The industry-average cost of running a truck was $2.336 per mile in 2025, according to the ATRI benchmark published in July 2026. That is a record, and $1.854 of it was everything except fuel. Four transportation myths still come up in shipper conversations: fleet management is expensive, a delivery that arrives on time is all that counts, shipping and delivery cannot be outsourced, and fuel prices cannot be controlled.
Two cost lines with public numbers: tracking fees and diesel
Fleet tracking has a price list. GPSTab puts standard GPS tracking at $10 to $50 per vehicle per month and says platforms with AI analytics, video telematics and compliance tools can exceed $80. For a fleet of 1 to 10 vehicles it quotes $20 to $50 each, so five vehicles come to $100 to $250 a month. GPS Insight lists $20 to $45 per vehicle per month for software and connectivity plus $100 to $500 of hardware per vehicle, and says most fleets recover the cost within three to nine months, which is the vendor’s own estimate. GPS Insight lists hardware, installation, subscription, add-on features and contract terms as separate parts of the price.
Diesel reaches a shipper through the freight bill, as a fuel surcharge. FreightWaves says it is usually a separate line item paid by the shipper and is typically set from a public benchmark, most often the weekly EIA on-highway diesel price. In the per-mile version, take the current price, subtract a contract baseline, divide by the truck’s assumed miles per gallon and multiply by paid miles.
The guide’s own example, which it labels illustration only, comes to $535.44 on a 1,200-mile load: diesel at $4.15, a $1.25 baseline, 6.5 mpg.
EIA’s page shows a higher real price. Diesel stood at $6.276 on 19 October 2026, published 20 October, which is $2.656 above a year earlier. A shipper does not set that price. What it can set is the formula in the agreement. U.S. federal law sets no single surcharge formula, so the baseline, the index region and the pricing week are whatever the contract says.
Ocean freight has the same structure: the base rate and the surcharges sit on separate lines, and live freight rates show what a lane costs before the notices arrive. Of the four transportation myths, the fuel one breaks down on paper rather than at the pump.
Why on-time delivery is only half of Walmart’s OTIF score
In 2017 Walmart’s On-Time, In-Full program was reported as fines for late and early deliveries, with slides obtained by Bloomberg describing a goal of adding $1 billion in revenue through better product availability in stores. Coldstream Logistics, which sells Walmart consolidation pool services, gives the current thresholds as 90 percent on time and 95 percent in full, with a chargeback of 3 percent of the cost of goods on each case that missed either one. It adds that requirements can vary by product category and supplier, so the figure on a supplier’s own Retail Link scorecard is the one that applies.
In full means the delivered quantity matches the order exactly. In Coldstream’s example, 480 cases shipped against an order for 500 fail the in-full test on the 20 cases that never shipped, even when the truck reaches the dock inside its window. On time is measured against the Must Arrive By Date set on the purchase order.
A carrier’s on-time record covers one half of that score. Coldstream’s advice to suppliers is to ask carriers for their actual on-time percentage and the records behind it, such as delivery confirmations and appointment logs. Ocean carriers publish no such scorecard, though their schedule reliability can be checked lane by lane.
Outsourced fleets exist, and one came back in house
Dedicated contract carriage was a $10 billion a year business in 2005 according to an Armstrong & Associates study cited by MH&L. A National Private Truck Council survey in the same 2007 article found about 45 percent of respondents using it or another third-party option.
Unisource Worldwide outsourced to dedicated carriage and, after two years, took the fleet back in house. Its director of transportation said the company was “not getting the service our customers required.” Two other private fleets looked at the option and declined. Ace Hardware decided against it for service requirements. Lance Foods ruled it out because its deliveries combine five to 15 stops and 2,200 to 2,600 pieces.
The price side has moved since then. A Commercial Carrier Journal article that argues for outsourcing says dedicated contract carriage is typically priced at a 3 to 8 percent premium over private fleet costs. That figure comes from the article’s author, who makes the case for outsourcing.
A shipper that buys capacity through a broker instead of a fleet has a public minimum to point to: 49 CFR 387.307 requires a property broker to keep a $75,000 surety bond or trust fund in effect, which pays shippers or motor carriers if the broker fails to carry out its contracts.
Frequently asked questions
How is a trucking fuel surcharge calculated?
In the common per-mile version, take the current diesel price, usually the weekly EIA on-highway figure, subtract the contract baseline, divide by the truck's assumed miles per gallon and multiply by the paid miles. US federal law sets no single formula, so the contract decides.
What does OTIF mean for Walmart suppliers?
On-Time, In-Full. Coldstream Logistics gives the thresholds as 90 percent on time against the Must Arrive By Date and 95 percent in full, with a chargeback of 3 percent of cost of goods on each case that misses either. The supplier's own Retail Link scorecard is what applies.
What protects a shipper if a freight broker fails?
US rule 49 CFR 387.307 requires a property broker to keep a 75,000 dollar surety bond or trust fund, which pays shippers or motor carriers if the broker fails to carry out its contracts.