I have created the coolest spreadsheet, at least in my mind 
I'm just refining it, but it's done from a Canadian perspective (ie the industry speaks in gallons and miles, but we buy fuel in litres and our trucks travel in kms; we have GST included in our fuel price, but it's actually not an expense since we get it back; we make purchases in USD but our real expenses are in CAD).
I'm going to do a second one from an American perspective.
There are just a few spots where you need to enter your own values (highlighted in yellow), and the rest calculates itself.
In the end, it gives you a bottom line number for your minimum price per mile and minimum gross revenue to break even, including paying yourself whatever minimum amount you need to get for yourself each month, depending on your personal situation.
The one value that is not within your power to determine, (at least if you are with a carrier), is the number of miles you get per week/month, and that number of course, has a huge impact on your price. Therefore I have made 4 columns, based on number of miles changing.
I would like to test it out to see if it works out for others, or if it still needs tweaking. Message me with your email address if you would like to try it out, and I will send to you as an Excel document.
I would be happy to also receive any input from anyone who has also worked on this type of thing, to let me know if you feel something doesn't make sense, or I need to add something, or whatever.
The interesting thing of course, is that while you will be able to see how low you can actually run per mile and still break even (according to your own minimum requirements and situation), you will also see how many miles are required to do so. And when you are getting lots of miles, that's wonderful and rosey, BUT, if you are expected to run for less, while at the same time getting less miles, it becomes impossible to have it both ways.
That said, it lays it out so one can determine where any fat can be trimmed, if anywhere, ie, do I really have to bring home that amount for myself each month, or can I work on reducing the amount of deadhead, or can I forget about saving for another vehicle for now until things pick up or can I get a cheaper cellphone plan, or whatever.
It also lays it out so one can determine whether it's even possible to break even, or if you're sailing a sinking ship, and maybe you should bail now, rather than later.
I have not entered any values for things such as food, showers, motels, in my spreadsheet, because to me, what we eat, how often and where we shower, and if we choose to get a motel instead of sleeping in a sleeper, is not part of my business, even tho such expenses can be claimed as an expense. This isn't about taxes and year end net profit as sent to the government, it's about how low can I go 'today', and still be ok. However, this is not locked, and you can add or subtract whichever line items don't make sense for you, or do make sense for you, in your specific situation.
It can be re-done whenever you feel like it, like if the price of fuel changes, or your deadhead changes, or your miles change. You can save the original as one name, and then save whichever ones you want under slightly different names, so you can compare later on. And you can play with it to see what it would mean to your bottom line if one thing or another were to be changed.
So... any takers? Long winded eh?
PS
Wanted to edit this to say that this is kind of a chicken/egg thing, where.. ya, you can run for twenty-five cents IF you get two bazillion miles per month.. or.. ya, you need to get at least fifty bucks per mile if you're only getting .5 miles per month..
So if you have the backup, reserve, time, etc., to test it out, you might find that if you take the lower rate that you previously balked at, you might get more loads, thereby reaching your breakeven.. and conversely, if you hold out for the rates you're accustomed to, you might dig your ditch that much faster.
And I'm not saying that you 'should' run for whatever low amount, nor that it will stay that way, just suggesting it might be possible to stay in the biz during these harder times, if you're willing and able to take the gamble and see what happens for a couple months, with lowered expectations.
I'm just refining it, but it's done from a Canadian perspective (ie the industry speaks in gallons and miles, but we buy fuel in litres and our trucks travel in kms; we have GST included in our fuel price, but it's actually not an expense since we get it back; we make purchases in USD but our real expenses are in CAD).
I'm going to do a second one from an American perspective.
There are just a few spots where you need to enter your own values (highlighted in yellow), and the rest calculates itself.
In the end, it gives you a bottom line number for your minimum price per mile and minimum gross revenue to break even, including paying yourself whatever minimum amount you need to get for yourself each month, depending on your personal situation.
The one value that is not within your power to determine, (at least if you are with a carrier), is the number of miles you get per week/month, and that number of course, has a huge impact on your price. Therefore I have made 4 columns, based on number of miles changing.
I would like to test it out to see if it works out for others, or if it still needs tweaking. Message me with your email address if you would like to try it out, and I will send to you as an Excel document.
I would be happy to also receive any input from anyone who has also worked on this type of thing, to let me know if you feel something doesn't make sense, or I need to add something, or whatever.
The interesting thing of course, is that while you will be able to see how low you can actually run per mile and still break even (according to your own minimum requirements and situation), you will also see how many miles are required to do so. And when you are getting lots of miles, that's wonderful and rosey, BUT, if you are expected to run for less, while at the same time getting less miles, it becomes impossible to have it both ways.
That said, it lays it out so one can determine where any fat can be trimmed, if anywhere, ie, do I really have to bring home that amount for myself each month, or can I work on reducing the amount of deadhead, or can I forget about saving for another vehicle for now until things pick up or can I get a cheaper cellphone plan, or whatever.
It also lays it out so one can determine whether it's even possible to break even, or if you're sailing a sinking ship, and maybe you should bail now, rather than later.
I have not entered any values for things such as food, showers, motels, in my spreadsheet, because to me, what we eat, how often and where we shower, and if we choose to get a motel instead of sleeping in a sleeper, is not part of my business, even tho such expenses can be claimed as an expense. This isn't about taxes and year end net profit as sent to the government, it's about how low can I go 'today', and still be ok. However, this is not locked, and you can add or subtract whichever line items don't make sense for you, or do make sense for you, in your specific situation.
It can be re-done whenever you feel like it, like if the price of fuel changes, or your deadhead changes, or your miles change. You can save the original as one name, and then save whichever ones you want under slightly different names, so you can compare later on. And you can play with it to see what it would mean to your bottom line if one thing or another were to be changed.
So... any takers? Long winded eh?
PS
Wanted to edit this to say that this is kind of a chicken/egg thing, where.. ya, you can run for twenty-five cents IF you get two bazillion miles per month.. or.. ya, you need to get at least fifty bucks per mile if you're only getting .5 miles per month..
So if you have the backup, reserve, time, etc., to test it out, you might find that if you take the lower rate that you previously balked at, you might get more loads, thereby reaching your breakeven.. and conversely, if you hold out for the rates you're accustomed to, you might dig your ditch that much faster.
And I'm not saying that you 'should' run for whatever low amount, nor that it will stay that way, just suggesting it might be possible to stay in the biz during these harder times, if you're willing and able to take the gamble and see what happens for a couple months, with lowered expectations.
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