A scooter shop charges by the minute. A car depot charges by the day, the week and the month. A tool hire charges by all five. Hire pricing now takes the rate card as the vendor writes it, on a Rates tab on the thing being hired.
- Five units, and you add the ones you use. Minute, hour, day, week or month. Nothing is assumed and nothing is implied: what you add is what the customer can be charged.
- The cheapest combination, always. Ten days against a $500 week and a $90 day quotes a week plus three days, not ten days. That is how a depot quotes, and the customer doing the arithmetic expects the same answer.
- Minimums, booking fees and a floor, per rate. A three hour minimum belongs to the hourly rate and does not distort a week-long booking. A daily hire and an hourly one can carry different fees.
- Say which days actually bill. Collected after five, or back before nine, can be free. Everything in between always bills, because nobody else could have had it. A car out from Friday evening to Monday morning is a two day hire if that is what you say it is.
- Charge an add-on for every day it is out. A child seat on a week-long hire is charged for the week, and a hire is no longer asked how many minutes a child seat takes.