Every load looks profitable on the phone. The broker quotes per loaded mile, the number sounds like more than fuel costs, and the trailer's empty. The reason so much freight quietly loses money isn't that drivers can't do arithmetic — it's that the arithmetic never happens, because nobody defined the check. So here it is.
The five-step check
- Get the all-in money. Linehaul + fuel surcharge + accessorials you'll really collect, minus factoring and dispatch. What reaches the business, not what's on the board.
- Count all the miles. Deadhead to the pickup + loaded miles. If the delivery strands you somewhere nothing ships out of, the escape miles belong to this load too.
- Know your cost per mile. Fixed bills over monthly miles, plus fuel, plus reserve. Two minutes with the free calculator if you don't have it.
- Count the days. Pickup to delivery including the waiting — roughly 550 driveable miles per day is a fair planning figure when you don't know better.
- Compare against the floor:
Money at or above the floor: the load pays the truck, pays you, and hits the day's target. Below it, you now know exactly how far below — which is what makes the gray-zone call (below) a decision instead of a hope.
Two loads, worked end to end
Your numbers: cost per mile $1.43, profit target $100/day (the worked example from the cost-per-mile guide).
| Load A | Load B | |
|---|---|---|
| Board rate | $1,550 | $700 |
| To the truck (3% factoring) | $1,503.50 | $679 |
| Miles (empty + loaded) | 40 + 780 = 820 | 120 + 180 = 300 |
| Days | 2 | 1 |
| Cost of the trip (miles × $1.43) | $1,172.60 | $429 |
| Floor (+ $100/day) | $1,372.60 | $529 |
| Verdict | +$130.90 — take it | +$150 — take it |
Two surprises worth noticing. Load B's board rate per loaded mile ($3.89) looked spectacular next to Load A's ($1.99) — but its 40% deadhead ate most of the shine, and it cleared the floor by only a little more than the "worse" load. And both verdicts came from the same three lines of arithmetic, not from instinct about what a rate should feel like.
Run any load in ten seconds
The free load profit calculator does this exact check — rate, miles, deadhead, your cost per mile — and the required-rate calculator answers the reverse question: what's the minimum this trip must pay? Both free, no signup.
Open the load calculatorThe four traps that flip the answer
- Loaded-mile math. Dividing by paid miles only — the classic. Load B above is exactly the kind of freight this trap sells.
- Forgetting the days. A load that pays fine per mile but burns three days with loading delays can earn less per day than a cheaper, faster one. Days are in the floor for a reason.
- Gross-rate thinking. Factoring, dispatch and fees come off before profit exists. Judge what reaches the account.
- The stranding delivery. A great rate into a market with no outbound freight isn't a great rate — it's a good day followed by an expensive one. Price the escape, or at least know you're buying it. The deadhead guide covers the math.
The gray zone: loads worth taking anyway
Some loads that fail the floor are still right: the hop home at the end of a week, the reposition into a market that pays for the empty miles, the cheap Friday load that beats a weekend of paid parking and zero revenue. The discipline isn't "never go below the floor" — it's knowing the size of the gap and what you're buying with it. "This loses $85 against the floor but saves a 200-mile deadhead" is a business decision. "The rate felt okay" is not.
Making it a one-minute habit
Keep two numbers where you can see them: your cost per mile and your floor per loaded mile at typical deadhead. With those memorized, most offers sort themselves while the broker is still talking — and the calculator settles the close calls. The number that makes the whole habit work is the cost per mile, and it drifts as fuel and miles change, so keep it current.
The check, running on every load
AxleVault keeps your cost per mile live from your own records and runs this exact yes/no on any offer — deadhead, days, and fees included. Free for 14 days, no card required.
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