How to see through bad advice on revenue per mile

user-gravatar Headshot
Updated Mar 4, 2017
Capture1-2017-02-24-14-13


It’s often not worth it to break up a run for an additional load, even when the rate is good, says Richard DeForest of ATBS, the nation’s largest owner-operator financial services provider.

Richard DeForest is vice president of fleet sales for financial services provider ATBS.Richard DeForest is vice president of fleet sales for financial services provider ATBS.

DeForest gives an example of why that extra load can be “a dead loser” in this video excerpt from his presentation at the Partners in Business seminar at the 2015 Great American Trucking Show last month in Dallas. Partners in Business, produced by Overdrive and ATBS, is sponsored by Goodyear Smart Fleet, Ryder and truckstop.com.

Deforest, citing a load board’s online example of load planning, focused on the example’s emphasis of revenue per mile when comparing the same run with no stops and with one stop for a high-paying load.

“Too many times we see truck drivers focus on revenue per mile and it’s killing them,” DeForest said in an interview after the show. “You can get it outrageously high, but you can go broke doing it. Drivers can get hung up on cents per mile, but the real enemy is inefficiencies around what a driver has to go through.”

The main inefficiency involves time. When out-of-route miles and time at the dock delay you too much, choosing the extra stop “couldn’t be more wrong,” he says.

In another excerpt from his presentation, DeForest explains how widely available trucking data gives you a heads-up on the national economy, as well as provides you with key information to run your business.

Have you been pressured by a fleet or broker to take a high-paying load that clearly was not in your best interest? Comment below.