For this hypothetical local box-truck route—120 total miles, 8 stops and 6 hours—a $500 offer covers $400 in modeled costs, including $180 for the owner-driver’s time. That leaves $100 in business profit before income tax. An extra hour waiting, 30 unpaid miles and 45 minutes driving leave $22. The offer is an assumption to test, not a representative market rate.
HYPOTHETICAL LOCAL BOX-TRUCK ROUTE · USD
Same $500.
Different day.
The starting plan: 120 total miles, 8 stops, 6 hours. We test a hypothetical $500 offer, not a typical or recommended rate. Profit is after owner pay and before income tax.
20% of the $500 offer
6 hours · 120 miles
- Vehicle
- $102.00
- Your pay
- $180.00
- Overhead
- $100.00
- Fees
- $18.00
- Business profit
- $100.00
The planned route leaves $100 after $400 in modeled costs, including $180 for your work.
Quote for a 20% margin $500.00
“Try this route” opens these example inputs in the full calculator. Change them to match your own job.
First, turn the offer into a whole working day
This is a hypothetical local box-truck delivery day: 90 delivery miles, 30 unpaid pickup and return miles, eight stops and six total hours. We set an offered amount of $500 to demonstrate how costs change the decision. We have not established that $500 is a typical or achievable offer for this work.
This is not a semi-truck linehaul example, a reported job, a recommended wage or a rate recommendation. Local delivery and full truckload work have different equipment, distances and service requirements. Every amount in the model is USD; replace every assumption with your own records.
| Input | Illustrative assumption |
|---|---|
| Delivery miles | 90 miles |
| Unpaid pickup / return miles | 30 miles |
| Total driving | 120 miles in 3 hours |
| Delivery stops | 8 × 15 minutes = 2 hours |
| Loading and closeout | 1 hour |
| Total owner-driver time | 6 hours |
| Vehicle running cost | $0.85 per total mile |
| Owner-driver compensation | $30 per hour |
| Helper | None: $0 |
| Fixed overhead | $2,000/month ÷ 20 route-days = $100/day |
| Route fees | $18 |
| Offered route revenue | $500 |
The $0.85 per mile covers fuel, maintenance, repairs and tires only. Owner pay and fixed overhead are separate, so they are counted once. The $100 overhead allocation assumes this route carries the day’s share of truck payments, insurance and other fixed costs. For several jobs in one day, allocate that day’s overhead across them consistently instead of charging the full day to each job.
The $100 left is separate from your $180 pay
| Cost | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle running costs | 120 miles × $0.85/mile | $102.00 |
| Owner-driver pay | 6 hours × $30.00/hour | $180.00 |
| Helper cost | $0.00/hour | $0.00 |
| Fixed overhead | $2,000.00 ÷ 20 route-days | $100.00 |
| Route fees | Illustrative route-specific costs | $18.00 |
| Total modeled cost | All of the above | $400.00 |
The owner-driver’s $180 pays for six hours of work. The remaining $100 is business profit after the costs included in this model. Leaving out your pay would make the job appear to earn $280, while treating your labor as free.
Profit margin here is $100 ÷ $500 = 20%. At a 20% target margin, the minimum quote is total modeled cost ÷ 0.80. Adding 20% to the cost would produce a markup, which is a different calculation.
Two small changes can use most of the margin
Keep the offer at $500 and change the work. An extra hour waiting costs $30 in owner pay. Another 30 unpaid miles plus 45 minutes of driving adds $25.50 in vehicle costs and $22.50 in owner pay: $48 altogether. These scenarios keep all other inputs, including the daily overhead, unchanged and remain within one working day.
| Scenario | Cost | Profit | Margin | 20% target quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| As planned | $400.00 | $100.00 | 20% | $500.00 |
| + 1 hour waiting | $430.00 | $70.00 | 14% | $537.50 |
| + 30 unpaid miles / 45 min | $448.00 | $52.00 | 10.4% | $560.00 |
| Both changes | $478.00 | $22.00 | 4.4% | $597.50 |
The combined changes consume $78 of the original $100 profit. The route still shows a positive $22 in this model, but its margin falls from 20% to 4.4%. That is a different decision from the one suggested by the original $500 offer.
Make the unknowns part of the quote
- Confirm where the paid route starts and ends. Include the pickup and return or repositioning trip in your own cost calculation.
- Ask what loading, unloading and waiting the offered amount covers. Record the assumed stop count and service time.
- Clarify what happens to pay if a stop is added, fails or is cancelled. A per-stop price does not protect you when the work remains but the billable stops disappear.
- Compare the full-day result with another realistic job or an idle day. Include the time and cost of reaching that alternative.
- After the route, record actual miles, hours, revenue and costs. Use the difference to improve the next quote.
In this case, eight equally paid stops would imply $62.50 per stop. If one stop becomes unbillable while the same work and costs remain, revenue falls to $437.50 and modeled profit falls to $37.50. If the cancellation saves work, recalculate the miles and time too. The agreement and actual scope determine which scenario applies.
Use “Try this route” in the interactive example to open the selected scenario in the full delivery calculator. Replace those hypothetical inputs with your actual costs and expected work. Other calculator links open its default example. TruckMargin Pro can save a cost profile and quote, then compare it with the actual results you enter.
Using the method in Canada
The arithmetic also works with CAD, provided revenue, wages and every cost are all entered in CAD. That does not convert the USD example or make these assumptions representative of a Canadian route.
Match the distance and cost units: kilometres × CAD per kilometre, or miles × CAD per mile. Do not multiply kilometres by a per-mile cost. The free delivery calculator is labelled USD and miles; this example uses those units. Pro profiles support CAD with kilometres or miles. Neither option automatically converts your currency or operating inputs.
Canadian pricing check, added November 1: Statistics Canada’s October 30, 2026 release reports a 2.6% monthly increase in the Couriers and Messengers Services Price Index for September. This national index is not seasonally adjusted, and the previous six months may be revised. It measures changes in a broad service mix, including parcel and food delivery; it does not establish a local box-truck rate or the increase your customer will accept.
The technical guide says the collected courier and regular-messenger prices include fuel-surcharge adjustments but exclude taxes and other charges. Check what each price includes before comparing it with your own quote; adding a separate fuel adjustment to an already fuel-inclusive comparison can count the same change twice.
| Scenario | Revenue | Modeled cost | Business profit | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting quote | C$1,000 | C$800 | C$200 | 20.00% |
| Quote +2.6%; own costs assumed +4% | C$1,026 | C$832 | C$194 | 18.91% |
| Quote that preserves 20% at C$832 cost | C$1,040 | C$832 | C$208 | 20.00% |
This is a separate illustration, not a currency conversion or reported Canadian job. The C$800 starting cost includes owner pay and allocated overhead. The assumed 4% increase applies to that whole cost; it is not an observed industry figure. C$1,000 × 1.026 = C$1,026, while C$800 × 1.04 = C$832. Profit is C$194, and C$194 ÷ C$1,026 = 18.91%. To keep a 20% margin, the modeled quote is C$832 ÷ 0.80 = C$1,040. Figures exclude sales tax and profit is before income tax or omitted costs.
Sources & method
- TruckMargin delivery pricing calculator and formulaThe cost breakdown and scenario table are calculated from the same model used by the free tool.
- TruckMargin methodologyHow we distinguish sourced data, illustrative assumptions and user-entered figures.
- DAT Freight & Analytics — September 2026 truckload ratesReference period September 2026. The $3.01 dry-van figure is a national average broker-to-carrier spot rate including fuel, not a local box-truck rate. The $1,505 comparison multiplies it by a hypothetical 500-mile linehaul. Checked October 23, 2026. Published October 13, 2026.
- Statistics Canada — September 2026 courier and messenger pricesReleased October 30, 2026; September reference month. National monthly price change +2.6%, not seasonally adjusted and subject to revision. Not a local box-truck rate. Checked November 1, 2026. Published October 30, 2026.
- Statistics Canada — CMSPI technical guideGuide dated February 27, 2023. Defines the service mix and collected courier/regular-messenger price components, including fuel-surcharge adjustments. Checked November 1, 2026. Published February 27, 2023.
Published October 20, 2026. This article uses illustrative assumptions, not live market data. For a correction, use the contact details on our About page and include the article URL and figure in question.