Margin is the share of the money you kept. On one load it is the plainest arithmetic in trucking, and most operators never write it down.
Four lines. One: revenue — the all-in rate, linehaul plus fuel surcharge plus accessorials you will actually be paid. Two: fuel cost — total miles including deadhead, divided by your real MPG, times the price per gallon you are actually paying. Three: operating cost — total miles times your cost per mile, excluding fuel if fuel is already its own line so you do not count it twice. Four: net — revenue minus fuel minus operating cost.
Margin is net divided by revenue, expressed as a percentage. If a load brings $1,200 and your net is $180, your margin is 15 percent. The rate per mile could have looked fine and the margin still be thin, because margin is where the empty miles and the fuel price show up.
Watch the double-count trap. If the cost per mile figure you use already includes fuel, do not add a separate fuel line. If it excludes fuel — which is how our scoring treats it — then fuel is its own line and belongs in the calculation.
For a month, the same four lines, bigger numbers: all settlements as revenue, all fuel receipts, all operating spending including your fixed costs, then net and margin. Do this every month and you will notice something uncomfortable and useful — the months that felt good and the months that paid well are not always the same months.
Margin is also the honest way to compare two loads of different lengths. A short load with a small net and a high margin usually beats a long load with a bigger net and a thin one, because the short one leaves the truck free.
Our scoring runs these four lines for you on every load and shows net and margin next to the verdict, along with the assumptions line so you can see exactly which fuel price and which operating basis produced them.
— Vincent Scott, TeamScott LLC · Memphis, TN