Calculating Your Operating Cost

There's payroll overhead too. You know, like matching S.S., Medicare, health ins, UEI, workers comp, vacation pay, etc.

 

Good call.....also insurance deductible payment could be $5000

 

A few more items to consider. Your mileage may vary:
Loadboard
Accounting
ELD
Prepass
Tolls
Towing Insurance
Permits
Gap Insurance

 

$1.65 is a good safe number. I go off 2/mi but I have higher overhead having office staff, a yard, extra trailers, etc. For you if you ran regional then 1.65 would be ok. Local go off 2/mi as your miles will be lower. If you did coast to coast OTR could maybe squeeze it down to 1.50.

My hourly are at 20 to 22.50 an hour depending on endorsements and experience. My regional/otr are at .54/mi with 2400 miles guaranteed.

It’s always a good idea to add 10 or 15% over what you think your costs are and make that your number. There are always more costs then expected and things never go as good as you want.

Hope that helps.

 

Ok there are many ways to do this but the way I do is below.

Monthly payments divided by the amount of days I will work that month gets the number I need.

Truck payment
occupational insurance
escrow
heavy haul tax
registration
cell phone
subscriptions
wage
Parking

Plus things done by the mile

Fuel (Cost of fuel per gallon divided by average mpg) Ex. $3.50 / 6.5 mpg = .54cpm
Insurance (I am leased on a carrier so mine is by mile) Mine is .14cpm
Maintance I put aside .10cpm but do however much you want
IFTA Mine is .05cpm


Just do a little math and presto you have your numbers.

So if I have 5000 in monthly payments and my truck cost .83cpm to run here is the numbers as an example.

5000 / 25 days = 200 per day plus .83 cpm driven



By the load

Load mileage 600 all miles
1.5 days on load

1.5 x 200 = 300
600 x .83 = 498

Cost to run load

$798

Cost per mile

$1.33

 

I stopped thinking miles as a guide and use them just for meterics. Miles are dependent on a set amount of miles that need to be covered loaded and isn't always accurate measurement of costs.

 

You have to add in the cost of a driver, wether yourself or a hired hand. Would you drive for free? If so I’ve got a few trucks I’d love to put you in, brand new ones.

It’s an Internet forum after all so take it with a grain of salt, but every which way I try and pencil it out, it still costs me between $1.60-1.70 to run.

 

The thing is that cpm or rate per mile should not be a goal in itself but a reference point to your own operations. It helps to know, if I am doing better now vs. this time last year.
No point to compare total costs of a reefer to a dry van, or an open deck, even more useless it would be to think about the corresponding costs per mile or rates and profits.
With each equipment type there are different work requirements and that is on physical and mental level.

 

If $1.65 a mile is the cost to run your truck your better off working for someone.... To be above profit than what it would equal to leasing to someone you would have to make $3 a mile every single load...

UPS paying $1.00 per mile plus fuel surchage to lease to their authority and they pay for everything...

 

Except fuel, maintenance, driver's pay, truck payments.
1+27c FSC = 1.27c that UPS pay for the privilege.
I reckon A brand new Volvo/Cascadia owner: 0.42+0.03 (assuming a brand new truck does not break)+0.55+0.30 = $1.30. If the owner hires a driver, he has only deficit of 3 c from it. If he drives it himself...it is what some describe here as buying yourself a job.