Short answer: add up what a season of boxes costs you in inputs, packing, delivery and fees, add your hours at the wage you need, spread your fixed costs over the shares you will sell, and only then check the result against the retail value members receive. Pricing from the market first is how a full box ends up paying a few dollars an hour.
A worked example
A ten-week season. Each box holds two bags of salad at $5 retail, $0.80 cost and 5 minutes of labour each for all ten weeks, and three pounds of tomatoes at $4 retail, $0.60 cost and 4 minutes each for six weeks. Packaging is $1 a box, packing takes 5 minutes, the payment fee is 3%, fixed season costs are $1,000, and you sell 40 shares at $150.
Retail value per share: $172.00, so members get 1.15 times what they pay.
Item cost $26.80 plus box costs $10.00; each share takes 3.7 hours of your time.
Each share contributes $108.70 after fees and costs, so 40 shares earn $3,348.00 before your own pay: 148 hours, or $22.62 an hour.
Paying yourself $20 an hour leaves $388.00 of profit, and the price that pays exactly $20 an hour at 40 shares is $140.00.
Drop to 28 shares and the same price no longer covers the fixed costs and your hours; the break-even is 29 shares at $20 an hour. The CSA Share Pricing Calculator runs this on any box, with the price sweep.
How the answer is found
Each item is summed over the weeks it is in the box: retail value, cost and minutes.
Profit before your pay is shares times (price after fee, minus item cost, minus box costs) minus fixed costs; after your pay it also subtracts hours at your rate.
The wage price and the break-even share count are closed-form; the price sweep re-runs the season with members falling as price rises by the elasticity you set.
Questions
How do I value my hours?
Use what you would pay someone to do the work, or what the farm needs to clear for you to stay in business. The calculator shows both your result at an hourly rate you choose and the price that pays a target wage.
Should the price follow the retail value of the box?
Retail value is a ceiling on what members will accept, not a floor on what you need. Price from your costs and hours first, then check that the value ratio leaves members feeling they got a bargain.
How many shares do I need to break even?
Fixed season costs divided by what each share contributes after item costs, box costs, fees and your own pay. If that contribution is zero or negative, no number of shares fixes it and the price or the box has to change.