Profit per day vs. rate per mile: comparing two loads
The load with the higher rate per mile isn't always the one that pays you more. Your truck earns by the day, too. Here's how to compare a long load with a short one.
The two offers
- Load A: $2,600 for 1,000 loaded miles, 50 deadhead. Two days.
- Load B: $1,250 for 380 loaded miles, 40 deadhead. One day.
Your truck's running cost is about $1.47 a mile: $0.566 fuel ($3.85 diesel at 6.8 mpg), $0.25 for maintenance, tires and other per-mile costs, and $0.65 your own pay. Fixed costs are $124 a day however far you drive. The figures below use the unrounded per-mile cost.
| Load A | Load B | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate per loaded mile | $2.60 | $3.29 |
| Rate per total mile | $2.48 | $2.98 |
| Total miles | 1,050 | 420 |
| Running costs | $1,539.49 | $615.79 |
| Fixed costs | $248.00 (2 days) | $124.00 (1 day) |
| What's left | $812.51 | $510.21 |
| Per day | $406.26 | $510.21 |
Per day, B wins by about $104. A still leaves more money in total.
It depends on day two
B only wins if the truck earns again the next day. If you take B and then sit empty for a day, the second day still costs $124 in fixed costs:
$510.21 − $124.00 = $386.21 over two days
That's $426 less than A. To come out ahead with B, your next load has to leave at least $302.30 on day two. That's what A pays you that B doesn't.
So which do you take?
- Take B when it delivers somewhere you'll reload quickly with a decent load.
- Take A when B delivers into a weak area, it's late in the week, or a day sitting is likely.
- Either way, compare on profit per day or per hour, not the rate per mile.
The calculation
profit per day = (offer − total miles × running cost per mile − fixed cost per day × days) ÷ days
Counting the days honestly is the hard part: include waiting at the docks and any time to the next load.
Doing it in KRYSTAL
Every report shows net profit per clock hour as well as per mile, and charges fixed costs by the days a load takes. Your net-per-hour floor stops slow loads from passing just because their per-mile rate is fine. How time is counted.
Compare loads by what they pay your truck
Per mile and per hour, on your own costs.