Originally Posted by esemling

Hello was wondering if their is any website out their for a national average on what to charge a customer for hauling freight and the fuel surcharge cost. im looking into being a owner operator. any help would be apprciated thanks

There might be, but what you NEED to do is figure out how much YOU need to charge based on YOUR expenses and income requirements. Then don't haul for less than that.

General rules that we live by are a minimum average of $2 / mile for dry van freight, and no less than $800 for a load that will tie up the truck for an entire day. There are exceptions to these numbers, but very few.

Department Of Energy post the fuel averages weekly: http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/

Fuel surcharges are a "sliding scale" depending on the weekly average.

Every company publishes a fuel surcharge table (pretty much) http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

And most every one has a "Rules Tarrif": http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

"Tariffed Mileage Rates" went out with deregulation. Most "major companies" do not publish a "base mileage rate" per se', but DO have a "bill of particulars" (or rules tariff) that spells out "additional costs" (detention, regional surcharges, drop charges, intermodal, etc.) to be expected on any RATE QUOTE. You'll see most "majors" have a "Rate Quote Request Form" page on their websites, and they likely quote competitively, based on their knowledge of market variables in that particular area/for that particular haul.

This is talking about CONTRACT FREIGHT, an ongoing, contracted agreement - usually on a long term basis for a particular client (or even a one-shot-deal).

Most folks here, play the "spot rate market", where rates are negotiated with brokers - and (as Wind alluded to), YOUR RATE is based on YOUR COST OF OPERATION, your EXPECTED PROFIT OVER COSTS, and what the market will bear.

Plenty of folks haul sub-$1.50-per-mile freight, just to put fuel in the tanks - plenty of others "HOLD THE LINE" and will not haul cheap freight (that is, freight that does NOT MEET their "minimum expectation" of cost + profit).

Everything's "negotiable" - and this is not a "one-load-at-a-time" deal - but a Big Picture Long Term Deal.

Have a friend that's new out there - only seems to be interested in what THIS LOAD pays to the truck (leased on to CRST/Malone), doesn't look at the "big picture", takes (what he thinks are) GREAT paying loads into dead freight areas, and gets stuck with DOGS on the way out (or deadheading 100's of miles for the next load), and ends up turning that "great paying load" into a "not so great paying load" when the week averages itself out.

BIG PICTURE - DON'T HAUL CHEAP FREIGHT...

Rick