Annual vs monthly — what changes.

Annual LADLE costs 10× the monthly price — $200/yr instead of $240 on the base plan, $1,000 instead of $1,200 on Max 5x, $2,000 instead of $2,400 on Max 20x. That's the classic "2 months free" structure the industry has settled on.

What's less standard: the meals. Annual funds 10 months' worth of meals, not 12. Base annual = 100 meals (10 × 10), Max 5x annual = 500 meals, Max 20x annual = 1,000 meals. The anchor: **Annual = 12 months of LADLE, 10 months' meals — you pay for 10, meals match.**

Why not 12 months of meals

If we funded 12 months of meals against 10 months of price, we'd be donating more than the $8-of-$20 formula supports. That extra would have to come from ops or margin. We chose to keep the formula clean rather than break the ratio.

The alternative — advertising "annual gets you bonus meals!" — would be marketing dishonesty. The dollars don't support it, and marketing math that pretends they do is exactly the pattern LADLE was built to reject.

When to pick annual

- You know you're staying. Annual saves $40/yr on base. Not huge; also not nothing. - You want to reduce billing noise. One charge/year vs 12. - Your company card prefers annual purchases for reconciliation.

When to pick monthly

- You want to fund 12 months of meals per year (pay $240, fund 120 meals). Same $0.80/meal rate, just more of them. - You're not sure you'll stay past a couple months. Monthly is more flexible. - You want to iterate — a plan change mid-year is smoother on monthly.

What happens on annual mid-year

The full year's meals are booked to WFP the day the invoice clears. You don't drip them across the year — the money went out, the meals got funded, done. If you cancel mid-year, the already-booked meals stay booked; you keep access through the paid period; no refund on the prorated remainder (Stripe's default).

The 7-day refund window applies to annual purchases too. Cancel within a week for a full refund; the meal booking reverses cleanly through ShareTheMeal.

The tie-breaker

If you're on the fence, monthly. You save nothing by locking in early, and the flexibility is worth $40/yr. If you're clearly staying — annual. The savings are real, and the receipt looks the same either way.