Hi everyone,
I run small transport company recently on the market. I need information about average pay per mile. For example yesterday I’ve done 26 tons load from Wisbech to Warrington /approx. 160 miles/ for £ 260.00 not very good price but the customer did not want to pay more. Obviously this price cover my expenses and I had something for me but my concerns are if they pay under the average pay rate I could underbid the prices.
orel2015:
Hi everyone,
I run small transport company recently on the market. I need information about average pay per mile. For example yesterday I’ve done 26 tons load from Wisbech to Warrington /approx. 160 miles/ for £ 260.00 not very good price but the customer did not want to pay more. Obviously this price cover my expenses and I had something for me but my concerns are if they pay under the average pay rate I could underbid the prices.
Fine. It stays where it is then.
I know this is not good, this is why I try to find more information.
Thank you for your answer.
Average pay per mile is your cost per mile plus a decent profit margin , then you quote the price you need to make the job viable for you, if they want to pay less the decision is yours whether to take it or not!!
Two answers in the English language for this topic, one is yes and the other one is no…
You should of used the no option, as the rate was poor even on a one way basis, and even if you had a decent paying load back home, you are still doing yourself no favours whatsoever 
All you are doing is digging a deep hole, which after a bit will swallow you 
Don’t think you need to be worrying about having a transport company for much longer. Sort your costs out and charge accordingly. Saying no is a good position to take sometimes.
forget mileage rate
work your price out minus all you costs add some profit and stick to it, always make sure you have some profit after your wages
i had some just the other side on the m1 to me freight forward asked if i was busy told them got my truck sat there for the day, the ywanted me to go to cannock from masfield to load and take it to swindon for £300 
i then told them i would do it for £495 take it or leave it 
burnley-si:
forget mileage ratework your price out minus all you costs add some profit and stick to it, always make sure you have some profit after your wages
i had some just the other side on the m1 to me freight forward asked if i was busy told them got my truck sat there for the day, the ywanted me to go to cannock from masfield to load and take it to swindon for £300
Good advice Si but there are too many out there that cannot work their costs out so just take the job and hope for the best. PS. Happy Birthday for the other day, Cheer’s Pete
thanks pete another step closer to 50 lol
Even though the standing costs are still accruing with the vehicle parked in the yard for the day, that is all that has been lost; there is no exposure to not just the running costs, but the hazard costs, tyre failure and subsequent claim for late delivery etc… which could well take a couple of months or more to recover from.
sooner leave the truck parked up than run as a charity
That’s ‘Back Load’ rate, (should be no such thing as a Back Load) we get that sort of Pocket Money from Barron Hood, can take 4 hours to load & 6 to unload, absolute rubbish.
Trouble is- people (& my company) keep doing it & the big producers/manufacturers love it, more money in their Slimy Little Pockets. Nobody can run both ways on backload rate, so why should we have to on the return journey, if everybody priced everything one way & refused the pittance from the freight forwarders, the prices would go up, but the Stobbies & DHL’s of this country have got it all sown up with they’re happy low paid foreign drivers & we have to accept it as it is.
Thank you everybody,
The problem is that I can not ask how much do the other companies charge for a load from Manchester to Bristol (for example) 26 tones? I do not want to undercut the price. This was my question. I have some situations in which I said my price to the broker and then they called me for the load, this is why I started to think that my price is less then other companies.
A few Back Loads from Barron Hood-
March 2015
Blackburn-Dunstable, 26 pallets/21tons £280
March 2015
Chester-Swan Valley/Northampton 20pallets/22tons £220
January 2015
Nantwich-Leighton Buzzard, 26pallets/24tons £280
January 2015
Thorne-Cwmbran 26pallets/26.9tons £300
Funny back load that, we’re from Milton Keynes !
October 2014
Manchester-Stevenage 26pallets/26tons £270
These prices are all well & good if it’s a quick load & quick tip, but we often get made to wait 2,3 or 4 hours to load & the same to unload the next day, we also have to find secure parking most of the time as we usually load up towards the end of our shift. I would have thought that you want another £100-£200 on top of most of those rates + charge for anything over 2 hours either end for waiting time, but as I’ve already said, Stobbies will do it for Peanuts, thus under cutting all the small hauliers.
orel2015:
Thank you everybody,The problem is that I can not ask how much do the other companies charge for a load from Manchester to Bristol (for example) 26 tones? I do not want to undercut the price. This was my question. I have some situations in which I said my price to the broker and then they called me for the load, this is why I started to think that my price is less then other companies.
I wouldn’t worry whether you’re undercutting someone else’s price. There will always be someone doing it cheaper and every company will have different overhead and running costs.
As long as you are charging a fair rate - i.e your real cost plus profit, there is no issue. But the point here is ‘knowing your real costs’.
As others have said above the low costs wouldn’t be so bad if you were able to load and tip quickly, but invariably you’ll wait and wait, then wondered why you bothered to take the job in the first place.
I charge £3 a mile so if i cant get a backload i know i.ve made £1.50 a mile for the entire trip with 50% of that journey running empty
I would say that a job like this every day 5 days a week would be fine for me, it would gross in about £75,000 a year,not too bad these hard times. 
shirtbox2003:
I would say that a job like this every day 5 days a week would be fine for me, it would gross in about £75,000 a year,not too bad these hard times.
£67,600 actually, not much once all costs taken out, we get more than that with the Renault Master van.
Did a job a few months back moving loads from a dock to the customer, 6 miles each way, could do 5 trips a day if flat out due to opening times.
We charged £150 per load, another company on the job charged £125 per load (He asked for £600 a day but they said no) and another charged £700 a day for 2 lorries as we were doing it for up to 5 days.
Funnily enough me and the £125 a load guy worked Mon-Thursday and the other on £700 a day got the Friday as well for the last couple of loads left. Worked fine for us as the Friday we could get other loads to get us back to relevant home bases and make more dollar.
Lots must come down to history between you and the customer and how good the negotiator at your end is.
mrginge:
Did a job a few months back moving loads from a dock to the customer, 6 miles each way, could do 5 trips a day if flat out due to opening times.We charged £150 per load, another company on the job charged £125 per load (He asked for £600 a day but they said no) and another charged £700 a day for 2 lorries as we were doing it for up to 5 days.
Funnily enough me and the £125 a load guy worked Mon-Thursday and the other on £700 a day got the Friday as well for the last couple of loads left. Worked fine for us as the Friday we could get other loads to get us back to relevant home bases and make more dollar.
Lots must come down to history between you and the customer and how good the negotiator at your end is.
Sounds like a Newport docks job emptying a boat to me ?