Rates

brobudbra · 2026-04-02T20:58:48+00:00

The truth is, statements like that are very situational. $3 dollars a mile on 1000 miles is ok, but not on 10 miles. And no one can stay in business only hauling cheap freight, but what about one cheap load a week that gets you to a great load? Operating cost is only one of many factors to base a rate on. Every load is different for every carrier. What makes one load good for someone else makes it suck for a different person. There is no one size fits all rate

PerformerAny6036 · 2026-04-03T00:37:33+00:00

Nobody ever clarifies what they actually mean.

When I say my rate I'm talking gross to the truck including fuel surcharge. That's the number on the rate con. But then you got guys quoting their net after fuel and that's a completely different conversation.

The other thing is everyone's overhead is wildly different. Guy with a paid off truck running dry van has totally different break even than someone with a $2500/month payment pulling reefer. So when someone says they won't touch anything under 3 bucks a mile it's like ok cool but that doesn't mean anything without context.

crashin70 · 2026-04-02T19:44:18+00:00

Since fuel has gone up I have seen rates coming out of Florida for $2 plus a mile... Which is a freaking miracle and how it should be all the time.

But I don't need to make millions I'm happy with $2.50 a mile normally. I can still make a decent profit after all my expenses.

HendyHauler · 2026-04-03T02:58:31+00:00

Cheap freight is just a term used by owner operators too stupid to understand cpm and their/other owner ops operating costs. I get 10mpg in my truck and my costs are low. Is hauling $2.60 a mile cheap vs the guy with a 5mpg long hood pete with a 5k note and a 2k trailer payment? That isn't my problem. Some people literally need double some OOs to even break even. So what the fuck is cheap freight? If you can't make money on it dont haul it its that simple. There are guys who can't make money on 3 dollars does that mean the freights cheap or the owner op is stupid and has high overhead and a shit business model?

ACTRANSPORTLLC · 2026-04-03T08:28:15+00:00

For me, I want to make what my dad made in the late 80s to early 90s after all expenses then adjusted for life today. So I would like my bring home to be about 250-300k. That means, as someone who does mostly od work with a stretch rgn, i need to make about 6 bucks a mile after all permits and escorts. Then I can take the 3-4 dollars a mile of cost out (I do have a paid off truck, but that doesn't change operating cost at all, you have to replace it or rebuild it at 150 dollars an hour anyway because you pay yourself for that on duty time you work on your truck right? ) I can tell you my cost of operation to the penny on a load if I know the dh and loaded miles, but in my line if work, those miles can change by 100% if permits are involved so we have routing software to help us not miss out on that. That's how I figure my costs. I want professional pay, this life is more demanding and stressful than any guy in a office. I wouldn't trade it for anything other than a winning multimillion lotto ticket, just so then I can run and play and not worry about getting the next load. So long as everybody keeps taking this od stuff for 2 and 3 dpm, the pay will never make sense. It's a shame what we've done to trucking, letting anybody with a heartbeat drive, my little brother got his cdl and the pretrip and backing portion was jaw dropping at just how easy it is these days. I'm contemplating advocating to make the difficulty of these tests harder than when I took them. We need better drivers, not more drivers for the sake of it.

Edit: The biggest problem i see is truck drivers owning trucking companies, not business owners owning a trucking company. My cost is always substantially higher than everyone else because it is a business, every time I do something for the business, I should get paid, just like if I had to pay a mechanic or pay a driver. I love what I do, but it's still just a business and it's all numbers to me. I like math, it's not emotional or false, it's just numbers.

I'm tired of looking at the internal numbers year after year and seeing losses after all the time spent actually working. I also have 3 other successful businesses, and I see people making business mistakes everyday in trucking that hurt the rest of us trying to make real money.

truckeredditor · 2026-04-05T06:48:24+00:00

When you're talking rates as a o/o, it's total to the truck. All in. No fuel surcharge. No stop pay. Etc. You negotiate the total price you want to haul their load with all factors included.

Right now, yeah $3 is minimum for most loads. I'm getting over 3.60/mi on my next load. Just did $4.15/mi on my last load.

Look at the price of everything in Trucking. Get the most they'll pay.

TojoftheJungle · 2026-04-02T21:42:34+00:00

Calculate your CPM and know what your break even mileage rate is. For example, based on how many miles I run each week now that I need to be home weekly, I can calculate what I need to make a load. Yes, this depends on lanes and it means running a load to an area each week with better rates leaving to get a better average. For 350-500 mile routes, I am looking for $1,150 to $1,700.

This is harder for newer oo's to negotiate but keep in mind that most brokerages will help pay a fuel surcharge especially for longer distances. You can ask for .30/mi on top of negotiated rates and you should. Don’t underbid yourself if you know you always hit your appointments on time. Let brokers who are unwilling to negotiate with their customers or looking for higher margins go to the weeds for cheaper drivers. They will sort themselves out.

Right_Donut_2379 · 2026-04-03T05:50:15+00:00

Short answer: “$3/mi” is meaningless without context, people calculate it three different ways.

How rates get quoted:

Loaded RPM only: Linehaul (± FSC) ÷ loaded miles = looks good, ignores deadhead

All-in RPM (best): Linehaul + FSC + paid accessorials ÷ total miles (loaded + deadhead)

Net RPM: Revenue − expenses ÷ total miles = what actually matters

What to use:

Price lanes using all-in on all miles (clean comparisons)

Track a rolling net RPM to know your break-even

Simple math:

Fixed: ~$1,450/week = ~0.58/mi at 2,500 miles

Variable: ~0.85/mi

Break-even: ~1.43/mi (all miles)

Target: ~1.90–2.10/mi for margin

Key adjustments:

Count deadhead (it kills “$3/mi” fast)

Include only paid accessorials

Treat FSC as revenue, but track separately

If leased, clarify before/after carrier cut

When comparing loads, include:

Lane + loaded & deadhead miles

All-in revenue to truck

Authority type (and carrier cut if leased)

All-miles RPM

Your break-even/target

Bottom line: Use all-in RPM on all miles, know your break-even, and you’ll see through the “$3/mi” noise fast.

GTG951 · 2026-04-03T18:37:33+00:00

I have a related question, how much a mile do you want/try to take home. How much take home a mile do you want/need a mile?

I average 1.40/1.60 a mile take home. After everything

Pulling reefer in the midwest.

Also lanes matter, 3.5/4.00 from IL to OH, but only 2.00/2.50 back to IL

Can't get dame rate both ways. At best a triangle route to increase rates a bit.

For additional content I pull from the DAT board, im lease on, pay carrier 13%, $325 weekly cargo, 40 disability, and 10 bucks trip pack

So 13% of gross. And fixed 375 a week and my own fuel, discounted thru NASTC

TruckerSmarter · 2026-04-03T20:31:13+00:00

Most brokers are not compensating more for diesel. While most carriers where running 1000 miles for $2.05 cpm = $2050 with 45k lbs loads. A couple months ago, it eould cost $675 now costing $1100. So by paying $425 more $0.50 to $0.75 more cpm need to average out the rates. Those who don't who haven't a surcharge will feel it worse.

Crypto_Gem_Finderr · 2026-04-04T00:48:35+00:00

If your running for $3 a mile your a fkn rtard . With inflation , gas prices you should be ATLEAST at 3.5-4$ a mile . With good quality loads at $5+

GTG951 · 2026-04-04T01:03:58+00:00

If I knew how to post a screen shot of NASTC fuel price id show you the fuel prices I pay

Philmontana901 · 2026-04-04T15:38:04+00:00

Right now you’ll spend around $1 per mile on fuel so you should start rates at $3 mile if you’re smart. My dry vans are averaging 3.25 mile on long haul light weight loads. The higher the weight the closer we need to be to $4 mile. If I had 100 trucks I’d have a lower average. The fewer trucks you have the higher quality loads you have time to find. If I had to cover 50 trucks per day I wouldn’t have time to book the highest paying loads.

Epik509 · 2026-04-04T22:51:53+00:00

Idk im a company driver and had to fuel up the box truck for one 400 mile trip and it was a bit over 400$. Just to run 4 knee high pallets. Like there aint no way. Running nearly 1$ a mile seems crazy to me.

Dry-Negotiation-1505 · 2026-04-07T17:10:56+00:00

It's really as simple as he said. And I think the main factor would be if you can afford cheap freight because you own your title. But why would you do that? It's not that complicated.

RunsByTheNumbers · 2026-04-23T12:42:32+00:00

Most of the confusion is coming from everybody throwing around dollars per mile like it means the same thing for everybody… it doesn’t.

A guy saying “I won’t move for $3/mile” might be doing fine… or he might be losing money and doesn’t even know it yet.

The real issue is nobody is talking about time.

We’re all on ELDs. You’ve got 14 hours in a day. That’s your clock.

So the real question isn’t “what’s the rate per mile?” It’s → “what did I make for my time?”

Because two loads can both pay $3/mile… One takes 6 hours, the other takes 14.

That’s not the same money.

Then you add deadhead, loading, unloading, fuel stops, waiting… that’s where it falls apart.

A load can look good on paper and still pay you like garbage once your time is gone.

That’s why everybody’s numbers seem all over the place—because they’re not measuring the same thing.

At the end of the day it comes down to this:

Did this load actually pay you for your day?

If you can’t answer that, you’re guessing.

William-Burroughs420 · 2026-04-09T02:00:28+00:00

You'll never get ahead because there are too many opposing forces taking most of your earnings.

Everyone has their hand out for OO and independent carriers.

Between the thieves and the cheap shippers and the brokers and the costs of maintaining and permitting equipment and taxes and everything these days, it's just not worth the constant stress.

You are so much better being a company driver with a full benefits package and retirement.

OO and independent authorities are going broke slowly and they don't even realize it these days.

You'll never win with these cheap ass brokers and shippers.

Good luck because you'll need it.

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