Find your true cost per mile and your break-even rate per loaded mile, then check whether a load offer actually pays after deadhead. Your numbers stay in your browser.
Cost per mile (CPM) is what it costs to move your truck one mile, whether it’s loaded or empty. It has two parts.
Truck and trailer payments, insurance, permits, and software cost the same whether you drive 6,000 miles or 12,000. Add them up for the month and divide by your total monthly miles. Driving more lowers this number, which is why an idle week hurts so much.
Fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls, and driver pay scale with every mile. Fuel per mile is the diesel price divided by your MPG.
Brokers pay for loaded miles, but you pay for every mile. If 12% of your miles are empty, each loaded mile has to cover its share of the deadhead.
For a specific load, the calculator adds the deadhead to the pickup to the loaded miles and multiplies by your CPM. That’s what the load costs you to run. Anything the load pays above that is profit. The minimum all-in rate is the offer at which you’d exactly break even, which is the number to hold in your head when a broker calls.
For a deeper walkthrough with a full example, read our cost per mile guide.
A calculator is only as good as the numbers you type into it. Truxello tracks your real fuel from EFS, WEX, or Comdata, your expenses from receipt photos, and your revenue from every load, so your cost per mile and profit come from what actually happened. It starts at $20 a month, and the first 14 days are free.
Add up your monthly fixed costs and divide by the miles you drive in a month, then add your variable costs per mile: fuel (fuel price divided by MPG), maintenance, tires, tolls, and driver pay. The total is your cost per mile.
It’s your cost per mile adjusted for deadhead. If 15% of your miles are empty, every loaded mile has to pay for the empty miles too, so your break-even per loaded mile is your cost per mile divided by 0.85.
It varies widely with truck payment, insurance, fuel, and driver pay, but many small carriers land somewhere around $1.50 to $2.30 per mile including driver pay. Use your own numbers: averages hide the costs that make or break your lanes.
Yes. Put what you want to earn per mile in the driver pay field. If you leave it at zero, the calculator will tell you a load is profitable when it’s only covering the truck.