How to calculate load profit after your carrier's percentage
On a percentage lease, the broker's rate isn't what you earn. Here's how to work out what you keep, step by step, at three different splits.
The formula
your revenue = the revenue your split applies to × your percentage + anything passed through to you in full
what you keep = your revenue − your costs − settlement deductions
Two things decide the answer: what your percentage applies to, and which costs are yours. Both are in your lease.
The example load
The broker pays the carrier $2,000: $1,700 linehaul and $300 fuel surcharge. It's 800 loaded miles plus 60 deadhead, 860 miles, over two days. You pay your own fuel, maintenance and truck costs.
Step 1: add up your costs
- Fuel: 860 ÷ 6.8 mpg × $3.85 = $486.91
- Maintenance and tires, $0.22 a mile: $189.20
- Truck payment, insurance and other fixed costs, $95 a day × 2 days: $190.00
Total: $866.11. These don't change with your split.
Step 2: work out your revenue at your split
If the percentage applies to the whole $2,000:
| Your split | Your revenue | What you keep | Per mile | Per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72% | $1,440.00 | $573.89 | $0.67 | $287 |
| 80% | $1,600.00 | $733.89 | $0.85 | $367 |
| 88% | $1,760.00 | $893.89 | $1.04 | $447 |
Per mile is divided by all 860 miles. What you keep is your pay plus your business's profit; nothing has paid you yet.
Step 3: check what the percentage applies to
If your lease pays the split on linehaul only and passes the fuel surcharge to you in full, the 72% revenue is:
$1,700 × 72% + $300 = $1,524
You keep $657.89, which is $84 more than if the split applied to the whole $2,000. On fuel-heavy loads the difference grows, so know which way your lease works.
Step 4: take off settlement deductions
Insurance, trailer rental, ELD, IFTA administration, plates, escrow and advance fees often come out of each settlement. Spread weekly or monthly deductions over your loads by the days each takes. A $350 weekly deduction is $50 a day, so this two-day load carries $100 of it.
What split do you need?
Turn it around. To keep $700 on this load, your revenue must be $866.11 + $700 = $1,566.11, which is 78.3% of $2,000. Useful when you compare carriers' lease offers: run your typical load at each one's split and deductions.
Doing it in KRYSTAL
In your operating profile, enter the share the carrier keeps, 28 for a 72% lease, plus any dispatch or factoring percentage and your deductions. KRYSTAL works each percentage out on the load's full gross and shows them on the Operating Profile Costs line of every report. If your lease pays fuel surcharge in full, say so in Revenue Structure and KRYSTAL keeps the carrier's percentage off it. How KRYSTAL counts percentages and settlements.
Your split on every offer, automatically
Enter your lease once and every analysis shows what you keep.