Load profitability calculator: is this load worth taking?
Enter the offer, the miles, your fuel and the time at the dock. The load profitability calculator returns net profit, the true rate per mile and what you earn per hour of work.
Defaults are an example load. The diesel default is the EIA U.S. average for the week of Oct 5, 2026.
NET PROFIT
$1,017
$1.13 per mile driven
- Fuel$858
- Other per mile$225
- Fixed days$300
- Profit$1,017
- True rate per mile driven
- $2.67
- Hours of work
- 22.0 h (18.0 driving)
- Driving days
- 2
- Costs
- $1,383
On your numbers this load clears your line: $46 an hour.
POSTED: EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update, on-highway diesel, week of Oct 5, 2026 · checked Oct 2026
Checking every load like this takes time. Our dispatchers run your numbers before a load reaches you, and you still make the call on each one. Dispatch runs 5% of gross for one truck, and you confirm every load.
By Nathan Beck · Updated October 2026
A load can look great on the board and still lose money once you count the empty miles, the wait at the dock and the days it ties up the truck. This load profitability calculator, a truck load profit calculator built for one offer at a time, takes the rate and every cost the load creates, and shows what is left, per mile and per hour of your time.
What goes into a load's real profit
- All the miles: loaded miles plus the empty miles to the pickup. Fuel and wear do not care which is which.
- Fuel: miles divided by your MPG, times what you pay for diesel. The default is the EIA U.S. average of $6.199 a gallon for the week of October 5, 2026.
- Per-mile costs: your maintenance and tire reserve.
- Tolls and stops: the tolls on the route, and the time each extra stop takes.
- Fixed days: payments and insurance keep running. The tool charges your daily fixed cost for each driving day the load needs, at up to 11 hours of driving a day.
- Fees: any percentage of the rate that goes to dispatch or factoring.
POSTED: EIA, Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update (week of Oct 5, 2026); eCFR, 49 CFR 395.3 · checked Oct 2026
How it is calculated
- Costs: fuel, other per-mile costs, tolls, daily fixed costs times driving days, and the fee.
- Net profit: the rate minus those costs.
- True rate per mile: the rate divided by every mile driven.
- Hours of work: driving time at your average speed, plus loading, unloading, waiting and extra stops.
- Profit per hour: net profit divided by hours of work, checked against the line you set.
What a good result and a bad result look like
A good result clears your hourly line with room to spare and leaves a reload near the drop. A bad result is a load that makes a little money but pays less per hour than sitting for a better one, or one that loses money once the empty miles are counted. When it is close, counter: the counter-offer calculator gives you a number to ask for.
Two costs are easy to shave on any load. Fuel is the biggest; price your next stop with the semi truck fill-up cost calculator and use a card from fuel rewards programs for truckers. Waiting time is the other: idling at a dock or scale burns fuel for nothing, which the idle cost calculator puts in dollars, and a weigh station bypass app can save minutes at every open scale where your state and program allow it.
When someone checks loads for you
Running these numbers on every offer, every day, is a big part of what our dispatchers do. They check the miles, the wait, the reload and your hours before a load reaches you. Then the decision is yours: you confirm every load, and the rate con comes straight to you. See how it works for owner operators, or start your application.
Questions about this calculator
How do I know if a load is profitable?
Subtract every cost the load creates from what it pays: fuel for all miles including the empty ones, maintenance and tires per mile, tolls, your fixed costs for the days it takes, and any fee. If something is left, it makes money. Then divide by the hours it takes, waiting included, to see if it is worth your time compared with other loads.
Why use profit per hour instead of rate per mile?
Rate per mile ignores time. A short load with a long wait at the dock can pay well per mile and badly per hour, because you sat for six hours earning nothing. Profit per hour puts driving, loading, waiting and extra stops on the same scale, so you can compare a quick regional load with a long run fairly.
What costs do drivers forget when pricing a load?
The usual misses are the empty miles to the pickup, the hours waiting at the shipper, extra stops, tolls and the fixed costs that keep running every day the load takes. Fees on the rate, such as dispatch or factoring, are easy to forget too. The calculator asks for each one so the profit you see is the profit you keep.
Who decides whether I take a load?
You do. This tool gives you the numbers, and the call is yours. When we dispatch for you it stays that way: the carrier confirms every load, the rate confirmation goes directly to the carrier, and you can say no to any load. We just do the searching and the math before the offer reaches you.
Loads checked against your numbers first
We do the math. You make the call on every load.