Profit per load
Profit per load is what a single load left behind after every cost attributable to it, including fuel, dispatch fee, tolls, deadhead and its share of fixed costs.
Last reviewed · by the Fleetchart team
Revenue per load is easy to know and tells you little. Profit per load requires attributing costs to the specific movement: the fuel actually burned including empty miles, any dispatch or factoring fee, tolls, lumpers not reimbursed, and the share of fixed cost the days consumed.
Measured this way, the ranking of your loads usually changes. Long high-rate runs into congested regions often fall; short dense lanes with quick turns often rise.
It is the only measure that answers the question owners actually ask: should I take another one of these?
For example, say a load pays $2,500 for 900 loaded miles, with 100 empty miles to reach it, so the truck turns 1,000 miles. Fuel at $0.60 a mile is 1,000 × $0.60 = $600. Tolls are $50. Maintenance and tires at $0.15 a mile add 1,000 × $0.15 = $150. The load takes two days, and fixed costs, owner pay included, run $300 a day, so its share is 2 × $300 = $600. Total cost: $600 + $50 + $150 + $600 = $1,400. Profit: $2,500 − $1,400 = $1,100.
That number shows which brokers and lanes really pay.