Recommendation: before you accept any load, check profit per mile on all your miles, not pay per loaded mile. If it doesn't clear your cost per mile with room to spare, pass or counter.
Why paid miles fool you
A $1,400 load over 700 paid miles looks like $2.00 a mile. That is pay per loaded mile, and it is what the load looks like on paper.
What deadhead does to the same load
Say you also drive 150 empty miles to pick it up, and your cost is $1.10 per mile. That is 850 total miles, about $935 in costs. You keep roughly $465 before your time, or about $0.55 per mile on all miles. (Example numbers for illustration only, not averages.)
This matters most on drive-away runs
On a drive-away delivery, the pay can look great because you are driving a new unit. The trip home is where the profit leaks: a bus, a flight, or a long empty drive back. Count it as part of the load.
A quick check before you say yes
- Add the miles to pickup, the loaded miles and the miles home.
- Add fuel, tolls and any other cost for the whole trip.
- Divide what you keep by all miles. Compare it to what you need per mile.
Run it in 30 seconds
The Transport LogIQ load profit calculator does this for you. Enter the pay, your miles and your costs, and it shows profit per mile with deadhead included. It is free and needs no sign-up.
If you want to track every load and receipt after you run the numbers, Transport LogIQ has 14 days free with no card, then $24.99 a month if you keep going. Nothing to cancel if you don't.