Three tables: how many tickets one agent actually clears, what a ticket costs to handle, and where automation stops paying for itself. Every figure is computed from the same model that drives the calculator — not estimated, not quoted from a vendor deck.
At 5.5 productive hours per shift. Most teams overestimate this by using 8 productive hours, which inflates capacity roughly 45%.
| Avg handle time | Tickets / shift | Tickets / agent / month |
|---|---|---|
| 4 min | 82 | 1,633 |
| 5 min | 66 | 1,315 |
| 6 min | 55 | 1,095 |
| 7 min | 47 | 936 |
| 8 min | 41 | 817 |
| 9 min | 36 | 717 |
| 10 min | 33 | 657 |
| 12 min | 27 | 538 |
| 15 min | 22 | 438 |
| 18 min | 18 | 359 |
| 20 min | 16 | 319 |
| 25 min | 13 | 259 |
At a loaded agent cost of $26/hour and each industry's mid-range handle time. Multiply by your real rate — cost per ticket scales linearly with it.
| Industry | Avg AHT | Tickets / agent / mo | Cost / ticket |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-commerce / Shopify | 9.5 min | 677 | $6.12 |
| SaaS / Software | 13.5 min | 478 | $8.67 |
| Marketplace seller | 7.0 min | 936 | $4.43 |
| Professional services | 11.5 min | 558 | $7.42 |
A $2.50 ticket that takes 7 minutes of a $26/hour agent costs about $6. A $1 ticket in marketplace support is genuinely cheap. The number that matters is not "cost per ticket", it is cost per ticket × tickets per resolved problem — and the second term is where automation quietly pays off, by cutting repeat contacts rather than making first contacts cheaper.
E-commerce, 8 min AHT, 8h coverage, 50% coverage, $0.65/resolution, $1,500 setup, savings phased over 12 months.
| Tickets / mo | Agents | Labor / mo | Platform / mo | Net / mo | Year-1 | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250 | 1-1 | $4,143 | $81 | $-81 | 0.0x | Not worth it |
| 500 | 1-1 | $4,143 | $163 | $-162 | 0.0x | Not worth it |
| 1,000 | 1-1 | $4,143 | $325 | $-325 | 0.0x | Not worth it |
| 2,000 | 1-2 | $4,143 | $650 | +$3,493 | 4.0x | Strong |
| 5,000 | 3-5 | $12,429 | $1,625 | +$2,518 | 1.8x | Strong |
| 10,000 | 5-9 | $20,715 | $3,250 | +$9,179 | 2.8x | Strong |
| 25,000 | 13-22 | $53,858 | $8,125 | +$20,876 | 2.6x | Strong |
| 50,000 | 25-43 | $103,574 | $16,250 | +$41,751 | 2.7x | Strong |
Note the discontinuity: below roughly 400 tickets a month there is no headcount to remove, so the platform fee is pure cost. That cliff, not a smooth curve, is the single most useful fact on this page.
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