Wonder what the broker is really making on your load? Enter the rate you were offered and an assumed broker margin to estimate what the shipper paid, the broker's cut in dollars, and the markup sitting on top of your rate.
Estimate only — you're assuming the margin, so the shipper figure is a ballpark, not a receipt. Shipper rate = your rate ÷ (1 − margin). Broker's cut = shipper rate − your rate. Markup on your rate = cut ÷ your rate.
A normal margin on a bad rate still loses you money. TruckMargin Pro saves your truck's numbers and checks any load against your real cost per mile in seconds — $9/mo founding rate.
See Pro →When a broker offers you a load, you see one number: your rate. What you don't see is what the shipper paid for that same load, and the gap between the two is the broker's gross margin. Gross margin is quoted as a percentage of the shipper's rate, so a "15% margin" means the broker keeps 15 cents of every dollar the customer paid and hands you the other 85. Flip that around and it's the formula that matters to you: shipper rate = your rate ÷ (1 − margin). Paid $2,000 on a load you assume carries a 15% margin? The shipper very likely paid around $2,353, and roughly $353 stayed with the broker.
Two cautions keep this honest. First, you're assuming the margin — you rarely know it, so the shipper number is a ballpark, not proof. Second, gross margin is not profit: the broker pays sales commissions, TMS software, cargo and contingent insurance, factoring, and the occasional load that pays late or not at all out of that cut. A 12–15% gross margin is ordinary and not, on its own, a sign you're being fleeced.
Margin is the cut as a share of the shipper's rate; markup is the same cut as a share of your rate. They always differ because the base is different. A 15% margin is about a 17.6% markup on your rate ($353 on top of $2,000). When someone says "the broker only made 15%," that's 15% of the customer's money — it's adding closer to 18% on top of what you were paid. The calculator shows both so you're comparing apples to apples.
Margins move with the market and the freight. These are representative 2026 gross-margin ranges (as a share of the shipper's rate), not guarantees:
| Freight / arrangement | Typical gross margin |
|---|---|
| Contract freight, large dry van shipper | ~8–12% |
| Spot-market dry van full truckload | ~12–15% |
| New broker buying a first account | ~8–10% |
| Reefer / specialized | ~15–18% |
| Heavy haul, expedited, hot, project | ~18–25%+ |
| Typical gross dollars per full truckload | ~$200–$500 |
Industry benchmarks for 2026: standard gross margin ~12–15% of the shipper rate, broader range 10–20%, roughly $200–$500 gross per FTL. A brokerage needs on the order of $210 gross per load just to break even, which is why sub-10% margins are usually contract volume, not spot.
Not much — directly. You can't bill the shipper, and the broker's margin isn't your line to manage. What this calculator really does is kill the instinct to judge a load by the broker's cut. The number that pays you is your rate per total mile measured against your own cost per mile. A load with a fat broker margin can still pay you fine; a load with a thin margin can still lose you money once you count deadhead. Use the broker-margin figure as context — if your rate looks low and the implied margin looks fat, that's a lane to push back on or pass — then check the crowd-sourced lane rates and your cost before you answer. Knowing the lane and your CPM before the phone rings is worth more than knowing the broker's cut.
The industry-standard gross margin is about 12–15% of what the shipper pays, with a broader 10–20% range — commonly $200–$500 gross on a full truckload. On a $2,400 dry van load at 14%, the broker grosses ~$336 and the carrier is paid ~$2,064. That's gross margin, not profit: commissions, software, insurance, and bad debt come out of it.
Divide your carrier rate by (1 − the broker's margin). Paid $2,000 and assuming a 15% margin, the shipper likely paid about $2,000 ÷ 0.85 = $2,353, and the broker kept ~$353. You're using an assumed margin, so treat the shipper figure as a ballpark.
Margin is the cut as a % of the shipper's rate (cut ÷ shipper). Markup is the same cut as a % of your rate (cut ÷ carrier). A 15% margin ≈ 17.6% markup on your rate, because the two use different bases. Brokers quote margin; markup is what it adds on top of your number.
Around 12–15% is typical and not by itself a red flag. What matters for you isn't the broker's margin — it's whether your rate beats your cost per mile and the going lane rate. A load can carry a normal margin and still be bad for you, or a fat margin and still pay fine. Judge the rate you're offered, not the cut.
Know your cost per mile and the current lane rate before you answer, so a lowball is obvious; check crowd-sourced lane rates and recent spot averages; be willing to counter or pass; and build direct-shipper and repeat relationships over time so freight passes through fewer hands.
Estimated shipper rate = your carrier rate ÷ (1 − broker margin). Broker's cut = shipper rate − your rate. Markup on your rate = cut ÷ your rate. Cut per mile = cut ÷ total miles. Margins are quoted as a share of the shipper's (customer) rate. Benchmark ranges are representative 2026 industry figures — standard gross margin ~12–15%, broader range 10–20%, roughly $200–$500 gross per full truckload, ~$210 gross needed per load to break even — and vary by freight type, lane, and contract vs. spot. Sources: 2026 freight-brokerage margin reporting and industry KPI benchmarks (Truckstop, FreightWaves, brokerage KPI analyses). Last updated July 2026. Estimate for planning only — not financial advice. Built by TruckMargin.