Run the numbers · your price, not ours
What Does a Shipping Label Really Cost You?
Type your orders per week, how many labels each order needs, the labels on one roll and what your own supplier charges for it. You get labels per month, rolls per month and a cost per label, worked out in your browser.
The packing slip
- Labels per month
- 130
- Rolls per month
- 0.52keep 1 on hand
- One roll lasts
- about 8 weeks
- Cost per label
- add your roll price
At 30 orders a week with 1 label each, you print about 130 labels a month. A 250-label roll lasts about 8 weeks, so you go through 0.52 rolls a month.
The working: labels per month = orders per week × labels per order × 4.33 weeks. Rolls per month = labels per month ÷ labels per roll. Cost per label = your roll price ÷ labels per roll.
Fanfold or rolls?
The sum is the same: count the labels in the stack or on the roll. What differs is the format your printer takes. Fanfold is a flat stack folded between labels; a roll winds onto a core. Some printers are tied to their maker’s labels (Brother’s QL needs its DK rolls, and the DYMO 4XL needs DYMO-compatible rolls), while Rollo says any direct thermal label from 1.57 to 4.1 inches wide works. Check your printer’s own page before you buy a case of either, then compare formats on the cost per label from your own invoices.
Three sums, no hidden step
- Labels per month = orders per week × labels per order × 4.33, rounded up to a whole label.
- Rolls per month = labels per month ÷ labels on one roll. The slip also shows how many whole rolls to keep on the shelf.
- Cost per label = your price for one roll ÷ labels on one roll.
A worked example without a price: 30 orders a week at one label each is 30 × 4.33, about 130 labels a month. A 250-label roll then covers 250 ÷ 130, a little under two months, which is the same as using about half a roll a month.
The printer decides the format
Pirate Ship’s advice is to look for 4x6 direct thermal label paper. Beyond that, the makers differ on how much choice you get:
- Rollo says any direct thermal label from 1.57 to 4.1 inches wide works.
- DYMO’s 4XL does not need DYMO-brand labels, but they must be DYMO-compatible (Pirate Ship’s label page). DYMO’s newer 5XL is described as working only with authentic DYMO labels in a search-result summary we have not re-read, so confirm on DYMO’s own page.
- Brother’s QL needs its DK rolls, and Brother warns that non-genuine labels may damage the printer.
Those differences are why the cost per label is only half the answer: a cheaper label you cannot use costs more than a dearer one you can. The Rollo vs DYMO 4XL page walks through the label-lock question, and the labels lane collects the supply guides.
Label Cost Calculator FAQ
Where do the prices come from?
From you. The calculator has no price list, no catalog and makes no outside requests: it multiplies and divides the numbers you type. This site prints no prices, so the only price on the page is the roll price you enter from your own supplier.
Why 4.33 weeks to a month?
A year has 52 weeks and 12 months, so a month averages 52 ÷ 12, about 4.33 weeks. Using 4 would understate a busy month by about a twelfth; the calculator rounds the month up to a whole label.
Does the cost per label include delivery?
Only what you type. If your supplier charges for delivery, divide the delivered cost of the whole order by the number of rolls in it first, and enter that as the price for one roll.
Which is cheaper, rolls or fanfold?
That depends on your own invoices. Per-label prices quoted around the web disagree with each other, so this site quotes none. Enter each format’s labels per pack and your price for it, and compare the two cost-per-label figures. Your printer decides which formats you can use at all.
Is anything I type saved or sent?
No. Everything is worked out in your browser while you type. Nothing is sent anywhere or stored, and reloading the page resets the fields.