How to figure your rate per mile
A broker quotes a rate per mile. Your truck earns a rate per mile. They are not the same number, and the gap between them is where loads go wrong. Here is how to get from the quote to what you actually keep, using the free load profit calculator's own example.
Three rates for the same load
Rate per loaded mile is the pay divided by the miles with freight on the trailer. It is what brokers quote and what load boards sort by.
Rate per total mile is the pay divided by every mile the truck runs for that load, including the empty miles to the pickup. Fuel, tires and hours do not know the difference.
Profit per total mile is what is left after the costs of that trip, divided by the total miles. This is the number that tells you whether the load was worth running.
What a good rate has to beat
A good rate is not an average from somewhere else. It is a rate that pays more than your own cost per mile for the trip, with enough left for the days it takes. To know your cost per mile, add the fixed costs the truck has every day whether it moves or not (payments, insurance, permits, plates, parking) and divide by the miles you actually run in a year, then add the costs that come with each mile (fuel at your MPG, tires, maintenance, tolls). For example, $60,000 of fixed costs over 100,000 miles a year is $0.60 a mile; fuel at $3.75 and 6.5 MPG is another $0.58; tires and maintenance might add $0.15. That truck needs about $1.33 a mile before the driver is paid, and more on short loads, where the fixed cost of each day spreads over fewer miles.
That is why the calculator asks for the days on the load. A $2.50 rate on 1,000 miles over two days and the same rate on 300 miles over two days are different businesses.
Where to look up what a lane paid
True Lanes publishes a typical rate for a market only from accepted rate confirmations members uploaded, and only when enough independent loads qualify. The rules are at how True Lanes verifies lane rates. Until a market qualifies it shows nothing, which is better than an estimate you cannot check.
Open the load profit calculator
Questions
What is the difference between rate per loaded mile and rate per total mile?
Rate per loaded mile divides the pay by the miles with freight on the trailer. Rate per total mile divides it by every mile the truck runs for that load, deadhead included. Brokers quote the first; your bank account sees the second.
What is a good rate per mile for a truck?
One that leaves profit after your own cost per mile on that trip: fuel, tolls, driver pay and the share of truck, trailer and insurance payments the days on the load have to cover. The same rate can be good for one truck and a loss for another, so the number to know is your cost per mile, not someone else's average.
Where does True Lanes get its typical lane rates?
Only from accepted rate confirmations that members uploaded, published for a market when at least 8 loads from 4 independent carriers qualify. The complete rules are at truelanes.app/verified-rates.
More guides
- How a fuel surcharge is calculated
- What deadhead miles really cost
- How to check a freight broker before you book
Worked examples use the numbers shown and are not financial or pricing advice. Every member sets their own rates.