How to charge for mileage? I just want to make sure the commute is worth it?

Here is what I have figured out in my little over a year of being a sitter on Rover and it seems to be working well. I have my radius set to 10 miles. Everything within that is my standard rates with no mileage fee. From there:

10-15 miles away is a $5 increase per night

15-20 is $10

20-25 is $15

And so on.

I once had someone 37 miles away contact me to watch her 2 dogs and gladly paid the extra $30/night and hey I made $67/night before Rover fees to take a mini vacation in another town!

You have to consider that tracking business mileage is a must so you can use the mileage deduction on your taxes. You have to decide if making long drives is worth the time back and forth to service clients if there is good demand in your area consider reducing your service radius to concentrate on clients more local. Best of luck

Late to this thread because I was actually searching for info on mileage for myself. But is your math correct? It's 25 miles round trip, not each way, right? So 25 miles * (54.5/100) = $13.625 round trip, not $27.
I think what I'm going to do is have a "grace radius" wherein I do not charge mileage, and anyone outside that radius (probably 5-10 miles), I'll add on $0.545 per mile ABOVE the radius. So, if a client is 15 miles away and my grace radius is 10 miles, they only get charged mileage for the 5 miles that are outside my radius. Just my $0.02 ;) I'm still playing with this issue myself.

I am also in the same boat. I just got two bookings on the very edge of my range and it's going to be a 45 minute drive to and from every day. Today I decreased my range for future bookings to reduce this. I'm considering adding an additional fee for distance if I get new requests from just outside of my range. Maybe an extra $5/day?

Don't forget the IRS deduction comes off the taxes you otherwise pay. Depemdimg on your tax bracket and how much you make, you might not owe anything on the self-employed form. Also If you charge for mileage then you can't deduct it. If you charge some people and not others (like outside a range) then you have to keep track of two kinds of mileage and two kinds of deduction --- unless you don't charge the other town people the IRS mileage, but definitely add on extra for being so far away. Then you can deduct all of the miles. I'm not a tax expert 😉 so that is only my take on it.

As a CPA, walking dogs out fr boredom, I tell you that you should not travel more than 3 miles one way. In 2019 the cost per mile has been calculated to be $.58.
My walks are $20 for a single dog, after Rover's cut I get $16. From this amount deduct the minimum of 14% for taxes (if you made over $600 per year), which leaves you with a mere $13.76, If you travel 10 miles (round trip) you have to deduct $5.80 from the 13.76, leaving you with a lousy $7.96. Even if you want to charge extra to travel beyond the range you chose, the time spent in traveling doesn't make the job worthwhile. If you have to travel 30 minutes each way, therefore making $7.96 an hour, might as well go work at McDonalds for $13 an hour. This is NOT a job for people that need money, it is for the ones like me that simple love animals and do not need an income. Still, I will not travel over my radius of 3 miles, unless it's for more than 2 pets at the time. Mileage deductions don't mean much when you have a very low income, it's a lose-lose!