond it, each additional distance increment adds its configured fee. The number of increments is rounded up. This method does not add a time fee. It can apply to every journey or only those outside fixed zones.
For example, a £5 base fee covering the first mile, followed by £0.75 for each additional half-mile, gives these charges:
| Journey distance | Example charge |
|---|---|
| 1 mile | £5.00 |
| 1.01–1.5 miles | £5.75 |
| 3 miles | £8.00 |
These are example rates you can adjust. Air POS charges the amounts you enter without automatically adding VAT, so enter your intended final fee. Suggested rates only take effect when you save them; they do not replace existing rates automatically or book a courier.
Kilometres and miles
The saved distance preference controls labels, distances, per-distance rates and examples. Switching units preserves the physical distance and charge. One mile equals 1.609344 kilometres; half a mile equals 0.804672 kilometres. A display-unit change is not a price increase or decrease.
General and zone-specific free delivery
Zone-specific thresholds apply to fixed-zone offers. Restricting free delivery to zones uses each active zone's individual threshold. An unrestricted journey-pricing offer uses the general spend threshold. Check campaign conditions separately: meeting a delivery-fee threshold does not automatically qualify the basket for another promotion.
Where pricing is managed
Delivery pricing is managed in the dashboard. POS Delivery settings contains store availability, time format, delivery times and pickup times; saving those POS settings does not write delivery pricing.