Should I count deadhead miles in profit per load?

Always. The empty miles to reach a pickup exist only because you took that load, so their fuel and their hours belong to it. Excluding them systematically overstates the loads that are furthest away.

What is a good profit margin on a load?

Margins in trucking are thin. ATRI's 2026 cost report found that in 2025 truckload and refrigerated carriers averaged operating margins below 1.0%, tank carriers averaged 4.0%, and flatbed carriers averaged an operating loss of 0.5%. Those are fleet-wide averages, not per-load targets, but they show how little room there is. The practical test for a single load is whether it clears your own cost per mile across every mile it takes, deadhead included, with enough left to cover the days it occupied.

Why include a share of fixed costs in a single load?

Because those costs accrue during the trip whether or not you attribute them. A load that covers its fuel but not its share of the truck payment is consuming the business slowly.

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Profit-per-load calculator

Profit per load is what a single load left behind after every cost attributable to it — fuel for the empty miles as well as the loaded ones, the dispatch fee, tolls, unreimbursed lumpers, and the share of fixed cost the trip consumed.

Last reviewed September 30, 2026 · by the Fleetchart team

Net on this load

$1,134

47.3% of the rate survives to the bottom line.

Rate per loaded mile: $2.82
Rate per mile turned: $2.47
Fuel: $567
Dispatch fee: $120
Tolls & other: $45
Net after direct costs: $1,668
Share of fixed costs: $534
Net per mile turned: $1.170

How to read this

Rate per mile is a screening tool. It tells you quickly whether a load is worth a closer look. It does not tell you whether taking it makes you money, because it counts only the revenue side and usually only the loaded miles.

Fold in the deadhead and the picture changes. A load advertised at $2.90 a mile over 400 loaded miles that took 150 empty miles to reach is really paying about $2.11 across the 550 miles the truck turned — before a gallon of diesel is counted.

Run a few of your recent loads through this and the ranking usually shifts. Long high-rate runs into congested regions tend to fall. Short dense lanes with quick turns tend to rise.

Questions

Should I count deadhead miles in profit per load?: Always. The empty miles to reach a pickup exist only because you took that load, so their fuel and their hours belong to it. Excluding them systematically overstates the loads that are furthest away.
What is a good profit margin on a load?: Margins in trucking are thin. ATRI's 2026 cost report found that in 2025 truckload and refrigerated carriers averaged operating margins below 1.0%, tank carriers averaged 4.0%, and flatbed carriers averaged an operating loss of 0.5%. Those are fleet-wide averages, not per-load targets, but they show how little room there is. The practical test for a single load is whether it clears your own cost per mile across every mile it takes, deadhead included, with enough left to cover the days it occupied.
Why include a share of fixed costs in a single load?: Because those costs accrue during the trip whether or not you attribute them. A load that covers its fuel but not its share of the truck payment is consuming the business slowly.

Sources

ATRI, An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking: 2026 Update (July 2026) · 2025 industry-average operating cost of $2.336 per mile ($1.854 excluding fuel), and 2025 operating margins by sector. (checked September 30, 2026)

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Why this number matters: What a load actually pays