Dispatch5 min
What your dispatcher is paid to do
Loads booked and gross rate per mile can both climb while the account gets worse. Only one number moves when the desk is actually working for you.
/ The Ledger /
The numbers behind running trucks profitably.
Written for fleets of three to twenty-five trucks. No industry averages standing in for your own figures, and nothing here needs you to buy anything to be useful.
Growth6 min
What a carrier brand is worth
It is not the logo. It is what a driver, a broker and a shipper each find when they check you out before calling — and they always check.
Dispatch5 min
Fuel surcharge, and who it actually protects
A surcharge quoted against a national average is not the same as one quoted against your truck.
Fleet Operations5 min
Start the insurance renewal conversation in month nine
By the time the quote arrives, everything that determines it already happened.
Fleet Operations6 min
What a new authority needs before it can haul
The paperwork is not the hard part. The ninety days before anyone will give you freight is.
Dispatch5 min
Getting paid for detention
Detention is not usually refused. It is usually unprovable, which is a different problem with a different fix.
Growth5 min
Your Google profile is a recruiting tool
Drivers check whether you look real before they call. Most small fleets have never looked at what they find.
Fleet Operations6 min
When to add the second truck
The question is never whether there is freight. It is whether you can fund six weeks of a truck that has not been paid yet.
Dispatch6 min
How double brokering reaches you
You do everything right, deliver on time, and the money is gone — because the party who hired you was never the party holding it.
Dispatch5 min
Planning a year of freight
Every market has a rhythm. Running as though every week is the same is how a good year still ends badly.
Growth5 min
The referral loop most fleets never build
Your current drivers know other drivers. Almost nobody asks them properly.
Fleet Operations5 min
Maintenance is a cash decision, not a mechanical one
Deferring a service does not save money. It moves the cost somewhere less convenient and adds interest.
Growth6 min
The first ninety days decide whether a driver stays
Most driver turnover is decided in the first three weeks, and almost none of it is about pay.
Fleet Operations7 min
What actually moves a CSA score
It is not one score, recent violations count for more than old ones, and most of what hurts small carriers is fixable in the yard.
Dispatch6 min
Deadhead is a planning problem, not bad luck
Your empty miles are decided when you accept the load before them, which is the only point at which you can do anything about it.
Fleet Operations6 min
Profitable on paper, empty in the bank
Margin and cash are different things, and a growing fleet runs out of the second one first.
Fleet Operations6 min
What a mile actually costs you
Most owner-operators undercount their cost per mile, and the missing pieces are always the same four.
Dispatch5 min
Vetting a broker in four minutes
Five checks, in order, before you accept a load from someone you have not hauled for.
Growth5 min
Why your best driver applicant never called back
The gap between an application landing and someone answering it is where most small-fleet hiring is lost.
Fleet Operations6 min
The five numbers on a fleet scorecard
Revenue tells you how busy you were. These tell you whether it was worth it.
Dispatch6 min
How to read a rate confirmation
The rate is the number you look at. The terms around it decide what you actually get paid.
Growth5 min
Your fleet's website: lead form or brochure?
Most carrier sites describe the company. Almost none of them make it easy to start a conversation.
/ Free Tools /
Know your number before you talk to anyone.
Cost-Per-Mile Calculator
Fixed costs, fuel, deadhead, dispatch fee — your breakeven and target rate per mile, live as you type. Free, no signup.
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