Glossary
Cost per mile (CPM)
Total operating cost divided by total miles driven, usually per month. The most-cited operational metric in trucking.
Cost per mile (CPM) is calculated by adding all costs of running the truck — fuel, repairs, insurance, truck payment, permits, tolls, driver pay — then dividing by total miles driven in the period. For most owner-operators with modern Class 8 tractors, healthy CPM runs between $1.65 and $2.20. Per-truck CPM is more useful than fleet-average CPM, because the average hides which specific truck is the problem.
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