Abstract It is assumed in the standard DEA model that the aggregate output (input) is a pure linear function of each output (input). This means, for example, that if DMU j 1 generates twice as much of an output as does another DMU j 2 , then the former is credited with having created twice as much value. In many situations, however, linear pricing ( μ r y rj ) may not adequately reflect differences in value created from one DMU to another. In this paper, a generalization of the DEA methodology is presented that incorporates piecewise linear functions of factors. We deal specifically with those situations where for certain outputs in an input-oriented model, the weight function f ( y rj ) is described by either a non-increasing or non-decreasing set of multipliers for larger amounts of the factor. We refer to such a variable r as exhibiting diminishing marginal value (DMV) or increasing marginal value (IMV). The DMV/IMV phenomenon is common in many for-profit applications. For example, in the case that y rj is the amount of a consumer product r generated by DMU j, and μ r is the price of that product, it may well be that the market will force lower prices if greater amounts of that product are generated; discounts automatically lead to this DMV situation. Such a phenomenon can arise as well in not-for-profit settings, and we examine such a situation based on earlier work by Cook et al. [Cook, W.D., Roll, Y., Kazakov, A., 1990. A DEA model for measuring the relative efficiency of highway maintenance patrols. INFOR 28 (2), 113–124].