Six calculators for the numbers a broker runs all day: rate per mile, deadhead cost, margin, detention, fuel surcharge, and break-even. Every formula is printed on the page so you can check the math instead of trusting it.
What the load actually pays per mile once you count the miles run empty to get to it — and what you keep if you already know the carrier's buy rate.
Loaded RPM = linehaul ÷ loaded miles All-in RPM = linehaul ÷ (loaded miles + deadhead miles) Margin $ = linehaul − carrier buy rate Margin % = margin $ ÷ linehaul × 100
What it really costs to reposition a truck empty, and how much extra the loaded rate has to carry to pay for it.
Fuel cost = (deadhead miles ÷ MPG) × fuel price Driver/fixed cost = deadhead miles × cost per mile True deadhead cost = fuel cost + driver/fixed cost Break-even add-on = true deadhead cost ÷ loaded miles ($ per loaded mile the rate must gain)
Gross margin in dollars and percent, plus the carrier rate you would have to book to hit a target margin on the same customer rate.
Gross margin $ = customer rate − carrier rate Gross margin % = gross margin $ ÷ customer rate × 100 Carrier rate to hit target % = customer rate × (1 − target % ÷ 100)
Billable detention after free time, plus the usual add-ons, totalled into one number you can paste into an invoice dispute.
Billable hours = max(0, time on site − free time) Detention $ = billable hours × detention rate (capped if a cap is set) Accessorials $ = lumper + layover + TONU + (extra stops × rate per stop) Total billable = detention $ + accessorials $
The standard peg-and-divide FSC: everything the current diesel price sits above your contract's base price, divided by the truck's MPG.
FSC per mile = max(0, DOE price − base price) ÷ MPG FSC per load = FSC per mile × billable miles Below the base price the surcharge is zero (unless your contract runs a negative FSC).
The lowest rate that still covers the load, and the rate you need for the trip to actually earn your target margin.
Total cost = fixed cost + (variable cost per mile × total miles) Break-even rate = total cost (margin = 0) Minimum rate = total cost ÷ (1 − target % ÷ 100) Minimum RPM = minimum rate ÷ total miles Dividing by (1 − margin) is deliberate: margin is measured against revenue, not cost.
These six calculators cover the math. They don't touch the part that actually eats the day — the POD requests, the invoice disputes, the rate reconciliations and the 30-day past-due chases sitting in your billing inbox right now.
That's what FreightDesk AI is: an AI back-office clerk that reads the AR inbox, classifies each email, and drafts the reply with the right numbers attached — running on a local model on your own machine, so rates and margins never leave the building.
Loaded RPM flatters every load. A 400-mile run at $2.50 loaded that needed 150 empty miles to reach is really paying $1.82 across the miles the truck actually turned. Deadhead is the difference between a lane looking good and being good.
A $400 spread on a $2,000 customer rate is a 20% margin, but a 25% markup on the $1,600 carrier rate. Both numbers are correct and they are not the same number. Every margin figure on this page is measured against the customer rate, which is the convention on a brokerage P&L.
The common FSC method pegs a base diesel price, takes the amount current diesel exceeds it, and divides by an assumed MPG to get cents per mile. Nothing on this page hardcodes a diesel price — enter the current figure from the EIA weekly on-highway diesel report, which is the source most FSC schedules reference. Contracts vary: some use a regional average, some step in half-cent brackets rather than a straight divide.
Detention rules, caps, free time, and accessorial definitions live in your rate confirmation and customer contract. When the calculator and the contract disagree, the contract wins.
FAQ
Longer version, with every formula worked out: Freight broker margin & rate per mile →
Rate per mile = total linehaul rate / total loaded miles. A $2,400 load running 1,200 miles is $2.00 per mile. If you include deadhead miles in the denominator you get the all-in rate per mile, which is the number that actually reflects what the truck earned.
Margin dollars = customer rate minus carrier pay. Margin percent = margin dollars / customer rate. A load billed at $2,400 with $2,000 to the carrier earns $400, a 16.7% margin. The free margin calculator at https://yusuf-gadelrab.github.io/freight-tools.html shows both figures.
Deadhead is the empty miles a truck runs to reach a pickup. Its cost is deadhead miles x operating cost per mile, and it comes straight out of the load's profit. Adding deadhead to loaded miles gives the true all-in rate per mile.
FSC per mile = (current diesel price minus the base fuel price) / the truck's miles per gallon. Multiply by total miles for the surcharge on a load. The base price and MPG are set by contract, so both need to be agreed with the customer up front.
Detention is what a carrier bills when a shipper or receiver holds the truck beyond the free time, usually two hours. It is billed per hour after free time, often with a daily cap. The detention calculator handles free time, hourly rate, and caps together with other accessorials.
Yes — six calculators, no signup, no account. The page is static and runs in your browser, so nothing you type is transmitted or stored anywhere.
Every calculator on this page produces an estimate from the numbers you type in. Outputs are illustrative math, not a quote, a rate confirmation, an accounting figure or a projection of your results. No usage, time-savings or ROI figures here have been measured across customers. Nothing on this page is financial, tax, legal or business advice — check your own rates, costs and contracts before acting.