Start with your load rate (total revenue for the load), then subtract fuel cost (miles × fuel price ÷ MPG), driver pay (percentage of revenue or per-mile rate), tolls, and any load-specific expenses like lumper fees or detention. What's left is your load profit. Dividing by total miles gives you profit per mile — the most useful metric for comparing lanes.

Owner-operators typically target $0.20-0.40 net profit per mile after all expenses including fuel and driver pay. At current rates and diesel prices, loads under $2.50/mile for dry van often don't leave enough margin. Refrigerated and flatbed loads command premiums for a reason — the margin is there. The calculator's margin alert lets you set your floor.

Lumper fees are paid to warehouse workers who unload your trailer at delivery — common in grocery distribution, typically $75-200 per stop. Detention is charged when a shipper or receiver keeps your truck waiting beyond the free time (typically 2 hours) — usually $25-75/hour. Both are often left out of load calculations and can eliminate all margin on a borderline load.

Use the multi-load comparison view. Enter the rate, miles, fuel cost, and driver pay for each load option. The calculator ranks them by net profit per mile so you can see which load actually makes you the most money — not just which one has the highest gross rate.