The floor is arithmetic. If your all-in cost per mile is $1.80 and a 600-mile load needs 90 miles of deadhead, the load runs 690 miles and has to earn more than $1,242 just to break even. Anything below that loses money no matter how the rate per mile looks.
Above the floor, the lane sets the price. A load into a region where backhauls are easy is worth more to you than an identical load into a dead end. A receiver known for four-hour dwell is worth less than one that turns trucks in an hour. Reefer and flatbed carry commodity and securement risk that dry van does not.
Then read the market. Spot rates on the lane, the direction of freight flow, and the day of week all move the number. A truck that is already empty at the dock has less pricing power than one being booked two days out.
Finally, price the extras separately and put them on the rate confirmation: detention terms, layover, stop-offs, tarping, lumper reimbursement. A thin linehaul can still be a profitable load if the accessorials are billed and collected.
How to apply the answer
The answer changes when the operating facts change. Before applying it, identify the carrier's fleet size, equipment, authority model, lanes, customer requirements, and the records already available. A small owner-operator may make a different decision from a multi-truck carrier with dedicated freight, an accounting team, or a shipper routing guide. State those assumptions so another person can review the reasoning instead of treating a general answer as a promise.
Use the answer as a starting point for a repeatable workflow. Write down the inputs, compare the available options, and record the evidence behind the decision. For this question, the relevant terms include cost-per-mile, deadhead, linehaul, accessorial-charge, spot-rate. Linking the question to those definitions helps a dispatcher or owner move from a short answer to the operational detail that determines what happens next.
A useful next step is to test the decision against one real load, customer, driver, or settlement record, while keeping private information out of the example. Check what changed after the decision and update the process if the result did not match the assumption. This is especially important for compliance, tax, pricing, and cash-flow topics, where requirements and commercial terms can change.
If the decision affects more than one team, write down the handoff: who prepares the information, who reviews it, and where the final record lives. That small step turns a useful answer into a repeatable operating practice and makes it easier to find the next question when the workflow changes.
Trailflow's product pages describe supported workflows separately from this answer. Review the relevant product or workflow page for current availability, and verify regulated or financial decisions with the applicable primary source or qualified advisor.
Terms in this answer: Cost Per Mile, Deadhead, Linehaul, Accessorial Charge, Spot Rate
In Trailflow: dispatch.