Load profitability calculator: is this load worth it?

This load profitability calculator returns what a load leaves after fuel, tires, maintenance, tolls and any dispatch fee, plus its true rate per mile and what it leaves per hour.

A load board shows the rate. It does not show what the load costs you to haul. Two loads with the same posted rate can be very different once deadhead, fuel, tolls and dock time are counted. This tool puts all of that on one screen so the decision takes a minute.

How it works

• Revenue = load pay + extra stop pay and accessorials
• Fuel = (loaded + deadhead miles) / MPG x diesel price
• Tires and maintenance = all miles x cents per mile
• Left = revenue - fuel - tires and maintenance - tolls - dispatch fee
• True rate per mile = revenue / all miles
• Left per hour = left / total hours, including waiting

Fixed costs, such as the truck payment and insurance, are not subtracted. They do not change with one load. What the load leaves is what pays them and you.

A worked example

A load pays $1,800 for 700 loaded miles, with 90 miles of deadhead. Diesel is $3.90 and the truck gets 6.5 MPG. Tires and the maintenance reserve run 24 cents a mile, tolls and scales $30, and the load takes 16 hours including docks.

• Fuel: 790 miles / 6.5 x $3.90 = about $474
• Tires and maintenance: 790 x $0.24 = about $190
• Left: $1,800 - $474 - $190 - $30 = about $1,106
• True rate: $1,800 / 790 = about $2.28 per mile
• Per hour: about $69

If this owner's fixed costs and pay come to about $1.10 per mile, they need about $869 from this trip. The load leaves $1,106, so it carries its share with room to spare.

What to put in each box

Load pay should include the fuel surcharge if it is paid separately. Extra stop pay covers additional stops, detention you are sure of and other accessorials. Tires and maintenance is your tire cost per mile plus your maintenance reserve; oil changes are part of that reserve, and our semi truck oil capacity chart shows what a change takes. The guide to semi truck maintenance cost covers what the bigger items run.

DEF adds a small cost on top of fuel for trucks with SCR systems; the DEF usage and cost calculator shows how much. Idle time at docks burns fuel too, and the idle cost calculator puts a number on it.

Reading the result

• Left is negative: the load does not cover its own running costs. Pass or counter.
• Left is positive but below your fixed cost share: the load keeps the truck moving but loses money overall. Sometimes worth it to reach a better market; usually not.
• Left covers your fixed costs and pay: a profitable load. Check the reload side before you say yes.

Profit per hour is the tiebreaker between two loads that look similar per mile.

Comparing two loads

The calculator is most useful when you have a choice. Say one load pays $1,800 for 700 miles with a short deadhead, and another pays $2,300 for 950 miles but needs 180 empty miles to reach. Run both. The second pays more in total, but once fuel, wear and the extra hours are counted, it may leave less per hour, or only a little more for a much longer day. Then add the reload: which delivery city has better freight going where you want to be next? The load that looks best on the board is not always the one that builds the best week.

The load after this one

A load is only as good as where it leaves you. A profitable load into a market with no outbound freight can lead to a long deadhead that wipes out the gain. Before you accept, look at what leaves the delivery city. If you are unsure, compare this load with an alternative that sets up a better reload, using the same calculator for both.

Where we fit

A dispatcher checks every load against your numbers before it reaches you, passes on the ones that do not work, and counters on the ones that are close. You say yes, counter or no, and the broker sends the rate confirmation to you to sign. How this works for one truck is on our owner-operators page.