How scoring works
Every offer gets an Offer Score from 0 to 100, a recommendation, and a Whispered Rate™. Here’s exactly how each one is calculated, using your own numbers. Nothing is hidden, and nothing is guessed by AI.
Your numbers
Scoring starts with settings you control under “Your numbers”: your minimum fee, target hourly pay, cost per mile (the IRS business rate is 76¢ from July 1, 2026), cost per printed page, and maximum service radius. Change them anytime, and every score updates.
Your real hourly pay
We add up every minute the job takes: round-trip driving (with traffic at your appointment time when available), confirming and printing, the signing itself, and scanbacks, drop-off and invoicing. Then we subtract your costs from the fee: mileage for the round trip, printing, and any tolls, parking or shipping you enter. What you keep, divided by your total hours, is your real hourly pay.
The Offer Score: 100 points
| Category | Points | How you earn them |
|---|---|---|
| Effective Hourly Rate | 40 | All 40 when your real hourly pay meets your target. Zero at half your target or less, scaling evenly in between. |
| Distance | 15 | All 15 within 10 miles one way. Scales down to zero at your maximum service radius. |
| Meets Minimum Fee | 10 | All 10 when the offer meets your minimum fee. Zero at half your minimum or less. |
| Drive Time | 10 | All 10 at 30 minutes round trip or less. Zero at 2½ hours. |
| Package Size | 10 | All 10 at 100 pages or fewer. Zero at 400 pages. |
| Scanbacks | 5 | 5 when none are required, 0 when they are. |
| Company Rating | 5 | Your own rating of the company: 5★ = 5, 4★ = 4, 3★ = 3, 2★ = 1.5, 1★ = 0. Not rated yet = 3. |
| Payment Speed | 5 | At signing = 5, within 15 days = 4.5, 16–30 days = 3.5, 31–60 days = 2, over 60 days = 0.5. Not sure yet = 3. |
Remote (RON) signings get full Distance and Drive Time points, since there’s no travel.
Friction penalties
Some conditions cost you more than the numbers show, so they come off the score:
| Condition | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Jail signing | −15 |
| Hospital signing | −10 |
| Same-day rush or drop deadline | −10 |
| Scanbacks required | −5 |
| Witness required | −5 |
| Package over 250 pages | −5 |
| Toll roads or paid parking | −5 |
The final score is never below 0 or above 100.
Your recommendation
| Score | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| 85–100 | ✅ Exceptional Offer |
| 70–84 | 🟡 Consider Countering |
| 55–69 | 🟠 Marginal: counter only if your schedule allows |
| Below 55 | ❌ Decline |
On a Decline, you’ll still see a “Counter anyway?” option when your Whispered Rate™ would make the job worth taking.
Your Whispered Rate™
The number you should actually ask for:
(Target hourly pay × total hours) + expenses, never below your minimum fee, rounded up to the next $5.
When the offer already meets that number, you’ll see “Offer meets your goal.”
No page count, no Accept
Package size changes the answer, and platforms often leave it out. When an offer doesn’t list a page count, The Rate Whisperer™ won’t recommend accepting. Instead, it shows what the verdict would be at different package sizes and gives you a message to ask for the count. If an offer fails even with a small package, it’s still a Decline.
What’s not in the score
Your rate card fees, other members’ offers, and local market rates don’t change your score. Market rates are shown separately, for reference only.