From a cost floor to a completed-week review
Use the tools in this order for one truck and a consistent period. A quote answers what a load needs to pay; a settlement answers how cash moved; a weekly review explains what changed.
- Calculate your operating cost per all mile from a monthly ledger. Separate owner compensation and profit targets.
- Set the minimum loaded-mile rate using all trip miles and a fixed-cost allocation.
- Check the empty-mile impact and estimate trip fuel before judging the offer.
- Compare contribution profit with your target using the actual offer.
- Reconcile the completed settlement with receipts, advances and chargebacks.
- Review the week against the plan and feed actual costs back into the next monthly cost floor.
One hypothetical trip through the workflow
A monthly ledger of $5,500 fixed and $11,000 variable costs across 10,000 miles gives a $1.65 operating cost floor. For a 1,000-loaded-mile trip plus 100 empty miles, use $1.10 variable cost per all mile, a $550 fixed allocation, $500 owner pay and $400 target profit. Required trip revenue is 1,100 × $1.10 + $550 + $500 + $400 = $2,660, or $2.66 per loaded mile.
To reproduce a $2,800 offer in the load-profit tool, enter $2,800 load revenue and $0 extra revenue; 1,000 loaded and 100 deadhead miles; 8 MPG and $4 fuel; $0.30 maintenance per mile; $500 driver pay; $0 tolls; $550 fixed allocation; $330 other trip costs; 20 hours; and a $400 profit target. Fuel is $550, total entered cost is $2,260 and contribution is $540. The maintenance plus other-trip costs supply the remaining $0.60 variable cost per mile. The $140 above target matches the quote’s offer gap. These are invented assumptions, not recommended rates.
Use the right record for the next decision
The cost ledger guide explains monthly allocation. The fictional settlement walkthrough separates expenses from cash transfers. After delivery, replace estimates with source records instead of forcing the settlement to match the original quote.
Starting or financing an operation
Use the startup funding calculator to separate launch costs and reserves, and the truck payment calculator to model the monthly obligation. Compare lease cash with company-driver value using consistent weekly assumptions. Carry fixed payments into the cost ledger once, then stress-test downtime and repairs.
For other tasks, visit the company-driver CPM hub or quarterly IFTA hub.