Cost per mile for a trucking company: the formula and a worked example
Fixed plus variable costs, a one-truck example with realistic 2026 figures, and how deadhead miles raise the rate you have to beat.
Read the guide →Guides
The numbers behind
a small carrier.
Plain-English guides to the arithmetic and the paperwork of running one truck or a small fleet: what a mile really costs, when IFTA is due and how the return works, how detention gets paid, what every line of a rate confirmation means, what the software costs, how driver pay per mile is worked out, and what it costs to start as an owner-operator. Each guide is dated, sourced, and answers its questions directly.
Updated October 7, 2026IFTA quarterly deadlines 2026 and how the return works
The four 2026 due dates with the weekend shifts, what the return reports, how tax-paid gallons work, and the errors that get returns bounced.
Read the guide →Detention pay for truckers: how to bill it and get it paid
The two-hour convention, the timestamps a broker accepts, the rate con clause to read before you sign, and how to invoice it.
Read the guide →How to read a rate confirmation
Every field explained, the red flags that cost carriers money, and a five-minute checklist to run before you sign and dispatch.
Read the guide →What trucking software costs in 2026 for owner-operators and small fleets
Six products on one table at one, three, five and ten trucks, what drives the price, and the contract traps that cost more than the subscription.
Read the guide →How to calculate driver pay per mile (and what it costs you)
Per-mile, percentage and hourly pay compared, the employer taxes and benefits that sit on top of the rate, and a worked month for one driver.
Read the guide →Owner-operator startup costs in 2026
Authority, insurance, the truck, plates and permits, taxes and a cash reserve: every line of the first ninety days, with example figures and what each one depends on.
Read the guide →About the guides
Who writes these guides?
MileBrain, the company. They are written from the experience of running a small carrier and checked against the primary sources linked at the end of each guide: FMCSA, IFTA, Inc., the IRS, OOIDA and ATRI. No guide is written by an outside contributor.
How often are the guides updated?
Each guide shows its last update date at the top. Dated facts such as IFTA due dates and software prices are rechecked when the year or the vendor's page changes, and the date moves when the text does.
Are the guides about MileBrain?
They are about running a small trucking company. Each one links to the MileBrain feature that does the related job and to the pricing page once, and otherwise sticks to the subject.
Know your numbers from day one.
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