How to check a load before booking
- Type pickup and delivery as a city and state (Baltimore, MD) or a ZIP, then tap Find miles. Or skip this and type loaded miles from your own planner.
- Enter the offered rate, your truck's MPG and the diesel price.
- Open Deadhead or Tolls, food & other costs only if you need them.
- Read what you keep and your rate per mile, then copy or save the estimate.
How it's calculated
Fuel = total miles ÷ MPG × diesel price
Total costs = fuel + tolls + food + other costs
Profit = offered rate − total costs
Rate per mile = rate ÷ miles · Profit per mile = profit ÷ miles
Example
$1,000 for 183 loaded miles, 50 deadhead miles, 6.5 MPG, $3.75 diesel, $30 tolls, $20 food and $10 other. Fuel: 233 mi ÷ 6.5 × $3.75 ≈ $134.42. Costs: $194.42. You keep about $805.58 — $5.46 per loaded mile gross, $4.40 after costs ($4.29 and $3.46 per total mile).
Use it for dry van, reefer, flatbed, box truck or hotshot offers — it only uses the rate, miles, MPG and costs you enter. What the four per-mile numbers mean: rate per mile guide. Diesel prices rising? See the per-mile and per-trip impact with the Fuel Cost Calculator. All formulas: How TruckingDesk calculates.
About the miles and tolls
- Source: city/ZIP lookup uses bundled GeoNames data on your device; road miles come from the free OSRM server using OpenStreetMap data. It is not Google data — use the Google Maps button to compare.
- Not truck routing: it uses city/ZIP center points and car roads. It doesn't check height, weight or hazmat limits, live traffic or HOS.
- Tolls: "Confirmed map tag" means OpenStreetMap marks a toll road or booth on the route. "Possible" means only a road name suggests a toll. No result never proves a route is toll-free. Truck toll prices depend on axles and payment method, so type your own amount.
Questions
How do I know if a load is worth taking?
Enter the offered rate, miles, MPG and diesel price, plus any tolls or deadhead. If what you keep after fuel and costs is below what you need per mile to cover your truck and pay yourself, the load doesn't pay.
Can I type the rate with a dollar sign or commas?
Yes. $1,000.00, 1,000 and 1000 all work. Negative numbers are rejected.
Do I need ZIP codes?
No. City and state work. You can also skip locations and type miles.
Why show profit per mile?
The rate per mile shows what the broker pays. Profit per mile shows what's left after fuel and the costs you entered — a better way to compare loads.
Does it include my truck payment or insurance?
No, only costs you type in. Use the Load Profit Calculator for fees and monthly costs.
What is sent over the internet?
Only when you tap Find miles: two map points go to OSRM and road IDs go to OpenStreetMap's Overpass service for toll tags. Your rate and costs stay on your device.
Find miles didn't work.
The free routing server can be busy. Type loaded miles yourself — everything else still works.