How much does it cost to ship a truckload?

How to read today’s table

Each row is one lane and one trailer, priced as a full truckload moving one way. Typical is the figure most loads on that lane have settled near lately; the range shows where the cheaper and dearer days fall; the last column divides the typical figure by the road miles, which is the number most shippers carry in their heads. The date above the table is the morning it was computed, and the figures change with the market, so a printout from last month tells you little about today.

Look down the per mile column and a pattern jumps out. The short hauls cost the most per mile and the long ones the least. That is not a pricing trick: a driver spends the same hour or two loading and the same hour or two unloading whether the trip is 270 miles or 1,100, and on a short run those hours are spread over far fewer paid miles. When the table shows Phoenix in both directions, compare those two rows: same road, same distance, often a different price, which is the subject of the next section but two.

Distance sets the floor

A truckload is priced first by the miles between the pickup and the delivery. Every mile costs the carrier fuel, tires, maintenance, insurance and the driver’s wage, and the federal hours of service rules cap a single driver at 11 hours behind the wheel per day, so a trip past roughly 550 miles turns into a second day with an overnight in between. Our estimates include fuel, so the figure you see is the linehaul with diesel already counted.

Total cost rises with distance; cost per mile falls. Moving the same 40,000 pounds from Los Angeles to Seattle costs several times what a run to Las Vegas does, yet each of those Seattle miles is cheaper, because loading and waiting time is a smaller share of the trip.

The trailer you need

A 53 foot dry van is the baseline: the most common trailer in the country, the easiest to find and usually the cheapest per load. A flatbed costs more on most lanes because there are fewer of them, the driver tarps and secures the freight by hand, and an open deck load often needs a forklift or crane at a site rather than a dock. Power only, where our tractor pulls a trailer you already own, can cost less than either when you keep your own trailer pool. A box truck suits a short shipment that should travel alone without filling a 53 foot trailer.

Oversize pieces, wider than eight and a half feet or taller than thirteen and a half, need permits in every state they cross and sometimes escorts, and that is priced on its own.

Direction matters as much as distance

Western freight does not flow evenly. Arizona and southern Nevada take in a great deal more than they send out, so a carrier arriving in Phoenix or Las Vegas often struggles to find a paying load home and will haul one cheaply rather than drive back empty. The same truck heading into those cities charges the full price, because it knows the return leg may pay little. That is why the two directions of the same lane can price differently, and why a shipper sending freight out of a market that mostly receives often gets the better deal.

The pattern reverses by season in farm country. When the Salinas Valley and the San Joaquin Valley are harvesting, outbound trucks are scarce and dear there, and a load heading into the valley can ride a truck that would otherwise come in light.

Season, notice and the day of the week

Truck supply tightens at predictable times: the retail peak from October through the holidays, the produce months in the valleys, the last days of a month or a quarter when shippers rush to book, and the days around a holiday weekend. A load booked the afternoon before pickup competes for whatever truck is left; the same load booked three or four days out can wait for a truck that is already headed that way.

Friday pickups and Monday deliveries are popular for good reasons and priced to match. If your freight can leave on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, ask; it often costs less.

Charges that come on top of the linehaul

The estimates on this site, like most quoted rates, cover moving the freight from dock to dock. A handful of extra charges can be added when the job needs them: detention when a truck waits at a shipper or receiver past the free time, usually about two hours; a lumper fee when a warehouse charges to unload; a layover when a delivery slips to the next day; a fee for each extra stop; tarping on a flatbed; and a charge when a truck is ordered and the load is not ready. None of these is a surprise if the quote request says what the docks are like, and a good broker tells you in writing which ones apply before the truck is dispatched.

Full truckload or less than truckload

A full truckload makes sense when the freight fills most of a trailer, roughly ten or more standard pallets, or weighs more than about 15,000 pounds, or should not be handled at a terminal along the way. Below that, less than truckload carriers combine several shippers’ freight in one trailer and charge by weight, class and space, which costs less for a few pallets but adds terminal stops and handling. Between the two sits volume freight, a partial load that rides a full truck without the terminal handling; ask about it when your shipment is in the middle.

How to pay less without cutting corners

Give a pickup window rather than a single hour, so the dispatcher can pair your freight with a truck already nearby. Book a few days ahead when you can. Send accurate weight, pallet count and dimensions the first time, because a load that turns out heavier or taller than quoted gets repriced at the dock. Ask whether a drop trailer fits your volume: a trailer left at your dock to load on your schedule removes waiting time from the price. And if your freight repeats on one lane through the year, a standing arrangement usually beats pricing each load fresh.

What not to do is chase the lowest number on a load board. A price far under the range in the table usually means a carrier nobody has checked, and the risks in brokered freight today are stolen loads and fake carriers, not a few dollars on the rate.

What we need for a firm price

Pickup and delivery addresses, the pickup date and any appointment at either end, which trailer you need, how heavy it is, the number of pallets or the piece dimensions, and anything unusual about the docks or the freight. With those, our dispatch desk returns a firm price for your date, and the same person runs the load from the first call to the signed delivery receipt.