Kiosk economics

Prescription counts: a prescription means one prescription collected, not one patient or visit. A patient collecting three prescriptions counts as three. All daily volumes are for one kiosk, averaged across calendar days. Each month uses 365.25 ÷ 12 days.

Added pharmacy earnings: count earnings only from prescriptions the pharmacy would not have filled without the kiosk. Earnings from prescriptions it would fill anyway are not an added benefit. Queue’s fee is charged on every kiosk prescription.

Pharmacy cash each month: prescriptions collected × (earnings per prescription × the portion the pharmacy would otherwise miss − Queue fee) − rental − other pharmacy costs − restocking costs. The result is the change compared with no kiosk, for one kiosk. Time saved is not assumed to reduce payroll.

Cash since launch: subtract startup spending once, then add each month’s cash gained or lost. The most cash the pharmacy needs to put in is the largest funding shortfall. Recovery occurs when the running balance reaches zero and stays at or above zero for the remaining calculation period.

Return on startup cash: total cash gained or lost after startup spending ÷ startup spending. This is the return over the selected number of months, not an annual rate. Financing, taxes and recovery of stock or deposits at the end are excluded.

Driving: each kiosk has one supplying pharmacy. One restocking round visits every kiosk once and returns to the supplying pharmacies. Distance = 2 × pharmacies × pharmacy-to-first-kiosk miles + (kiosks − pharmacies) × between-kiosk miles. Add driving, pharmacy collection and kiosk restocking time. For existing delivery, use extra detour miles. Travel between separate pharmacy routes is not individually planned.

Restocking frequency: the shortest entered interval for drugs, vials, caps and labels determines visits to each kiosk. All categories are restocked together. The same frequency is used during early low-volume months. The calculator does not derive the intervals from the unit’s stock capacities.

Delivery expense: new drivers cost whole drivers × the monthly driver-and-van budget. Existing pharmacy drivers cost extra paid hours × hourly wage, plus extra mileage and vehicle costs. A courier costs visits × quoted fee per kiosk visit. Available hours estimate staffing; they do not prove routes or access windows fit.

Queue cash left after listed costs: fees received on prescriptions + extra restocking fees − Queue delivery expense − estimated hardware, software and support costs. This combines all entered kiosks. Queue expenses missing from the inputs are not deducted. Pharmacy drivers’ delivery costs are paid by the pharmacy; Queue pays driver or courier costs in the other options.

Reference: Queue Coworker and Queue Consumer Economics, especially Consumer Business Case, Delivery Setup, Replenishment and Capacity. The workbook currently labels stock and operating assumptions unverified. The calculator uses illustrative inputs, not a reproduction of the workbook's current output.

Also informed by the October 14 replenishment call and the October 13 “Pharmacy-led vs. Queue-led replenishment” email. $4/Rx, 30-minute replenishment and the $150k/year operating budget are starting assumptions; the call's 5–10 pharmacies per driver is a hypothesis to test.