Calculating Trucking Rates Per Mile

Calculating trucking rates per mile using the trucking rates calculator from the Truckers Trip Planning App's Trucker Trip Sheet helps you to quickly see what rate a load is actually paying per mile.

The objective: Compare the load's rate per mile to your trucks operating cost per mile or kilometer and understand two things: 1) If the load's rate per mile is less than your trucks operating cost per mile, unless you can make up for it later, you are going to eventually pay for this load out of your pocket. If you are already in the hole, you should demand that you be assigned a profitable load. 2) If the load's rate per mile is equal to or greater than your trucks operating cost per mile, you will either break even or earn a profit with the load.

To calculate your trucking rates per mile, let us re-emphasize that leased operators and owner operators need to know their numbers. You need to know the total distance from your current location to the delivery location for your load's delivery,

the average miles or kilometers your truck gets per gallon of fuel, the average cost of fuel at the time of the load, and the actual load pay for the load which includes the actual fuel surcharge for the trucking rates calculator to accurately calculate the rate per mile for the load.

If you are an Owner Operator and are operating under your own authority, then you will be receiving 100% of the #loadpay and the #fuelsurcharge. If You are a Leased Operator or Owner Operator who is operating under the authority of a Trucking Company, then you should be able to see in your contract which is required by regulations that are found in Part 376, §§376.11 and 376.12 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations referred to as the “truth in leasing” regulations what percentage of the load pay and the fuel surcharge you have agreed to.

The total distance to the delivery location is automatically pulled into the trucking rates calculator from the Truckers Trip Planning Worksheet when you entered your dispatch.

You should be able to use the performance tab on your Qualcomm to obtain the average miles or kilometers that your truck gets and you could simply do a search to obtain the average cost of diesel.

Now! Just load your numbers into the trucking rates calculator from the Truckers Trip Planning App's Trucker Trip Sheet and Calculating trucking rates per mile is made simple.

Get Access to the Truckers Trip Planning App and quickly calculate trucking rates per mile for your loads today.

How to Calculate Trucking Cost Per Mile!

Learn how to calculate trucking cost per mile and determine your truck operating cost using the Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator from the Truckers Trip Planning App.

As a Leased Operator or Owner Operator you need to know your trucks operating cost in order to select profitable loads. This should be the first step that you take when you first purchase and download the Truckers Trip Planning App.

Once you set up the #TruckersCostPerMileCalculator, it will be available for all future loads and you will only need to add and make changes as they become necessary.

The Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator opens with the Total miles or kilometers set to 100,000 and the salary percentage set to 30%. This is just an average to use based upon a yearly operating cost preference. You can change this information to meet your preference.

To calculate trucking cost per mile for your trucking business, you will need to have available, your settlement statements, all associated #fixedcost and #variablecost expenses, and of course the #totalmilesdriven during the period in which you intend to calculate your truck operating cost per mile. The overall objective is to determine the minimum rate per mile that you can accept when selecting your loads to either achieve a break even point or to earn a profit with the load.

How To Calculate Trucking Cost Per Mile Using The Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator From The Truckers Trip Planning App.

1. On the workflow page of the App, open the Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator by tapping on the icon on the left.

2. Make your decision as to whether you want to calculate your operating cost based on weekly, monthly, or yearly miles driven.

3. Enter the total miles you drove during the period in which you selected.

4. Determine what percentage of the total vehicle cost you want to add as a personal salary. This is separate from the actual cost of operating your truck and can be adjusted as you monitor your #successmetrics and make adjustments to increase your #loadprofitability which will be discussed in a future post.

5. Enter the decimal value of your salary percent into the box provided.

6. Make a determination from your settlement statements which of your expenses are fixed cost and those expenses which are variable cost. Fixed cost are those cost in which you will have to pay regardless if the wheels on your truck are turning and variable cost are those cost that you have an option to pay or avoid paying by choosing alternatives. Examples of Fixed Cost are truck payments, health insurance, physical damage insurance, trailer rental, base plates and permits, Accounting, and such things that you would have to pay even if you do not run any loads. Examples of variable cost are tolls, scales, internet, fuel, diesel exhaust fluid, and such things that you will only need if the wheels are turning and such things that you can avoid purchasing if you so choose to do so.

7. Based on your decision to calculate trucking cost per mile on either a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, enter your fixed cost and the amount of the recurring cost into the fixed cost section of the Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator and clicking on the "+" to add lines for each entry. The cents per mile, the total fixed cost, and the fixed cost per mile or kilometer will be automatically calculated based upon your recurring cost. While you update your fixed cost, the Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator will also build a chart that you can view later to see which of your fixed cost should be consistently monitored.

8. Based on your decision to calculate trucking cost per mile on either a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, enter your variable cost and the amount of the recurring cost into the variable cost section of the Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator and clicking on the "+" to add lines for each entry. The cents per mile, the total variable cost, and the variable cost per mile or kilometer will be automatically calculated based upon your recurring cost. While you update your variable cost, the Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator will also build a chart that you can view later to see which of your variable cost should be consistently monitored.

9. After you have completely updated your fixed and variable cost, scroll to the bottom of the Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator to see the truck cost per mile or kilometer, the salary cost per mile or kilometer, and the operating cost per mile or kilometer which was also calculated as you updated your fixed and variable cost. Notice that the operating cost per mile or kilometer is a combination of the truck cost per mile or kilometer and the salary cost per mile or kilometer. The operating cost per mile or kilometer is the minimum rate in which a load should pay for you to achieve a break even point. Any thing above that amount would help you to achieve a business profit. Any thing below that amount would cause you to achieve a business loss.

10. You can now close the Truckers Cost Per Mile Calculator and return to the workflow page of the Truckers Trip Planning App to begin planning your loads.

Get Access to the Truckers Trip Planning App and calculate trucking cost per mile for your truck today.

Team Truck Drivers Trip Planning

Drive time is not all that team truck drivers need to know before accepting and trip planning a load.

Today, there was a visitor on the #truckerstripplanningapp website visiting the #teamdrivers #tripplanning pages who posted; “Irvine Ca. To van ormy tx 1358 running team 2 fuel stops..how long it will take. It's 25hrs.” I responded to the chat message with “What’s your question?” and the visitor quickly left the website.

It was obvious to me that the visitor was attempting to impress upon whoever could see his message how quickly he could figure out the time required to run his load without the use of any tools.

After examining the message, I can quickly see that the team drivers had 1358 miles to deliver the load and needed 2 fuel stops. In determining how long the trip would take, the visitor determined that the team needed 25 hrs. Clearly, this is the drive time required by the load! Is Calculating Drive Time Enough?

Let’s examine this using the simple calculations that we all know so well:

“1358 miles” divided by “25 hours” = 54.32 miles per hour or maybe even “1358 miles” divided by “55 miles per hour” = “24.69 drive hours.” Would you accept this load if you as #teamdrivers had only 25 hours of service available?

Team Leased And Owner Operator Truckers Trip Planning App

How fast can you answer these questions before you make that decision?

• Is the team Company Drivers, Leased Operators, or Owner Operators?

• If the team is #leasedoperators or #owneroperators what is the rate per mile for the load?

• If the team is leased operators or owner operators, what is the teams operating cost per mile?

• If the team is leased operators or owner operators, what is the actual revenue generated by the load?

• If the team is leased operators or owner operators, is the load profitable?

• What time is the pickup appointment?

• What is the latest time the team must start in order to pickup the load on time?

• Can the Team pickup the load on time?

• What is the date and time of the delivery appointment?

• Can the Team deliver the load on time?

• How many non-driving hours will the team need?

• How many hours will the team need for #fueling?

• How many hours #pretrips will the team need?

• How many hours #posttrips will the team need?

• How many load and unload hours will the team need?

• What is the total #hoursofservice required by the load?

• How many ½ hour #restbreaks will the team need?

• Will the team cross any time zones while running the load?

• What is the total time required to run the load?

• What is the Estimated Time of Arrival at the Destination?

• When will the team be available for another load?

• How many hours of service will the team have available for another load?

Taking only in consideration the drive time we calculated, what are your thoughts? Is Drive Time all that Team Drivers Need To Know?