07/20/2025
If you don’t know your break-even cost per mile, you don’t know if that load is worth it or if it’s slowly killing your business.
Let me break it down for the new carriers out here taking $1.65 per mile loads and wondering why they’re not seeing profit.
Break-even CPM is what it actually costs you to run your truck for every mile. Loaded or empty. If you don’t know that number, you’re just guessing. And guessing in this industry gets expensive fast.
Here’s how to figure it out.
Step one: Add up your fixed monthly costs
That’s your truck note, insurance, ELD, office tools, permits, factoring fees, trailer rental, dispatch service if you use one.
Let’s say all of that totals $4,500 a month.
Step two: Figure out your variable cost per mile
Fuel, maintenance, DEF, tires, oil—real operating expenses. Right now fuel alone is around 60 to 75 cents a mile depending on your truck. Maintenance should be budgeted at another 15 cents minimum.
Let’s call that 90 cents a mile total.
Step three: Estimate your monthly miles
Be honest. Not your goal—your actual average. Let’s say you run 8,000 miles a month.
Now do the math:
Fixed monthly: 4,500 Ă· 8,000 = 56 cents per mile
Add the 90 cents of variable cost
Your break-even is $1.46 per mile
That means if you’re moving freight for anything under $1.46 a mile, you’re operating at a loss. I don’t care what the gross says. You’re losing money.
Stop chasing loads just because they look like money up front. That $1,200 load might be a 900 mile run with no reload waiting on the other side. That’s not dispatching. That’s burning fuel and hoping for the best.
You’re not just a driver. You’re a business. And the businesses that survive know their numbers before they book anything.
– RJ Logistic LLC
