Linehaul cost per mile
Revenue per mile is mostly set by the contract. Cost per mile is yours to know and improve — here is the worksheet.
Cost per mile (CPM) = total operating costs ÷ total miles run. Simple formula, badly done everywhere — usually because costs hide in five different places. Split them into fixed and variable and the picture snaps into focus.
| Type | Cost lines | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed (per week, regardless of miles) | Truck payments/leases, insurance, plates & permits, parking, software, office/admin. | More miles spread these thinner — the argument for keeping seats filled. |
| Variable (scale with miles) | Driver pay, fuel net of surcharge recovery, maintenance reserve, tires, tolls. | These follow every mile — the argument for refusing runs that pay below cost. |
The worksheet
1. Pull 4–8 recent weeks of settlements, fuel statements, payroll totals, and maintenance spend (a short window smooths one-off repairs).
2. Sum fixed costs for the window; sum variable costs for the window.
3. Sum total miles run in the window (ELD or settlement miles — pick one source and stay consistent).
4. CPM = (fixed + variable) ÷ miles. Also compute variable-only CPM — that is your absolute floor for accepting extra work.
5. Recompute monthly. Fuel and maintenance drift; a stale CPM is a wrong CPM.
Skip the spreadsheet: the FAST cost-per-mile calculator does this arithmetic live, splits fixed vs variable, and shows your floor and full CPM side by side.
Using CPM to make decisions
Run acceptance: a run paying above variable CPM but below full CPM still contributes to fixed costs — worth it when the truck would otherwise sit, corrosive as a steady diet.
Per-truck comparison: compute maintenance CPM per unit; the expensive truck identifies itself and the keep/sell decision gets objective.
Per-lane profitability: pair each lane’s revenue per mile against CPM and the "busy but broke" lanes surface immediately. This is what FAST’s profit-per-mile analysis automates from real settlement and fuel data.
There is no universal number — it moves with region, equipment age, wages, and fuel. What matters is knowing yours, keeping it current monthly, and knowing your variable-only floor. Operators who track CPM per truck and per lane consistently out-earn operators who only know a fleet average.
Everything it takes to run: driver wages and payroll costs, fuel (net of surcharge recovery), truck payments or depreciation, maintenance and tires, insurance, permits/tolls, and overhead like software and admin. If the business pays it, a mile carries it.
Allocate truck-specific costs (payment, fuel, maintenance, tires) to each unit directly, split shared costs evenly or by miles, and divide by that unit’s miles. Per-unit maintenance CPM is the single best early warning for a truck going bad.