Your First Load Analysis in KRYSTAL

1. Gather your numbers

KRYSTAL's answer is only as good as the costs behind it. Have these ready for your operating profile. A recent month of statements is the easiest source.

Fuel: your real average miles per gallon and the diesel price you've been paying.
Fixed costs: truck and trailer payments, insurance, plates and IRP, ELD, phone, load boards, accounting, parking. Enter each one as it's billed, weekly, monthly or yearly; KRYSTAL converts them.
Reserves: what you set aside per mile for maintenance and repairs.
How you're paid: own authority or leased on. If leased on, the percentage the carrier keeps, whether it applies to fuel surcharge, and any settlement deductions. Dispatch and factoring fees if you pay them.
Driver pay: what you pay yourself or your driver, per mile, per day, per hour or as a percentage. Leave it out and every profit figure is before the driver is paid.
States you avoid and weak reload markets, if any. Loads touching them count against the load; leave them blank and none do.
Your floors: the least net profit you'll accept per mile and per hour. These drive BOOK, NEGOTIATE and PASS, so set them deliberately.

Not sure of a number? Enter your best figure and mark it estimated, or leave it unknown. KRYSTAL shows how complete your profile is, and you can upload a document such as an insurance page or loan statement to have a figure verified.

Not ready to set up a profile yet? The free cost per mile calculator gets you a first figure.

2. Enter the offer

Open Analyze Loads. Paste the broker's text into Fast Offer Mode and press Parse Offer, or type the load into the form. KRYSTAL reads the route, rate, loaded miles, deadhead, weight, pickup time, trailer and commodity when they're written plainly, one per line works best:

Dallas, TX to Memphis, TN
Loaded miles: 452
Deadhead: 96
Weight: 38000 lbs
Rate: $1150
Trailer: Dry Van

It reports a parser confidence and what it found, and adds a parser note for anything it had to guess or couldn't read.

3. Check these fields every time

Linehaul, fuel surcharge, accessorials. A pasted rate goes into linehaul. If the offer lists fuel surcharge, detention or stop pay separately, enter each in its own field, and don't count anything twice.
Loaded and deadhead miles. Deadhead is from where the truck is now to the pickup. Every per-mile figure is divided by all the miles.
Expected wait or detention hours. Starts at 3. Change it to what you expect at these docks.
Estimated total elapsed hours. Leave it blank and KRYSTAL estimates drive time plus waiting. If you know the real door-to-door time, including resets and appointment gaps, enter it.
Broker rating and outbound market score. Start at 4.0 and 50. Set them from what you know about this broker and the delivery area.
Tolls. Enter expected tolls; they're a straight cost.
Truck, trailer type and commodity. Pick the truck so its own costs are used. Trailer type and commodity are required.

4. When information is missing

Pickup or delivery city and state, the rate and loaded miles are required. KRYSTAL won't analyze without them, and won't save a load with a city or state it can't recognize.
Round trip with return miles unknown, or multistop with stop count or stop pay unknown: KRYSTAL still analyzes, but the verdict is PASS with a flag naming what's missing. Get the number from the broker and run it again.
Gaps in your operating profile: if fuel economy, diesel price, maintenance, fixed costs or your profit floors are blank, KRYSTAL uses its built-in starting values. The floors start at $75 net an hour and $1.70 net a mile, which is more than many operators need, so set your own. Other costs left blank, such as driver pay, percentages and deductions, are not charged at all, so profit reads higher than it is. Fill in your profile first.

5. Read the answer

Start with the verdict and the line under it, then the four figures: true net profit, net per mile, net per clock hour and the efficiency score. Then the revenue row: current revenue, the minimum acceptable rate for your floors, how much more is needed, and the suggested counter. The tabs below explain every number. Walk through a complete one on the sample report.

Each analysis is saved. While you're on the free trial, it uses one of your 15 analyses. Then go to the Value Meter to record whether you booked it, and to Record Outcome once it's paid.

Your first load analysis