Does LaneLynx work under my own authority?

Yes. That’s the whole point. You keep your MC, your truck, and your rates. LaneLynx works for you the way a dispatcher does: it finds, negotiates, and handles paperwork, but the authority, the loads, and the money are yours.

How does LaneLynx actually talk to brokers?

Real phone calls, in a real voice. LaneLynx opens above the posted rate, works the counter, and closes professionally. Every call lands in your chat as a full transcript with the outcome, so you can read exactly what was said.

Do I get a say before anything is booked?

Always. You set your minimum before LaneLynx dials, and nothing books below it. If a broker counters under your floor, the decision comes back to you: accept, pass, or send LaneLynx back in.

What happens after the load is booked?

LaneLynx checks the rate con against the agreed rate, starts the detention clock at the dock, and tracks your invoice until the money actually lands. If a broker cancels on you after dispatch, it files the TONU claim by phone.

A flat fee, never a percentage of your loads. A dispatch service taking 5–10% of a $2,700 load costs you $135–270 every haul; LaneLynx won’t work that way. Exact pricing comes with your early-access invite.

We onboard in waves, in waitlist order. Every new driver gets real attention during setup, so we keep the waves small. Join the list and we’ll email you when your spot opens.

Know your numbers

Your true cost per mile: the number every owner-operator needs

July 30, 2026 · 7 min read

You can’t tell whether a load pays until you know what it costs you to run a mile. Cost per mile is the single most important number an owner-operator can know — it’s the line between a rate that looks good and a rate that actually is.

The two kinds of cost

Your cost per mile is built from two buckets:

Fixed costs — what you pay whether you drive 1 mile or 10,000: truck payment, insurance, permits, ELD subscription, base plates, and your own pay.
Variable costs — what scales with miles: fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls, and def.

How to calculate it

Take a real month. Add up every fixed cost and every variable cost for that month, then divide by the miles you actually ran:

Cost per mile = (fixed costs + variable costs) ÷ miles driven

For many owner-operators the all-in number lands somewhere around $1.80–$2.20 per mile — but yours is yours. A paid-off truck and cheap insurance pull it down; a new truck payment and high maintenance push it up. The point isn’t the average; it’s knowing your figure.

Don’t forget the empty miles

This is where most carriers fool themselves. You don’t get paid for deadhead, but it still costs fuel and wear. If you run 20% empty, your loaded miles have to cover the cost of the empty ones. A rate that clears your cost per mile on paper can still lose money once deadhead is baked in — which is why backhaul odds matter as much as the rate itself.

Turn it into a break-even rate

Once you know your cost per mile, every load becomes a simple test. Multiply your cost per mile by the loaded miles to get your break-even; anything below it loses money, and your target is comfortably above it. This is the floor you should walk into every broker negotiation already knowing.

Why rate per mile lies

A high rate per mile on a short, deadhead-heavy lane with a slow-paying broker can net you less than a modest rate on a clean round trip. That’s the trap of judging loads on RPM alone — the real question is profit after fuel, after deadhead, and after you account for whether the broker actually pays. See what dispatch really costs for the other side of that math.

Where LaneLynx fits

LaneLynx scores every load on profit after fuel at live diesel prices, the broker’s payment record, and backhaul odds — not just rate per mile. It’s your cost-per-mile math, run automatically against every load on the board, so the number you’re deciding on is the real one.