Keeping track of all costs and their shares of revenue will help you see whether any part of your operation is abnormal compared to other owner-operators. This is useful not just for cost-cutting, but also for making business decisions.
Fuel is an owner-operator's biggest annual expense. In 2022, when diesel prices averaged $5.01 a gallon nationwide, it accounted for nearly a third of operators' total revenue.
Of course, these numbers will be different for everyone, and fuel costs for 2023 are likely to account for a bit lower percentage than these 2022 numbers. However, based on 2022 averages, the average ATBS client nets 36.5 cents for every dollar of gross revenue, meaning 63 cents of every dollar earned has to go toward expenses. Keep that in mind the next time you’re tempted to go on a spending spree with a big settlement check, as rare as those may be these days.
On the other hand, if (before you account for your own pay) you’re netting much less than a third of your revenue overall, take a careful look at your records. Chances are one or two costs are out of control, or your revenue is too low for long-term sustainability.
[Related: If your trucking income's taken a beating this down cycle, you're not alone]
You can easily track your expenses with a profit-and-loss statement. All your records should be accumulated throughout the month and turned into a profit-and-loss statement, also called a financial statement or a statement of earnings. Gather your settlement statements and receipts into like categories, and total them up at the end of each month. Then incorporate your operating information in a consistent format to make the profit-and-loss statement.
