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Behind The Freight

What Owner-Operators Miss To Be Profitable (Cost Per Mile, Fuel & Margins) with Kevin Rutherford

Behind The Freight · 2026-04-21 · 28 min

Episode notes

A lot of people in trucking think they are making money but you’d be surprised to know that many of them are not. In this episode of Behind the Freight, Todd Waldron and John Howland sit down with Kevin Rutherford to explain how to make profit in this business. Kevin simply says that if you do not know your cost per mile, you do not know your business. Every load you take is a guess. And over time, those guesses catch up. Kevin explains that while you cannot control the fuel market, you can control how you run your truck. Speed, fuel usage, and daily decisions all make a difference. Even small improvements can mean thousands of dollars over time. They also discuss growing the business. A lot of drivers want to add a second truck but Kevin points out that that is where things usually start going wrong. Running one truck is where most truckers’ expertise lies, but managing more than one truck forces you to run a business. This episode is about running a trucking business that continues making money.

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