Cost Per Mile

Cost per mile is the most basic unit cost in truckload freight. It's calculated by dividing the total linehaul cost – sometimes including fuel surcharge, sometimes not, depending on the shipper's methodology – by the total miles of the shipment. A $2,500 charge for a 1,000-mile lane equals $2.50 per mile. It's the common denominator that lets shippers compare rates across lanes of different lengths and between carriers on the same lane.

The metric gets more nuanced when you decide what to include in the numerator. Some shippers calculate cost per mile on linehaul only, excluding fuel surcharges and accessorials, to get a cleaner view of base rate trends. Others use all-in cost per mile to capture the true total. Both approaches are valid, but consistency matters – mixing methodologies across lanes or time periods makes comparisons meaningless. Fuel surcharge inclusion is the most common source of inconsistency.

Cost per mile is useful for benchmarking against market indices like the DAT rate average, evaluating carrier bids during an RFP, and tracking rate trends over time on specific lanes. It's less useful for comparing across modes – an LTL shipment's cost per mile isn't comparable to a truckload shipment's – or for understanding total logistics cost, which requires factoring in accessorials, detention, claims, and service quality. A carrier quoting $0.10 less per mile but generating $500 in detention charges per load isn't actually cheaper.

Shippers who track cost per mile at the lane level over time can spot rate creep early, identify lanes where contract rates have drifted out of market, and bring data to carrier negotiations rather than relying on broker benchmarks alone.