Evaluating any given load’s value, it’s crucial not only to consider costs incurred to haul the freight on a per-mile basis, but also in relation to time. Fixed costs like insurance, the truck payment and others happen whether an owner-operator is physically moving a load or not, and must be accounted for. Many owners also do not consider their own personal compensation for the operating task as part of those fixed costs.
If you’re not already paying yourself a salary as a W2 employee of your business in an S Corp structure, profit per day worked can be a good proxy for a salary-per-day figure. For ATBS client owner-operators, that per-day-worked profit/salary comes to an average $268 after all costs are accounted for. Fixed costs, in turn, in 2023 averaged $269 per day, not counting the salary. Armed also with variable costs per mile (fuel, tires and other maintenance expenses, among others) at an average 85 cents/mile among ATBS clients in 2023, we can then estimate total costs for that average owner to haul any given load depending on both time and distance.
For instance, consider a 600-mile load that, realistically, you expect to eat up 1.5 days’ worth of time with load and unload, appointment times and/or other scheduling intricacies. Based on the averages, if the time factor holds, the load will need to pay at least $2.19 per mile to cover fixed and variable costs and yield profit sufficient to cover a salary based on the averages.
What happens if that 600-mile run extends out another half day with load or unload delays?
Distance: 600 miles X Variable cost: 0.85 cents/mile = $510
