How to Calculate Cost Per Mile for Trucking in LaneTally (Video + Steps)

1. See the big picture first (0:00)

What does one mile cost you? In the demo, Bluewater Freight is at $1.75 a mile. LaneTally keeps your loads, chat, fleet, freight invoices, driver pay and the books in one place, and Cost per mile uses them, so nothing is typed twice. After this video you know how the number is made, typed or from your books, the three periods, the cost of each driver, what the carrier owner sees, and where the number is used. The free demo needs no sign-up and no card and uses fake data.

2. The page, the typed numbers and each driver (0:50)

Cost per mile is in the left menu, under Carrier money, after Carrier books. Under the title it says: all costs divided by all miles, loaded and empty. From LaneTally means miles from delivered loads, and costs from the books and the paid driver statements.

The gray line says Information only: the figures come from what you entered or from your loads and books, and it is not tax, legal or financial advice, so check with your accountant. I understand shrinks it to one short line, and Show full text brings the whole sentence back.

The carrier picker at the top lists All carriers together and one line for each carrier. Below is one card for the carrier you picked:

• The big number is the cost per mile, for example $1.75 per mile. Under it: $54,400 over 31,000 miles, typed. The costs divided by the miles give the big number.
• The switch has two choices: From LaneTally and Typed. Edit costs and miles is the button to type the numbers.
• The green tag shows the dispatch fee you charge this carrier, for example 8 percent of the load rate, and Change fee changes it. The dispatch fee is not part of the cost per mile: the Worth it check on New load takes it off each load.
• The orange note appears when LaneTally has enough history: for example 12,520 delivered miles in the last 90 days give $2.51 a mile, compared with the typed $1.75, and it asks if you want to switch.
• The blue note says when the typed numbers were last checked. Typed numbers cover the whole period they were typed for.

Where the money goes lists the typed costs, each with a bar and an amount: truck payments, insurance, driver pay, fuel, maintenance and other. Together they add up to the amount under the big number.

By driver shows each driver with the truck number, the miles and the cost per mile. A driver with no miles typed shows a dash. Each driver's own costs, like the truck payment and insurance, and trip costs, like fuel and tolls, are typed for that driver. What is left of the total is shared and split by miles.

3. Other carriers: private books, no numbers yet, all together (4:11)

Pick another carrier in the picker. In the demo, Blue Line Freight is at $1.56 a mile from typed numbers. Press From LaneTally for this carrier and a message says it keeps its books private, so LaneTally's numbers are not shown: the big number is a dash, with Books are private. The Worth it check on New load keeps the typed numbers. When the carrier turns on Let my dispatcher do my books and pay, this fills in. Press Typed to go back.

When typed numbers are old, a yellow note asks you to check them, because insurance renews, trucks get paid off and fuel changes. Check them now opens the costs and miles form. They are still right marks them as checked today, and the reminder comes again in 90 days.

In By driver, two drivers who share one truck are a team: the row says team with and Same truck. A team is one truck, so the miles are counted once, and the team has one cost per mile on both rows.

A carrier with no drivers, miles or costs yet, like Coastline Carriers in the demo, shows a dash and No costs or miles typed yet. All carriers together shows one card for each carrier, one under the other, each with its own switch, number, costs and drivers.

4. Edit costs and miles (6:51)

Press Edit costs and miles. The form Costs and miles asks for the costs and miles of the period you want to measure, for example the last 90 days.

• All costs, by type is a list with a name and an amount on each row. Add a cost adds a row, for example Tolls, 800. Remove takes a row away after it asks Remove this cost?
• Each driver has Miles, Their own costs (tied to their truck, like the payment and insurance) and Their trip costs (fuel, tolls and similar). Whatever is left of the total is shared and split by miles.

Cancel closes without saving. Save shows the change, for example Cost per mile from $1.75 to $1.78, and the new cost appears in Where the money goes.

5. From LaneTally: your loads and your books (8:59)

Press From LaneTally. Three buttons appear: Last 90 days, This month and This year. The big number is now the cost for that period, for example $2.51 per mile, $31,402 over 12,520 miles in the last 90 days. There is nothing to type. With more than 2,000 delivered miles, the Worth it check on New load uses this number.

Where the money goes now lists the costs from the books, the biggest first. By driver has Miles (with the number of loads), Their costs, Shared part and Cost per mile. Their costs are their real pay from paid statements, their receipts, and book entries marked for their truck. Everything else is shared and split by miles. A team is one truck, so its miles and costs count once.

Truck payments are counted here because they are part of what it costs to run the truck. On Finance, profit leaves out the loan itself and counts only the interest, like the books.

Where these numbers come from explains it:

• Miles: the delivered loads with a delivery date in the period, loaded plus empty miles. Loads still on the road count when they are delivered.
• Costs: the entries in this carrier's books on the same dates.
• Left out: the dispatch fee and factoring (the Worth it check takes them off each load), driver advances, owner draws and big equipment purchases.
• To make it more exact, open an entry in the books and pick its truck, for example a repair or a truck payment. Entries with no truck are shared.

A month with too few miles is shown in gray with too few miles to trust, because one bill, like insurance or tires, moves the number a lot. The Worth it check keeps the typed numbers until there are 2,000 miles. Press Typed to go back to your own numbers. On the orange note, Not now hides it for 30 days.

6. What the carrier owner sees (13:00)

The carrier owner has Cost per mile in their menu too, with the same title, the same Information only line, the same switch and the same period buttons. The owner sees only their own company. The dispatch fee tag, Where the money goes, By driver, the line about truck payments and Where these numbers come from are the same as the dispatcher sees.

7. Where the number is used: Worth it (13:43)

The number is used when you add a load. Open Loads and press New load. Pick the carrier, type the loaded miles, the empty miles and the rate. The box under the form says Worth it with the profit per mile after costs, and shows the dispatch fee and the freight. With a lower rate it says Too low. The check uses the cost per mile of this carrier from the Cost per mile menu. Read it as what the box says, not as advice. The X closes the form and nothing is saved.

8. Cost per mile on the phone (14:29)

On a phone, Cost per mile is under More, after Carrier books. The carrier picker stays at the top as you scroll. The card starts with the carrier name and the big number, then the costs and miles, the switch, Edit costs and miles and the dispatch fee tag. In Where the money goes each cost is a line with its bar and amount, and in By driver each driver is a block. Edit costs and miles fills the width of the phone, with each driver as a block of three boxes. With From LaneTally, the three period buttons appear, and Where these numbers come from opens the same four lines.

9. Wrap-up and the free demo (16:35)

That is the whole Cost per mile menu. LaneTally is dispatch and accounting software, now in beta. It gives you information only: it is not tax, legal or financial advice, so check with your accountant. You can open the same screens yourself in the free demo: no sign-up, no card, fake data.