Do owner operators still calculate loads by rate per mile?

I always did a day rate. There’s a minimum amount that I need make every day. Some shippers needed oversized loads tarped. Tarp pay had to cover the day rate. The rate also had to cover the bounce time it takes to get back from a dead zone to the freight lane. You can’t look at mileage pay when going into a dead zone. That will sink the ship.

 

I look at profit per hour above all else. Every single hour I’m away from home I need to be profiting 40 bucks an hour after taxes and expenses. Sometimes I can hit 60, but 40 is the minimum. I start the clock from the time I step off my porch to when I get back to it and the only time I spend away from home I consider acceptable to be unpaid is when I’m sleeping as I’d be doing that anyways.

now on the flip side I only profit 2k per week or so, but I only work and spend away from home 40 hours or so and I’m home daily.

this fits my stage in life now because my truck and everything are paid off with healthy savings/investments and I’m a single guy who doesn’t really spend any money.

I spent years living in the truck chasing those 10-12k weeks sacrificing my health and social life/hobbies to get to this spot I’m in now so both strategies are valid. Just depends on where you’re at in life I suppose.

 

Time is always the ultimate limiting factor.

 

Daily/hourly rates are great, but you also need to take into account the amount of time, effort, and resources needed to preform the task. That could mean tarping a load, or using extra load securement. If you have a pto do you need to use it? Do you need to be hands on with the freight or sit in the truck and relax? Don’t forget for people who live in the northeast we have to add tolls into our rates.


There is a lot to take into account when bidding a load. It’s not just time/money/miles.


I will say this it’s easier at least in my experience to net more working locally. I’d gross more by expanding my running area, but i am able to keep costs down and be more profitable by not doing that.

 

I have started using my own formula running step deck, route miles plus deadhead miles, divided by 62 mph plus 1 hour to load and 1 hour to unload, times $150 per hour. For example, if it’s 89 miles deadhead plus 580 route that’s 669 total miles, divided by 62mph is 11.15 hours plus 2 for loading/unloading, that’s 13.15 x 150 = $1,972.5 or $2.94 per mile.
With the rates increasing I’m raising my rate to $175 per hour. Hell, the repair shops are charging $200 plus per hour, we’ve been getting screwed for long enough.

 

It is not an either or proposition. Just another data point. Equipment payment ( or $ to replace when it is time), and all the other business costs can be calculated as rate per mile to make things simple because most loads are sold that way. It is better to KNOW what your daily, monthly and yearly costs are. Getting $5.00/mile for 250 miles only tells part of the story of should you take the load or not. As I said it is just a data point. Knowing what it costs you to go down the highway is one of the important things for you to know. I hope this helps.