The business side of trucking
Driving is the part you already know. These are the guides for everything else — what a mile actually costs you, what the government wants and when, and how much of every settlement isn't yours to spend.
Written plainly, with the numbers worked out. Free to read, nothing to sign up for.
Start here
How to calculate your real cost per mile
The number that decides whether a load is worth taking. All miles versus loaded miles, fixed and variable costs, the reserves nearly everyone skips, and why your cost per mile changes every month. With every figure worked out.
8 min read
Fuel tax
IFTA, explained without the jargon
It isn't a tax you pay — it's a settlement that works out whether you paid the right states. Who needs it, how the quarterly math works, what records an auditor requires, and the 4.00 mpg rule that makes bad recordkeeping expensive.
10 min read
Heavy highway use tax
Form 2290: what it costs and why it can ground you
The simplest trucking filing and the one most likely to leave you with an unplated truck. What you owe, the August 31 deadline, the EIN requirement that catches people out, and why the stamped Schedule 1 matters more than the tax.
6 min read
Taxes
Deductions, and the trap in the biggest one
Per diem is worth thousands — and there's a condition that can wipe it out entirely for drivers who live in the truck. Plus why the standard mileage rate doesn't apply to a tractor, how depreciation works, and the write-offs people leave on the table.
9 min read
Cash
What to set aside, and how much
Taxes, repairs, tires and downtime. Self-employment tax figures, the 2026 quarterly payment dates, the safe-harbor rule that prevents penalties, and why a downtime cushion is the reserve that saves businesses.
7 min read
Pricing loads
How to calculate rate per mile
The three versions of the number people mix up — loaded, all-miles, and all-in — the after-factoring math, and why the same load can read $2.50 or $1.84 depending on who's counting.
7 min read
Pricing loads
Deadhead miles, explained and priced
An empty mile costs almost exactly what a loaded one does. What deadhead does to the posted rate, why IFTA taxes empty miles too, and the arithmetic for deciding when repositioning pays.
7 min read
Pricing loads
What is a good rate per mile?
The forum thresholds all describe someone else's truck. The benchmark that works is your floor — how to compute it, the three zones every rate falls into, and when a pretty rate is a bad day.
6 min read
Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping that survives the road
Not an accounting course — a system. The separations to set up once, the five categories that matter, the ten-minute weekly rhythm, and the quarterly calendar that keeps the government off your back.
8 min read
Receipts & records
Receipts: what to keep, how, and for how long
What an IFTA-compliant fuel receipt has to show, whether photos are enough, the "$75 rule" handled honestly, the retention clocks, and a capture habit that takes ten seconds a stop.
7 min read
Costs
What it costs to run a semi, per mile
The honest answer is a range — roughly $1.50 to $2.20 all-in — and the cost stack that builds it. Two trucks worked line by line, why paid-off isn't free, and where the money actually hides.
7 min read
Costs
The trucking expenses list
Every cost a one-truck operation actually has, sorted by behavior: monthly whether you drive or not, per mile when you do, annually on a calendar — and the ambush section reserves exist for.
7 min read
Pricing loads
Is this load profitable? The five-step check
All-in money, all miles, your cost per mile, the days it consumes, the floor it must clear. Two loads worked end to end — including the $3.89/mile load that barely beat the $1.99 one.
6 min read
Fuel tax
IFTA mileage tracking that survives an audit
What a distance record must contain, trip sheets vs ELD tracking, the miles people miss — deadhead, personal, shop runs — and the ten-second habit that makes audits boring.
7 min read
The bottom line
How much do owner-operators make?
The claims run from broke to $300k because they measure different things. The ladder from gross to true profit, worked out — and why your wage should be a cost you set, not the leftovers.
7 min read
A legal pad works fine
Everything in these guides can be done by hand. Plenty of owner-operators run a spreadsheet and four bank accounts and do perfectly well.
The hard part was never the arithmetic — it's keeping the records that feed it, every day, for a year, while also driving eleven hours. That's the part AxleVault does for you. Free for 14 days, no card required.