I would rather average $3 per mile.

for the record, it's not a gotcha question. somebody said it's better to wait a day or two for better paying freight the other day. I've always had the mindset of keep the truck moving, grab a shorty if nothing else, stack that cheese, etc... but it got my wheels turning. does your cost per mile go up if you average less miles ? insurance, permits, licensing is based on time... but your depreciation on equipment is less. How do you figure it ? I know if I run 2500 miles/ week $1/mile will cover fuel, depreciation, maintenance, and repairs. But what if I only run 1800 ?

Using your numbers from above here is something for you to think about. $3pm, 1800 miles per week is 90,000 miles per year. A gross revenue of $270,000 a year. Avg fuel mileage of 6mpg is 15,000 gallons at a cost of 3.60per gallon for a total of $54,000 in fuel. $2.30pm, 2500 miles per week is 125,000 miles per year. A gross revenue of $287,500. Avg fuel mileage of 6mpg is 20,833 gallons at a cost of $3.60 per gallon for a total of $74,998 in fuel. You will save $20,998 in fuel by running less miles, but will gross $17,500 more by running more miles. So at the end of the year you will be $3498 ahead to work less, and that is just fuel alone, no other maintenance figured into that. By the time you figure that into it you will be even farther ahead to run less and make more per mile. It is a hard concept to grasp until you have seen it spelled out, and very rewarding once you have lived it.

$3 ....with 20,000 max weight....now ya talkin!!!!!

it gets to be a tricky math problem real quick, that's for sure ! It's really kind of fun for me to pencil it out and all that, but like today I spent most of the day putting together three partial shipments to get me from Oklahoma to South Carolina. tricky to put the partials together, thought I had it at noon until the broker for the first load said they had problems and wouldn't ship til Friday. worked out okay, I found a third piece to add after the second pickup. If things go well I will have all three off Monday. There's still part of me that thinks I could have taken a quick cheapie, picked it up today and had it off friday, taken a couple days off and been sitting in a good spot to load Monday morning. But if I get all three of these off Monday I'll be in a good spot Tuesday morning to load.

Heres a question on topic that I had to ponder just yesterday. Dispatcher calls me at 3:30 pm and offers me 2 loads out of Louisville:
-load A from Louisville to Little rock 550miles(450)loaded for $1100 weighs 20,000lbs
-load B from Louisville to Atkins VA 350miles(345)loaded for $1100 weighs 43,000lbs

which one would you take?