The Real Cost of Chasing Spot Rates (What Load Boards Won't Tell You)

The rate on the load board says $2.15 per mile. After 2,400 miles, that's $5,160. Looks decent on paper.

But that number is a lie. Not because the broker is cheating you. Because the number doesn't include everything that happens before, during, and after you haul that load.

By the time you account for the 180 deadhead miles to pick it up, the six hours waiting at the shipper, the 45 days until you actually get paid, and the 3% factoring fee you took just to make payroll, that $2.15 load is paying you something closer to $1.60. Maybe less.

This is the math that load boards don't show you. And it's the reason so many carriers work constantly but never get ahead.

The Rate You See vs. The Rate You Keep

Let's run through a realistic scenario. You're sitting in Memphis with an empty trailer. A load pops up on the board: pickup in Little Rock, delivery in Dallas, paying $1,850. That's about 450 miles, so roughly $4.11 per mile. Looks like a winner.

Here's what actually happens:

You drive 130 miles to Little Rock empty. That's fuel, wear, and time with zero revenue. The shipper's appointment is at 8 AM, but you don't get loaded until 2 PM. Six hours of detention, and you know the broker isn't paying detention on a spot load unless you fight for it. You probably won't.

You deliver in Dallas the next day. Now you're in a market with too many trucks chasing too few loads. The best you can find is a $1.40 per mile run back toward Memphis. You take it because sitting costs money too.

After that round trip, you've driven roughly 1,100 miles total. You've earned $1,850 plus maybe $1,200 on the backhaul. That's $3,050 gross for 1,100 miles, or $2.77 per mile overall. Not $4.11.

But we're not done. You need cash now, not in 45 days. So you factor the invoice. At 3%, that's $91.50 gone. Your fuel for the round trip ran about $600. Tolls, another $40. You're now looking at roughly $2,318 in your pocket for two days of work and 1,100 miles on your truck.

That's $2.10 per mile after basic expenses. Before insurance. Before your truck payment. Before maintenance reserves.

The load board showed you $4.11. Reality delivered something very different.

The Hidden Costs That Compound

Every spot market load carries costs that don't appear on the rate confirmation. They add up across every load, every week, every month.

Deadhead miles are the most obvious. Industry estimates suggest the average truck runs 10% to 15% of its miles empty. On 100,000 miles per year, that's 10,000 to 15,000 miles generating zero revenue while still burning fuel and adding wear. At current diesel prices, you're spending $7,000 or more annually just to get to loads.

Detention and wait time rarely get compensated on spot freight. Shippers know you're not their regular carrier. They know you need the load. So you wait. Two hours here, four hours there. The Truckstop and DAT surveys consistently show average wait times at shippers exceeding two hours. That's time you're not moving, not earning, and not getting closer to your next load.

Payment delays are built into the spot market structure. Brokers typically pay carriers on 30 to 45 day terms. Some stretch to 60 or even 90 days. When you're running week to week on cash flow, those delays force hard choices.

Factoring fees become the tax you pay for needing your own money faster. Factoring companies charge anywhere from 1% to 5% per invoice, with most small carriers paying in the 2% to 4% range. On $15,000 worth of weekly invoices, that's $300 to $600 per week just to get paid. Over a year, factoring can cost you $15,000 to $30,000, money that comes straight out of your profit margin.

None of these costs show up when you're scrolling through available loads at midnight trying to find something that covers your expenses.

Why Brokers Keep Winning the Rate Game

The spot market isn't broken. It's working exactly as designed. The problem is that it's designed to favor the people with leverage, and that's rarely the carrier.

Brokers make money on the spread between what shippers pay and what carriers accept. In a soft market, they don't need to offer much because someone will take the load. There's always a carrier who's more desperate, more behind on payments, or more willing to run cheap just to stay moving.

This creates a race to the bottom that hurts everyone except the broker. When rates were high during 2021 and early 2022, carriers had leverage. Loads outnumbered trucks. You could negotiate, be selective, demand detention pay.

When the market flipped, that leverage disappeared. Carriers who had gotten used to $3.00 and $3.50 per mile suddenly found themselves fighting for $1.80 loads. The freight was still moving. Just not at rates that made sense for the people actually hauling it.

Brokers also control information in ways that benefit them. They know what the shipper is paying. They know what other carriers are accepting. They know which lanes are tight and which are loose. You're negotiating in the dark while they're looking at the whole board.

This isn't illegal or even unethical. It's just the structure of the market. And it's a structure that consistently transfers risk and cost to the carrier.

What Cash Flow Chaos Actually Looks Like

The spot market's payment structure creates a specific kind of stress that's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't lived it.

You haul a load today. You submit your paperwork. Now you wait. Maybe the broker pays in 30 days. Maybe 45. Maybe there's a "billing issue" that adds another two weeks. Meanwhile, your fuel bill doesn't wait. Your insurance premium doesn't wait. Your truck payment definitely doesn't wait.

So you factor. You get 97% of your money now instead of waiting. But that 3% adds up. And now you're dependent on the factoring company, which means you're paying their fees on every single invoice whether you need fast payment or not.

Some carriers try to manage without factoring. They float expenses on credit cards. They delay maintenance. They skip truck payments and hope the next good week covers the gap. This works until it doesn't. One slow week, one breakdown, one unexpected expense, and the whole thing collapses.

The carriers who went out of business during the freight recession weren't all bad at trucking. Many of them were good operators who got caught in a cash flow trap they couldn't escape. When your revenue is unpredictable and your payment timing is out of your control, you're always one bad month away from disaster.

A Different Kind of Freight Exists

Not all freight works this way. Some freight comes with payment terms that don't require factoring. Some freight pays within days, not months. Some freight has standardized rates that don't fluctuate based on how desperate the carrier sounds on the phone.

Government freight, including military freight, operates on completely different terms. Payment happens electronically within 72 hours of submitting your paperwork. No factoring needed. No chasing accounts receivable. No wondering if this broker is going to pay or ghost you.

This doesn't mean government freight is easy to get. It requires specific qualifications, registrations, and ongoing compliance. It's not for everyone, and it won't replace your entire business overnight.

But it exists. And for carriers who qualify, it represents something the spot market can never offer: predictability.

Knowing the Real Numbers

The spot market will always be part of trucking. There will always be freight that needs to move and carriers willing to move it. The load board isn't going away.

But if you're going to play that game, play it with your eyes open. Know what that $2.15 per mile load actually nets after deadhead, detention, delays, and fees. Know what you're really making, not what the rate confirmation says.

And know that alternatives exist. Freight sources with faster payment. Rate structures that don't change weekly. Revenue streams that don't depend entirely on which way the market is moving this month.

The carriers who build sustainable businesses aren't the ones who chase the highest spot rates. They're the ones who understand the true cost of every load and build their operations around freight that actually pays what it promises.

Tired of the spot market grind? See if your operation is ready for more stable freight options in 5 Signs Your Trucking Business Needs a More Predictable Revenue Stream.