{
  "slug": "brokered-load-margin",
  "title": "Broker Load Margin Calculator",
  "heading": "Freight Broker Margin Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/brokered-load-margin",
  "summary": "Broker's gross margin between shipper rate and carrier pay.",
  "description": "Freight brokers make money on the spread between what they bill the shipper and what they pay the carrier hauling the load. This calculator computes that gross margin in dollars and as a percentage of the shipper rate, which matters because a broker running consistently under a 12-15% margin on a lane is often not sustainably covering overhead (sales, ops staff, factoring fees on their own end, bad debt reserve), while margins above 25-30% on non-contracted spot freight tend to draw complaints or lost repeat business from carriers who feel underpaid.",
  "formula": "Margin $ = shipper rate − carrier rate; margin % = margin ÷ shipper rate.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=brokered-load-margin",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "shipperRate",
      "label": "Rate billed to shipper",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 2400,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "carrierRate",
      "label": "Rate paid to carrier",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 2000,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "margin",
      "label": "Gross margin",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "marginPct",
      "label": "Margin percentage",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "carrierSharePct",
      "label": "Carrier's share of shipper rate",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Rate billed to shipper: 2400 $",
      "Rate paid to carrier: 2000 $"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Gross margin: $400",
      "Margin percentage: 16.7%",
      "Carrier's share of shipper rate: 83.3%"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter rate billed to shipper ($).",
      "Enter rate paid to carrier ($).",
      "Read your gross margin on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "shipperRate": 1450,
        "carrierRate": 1200
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "shipperRate": 2400,
        "carrierRate": 2000
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "shipperRate": 3850,
        "carrierRate": 3200
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What's a typical broker margin?",
      "a": "Spot market loads commonly run 15-25% margin; contracted, high-volume lanes with committed capacity often run tighter at 8-14% because volume and reliability matter more than per-load margin on repeat freight."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why do carriers care about broker margin?",
      "a": "Carriers increasingly ask for rate transparency, especially on load boards showing both legs, because a broker taking 35-40% on a load signals either a thin relationship or a shipper rate high enough that the carrier should be negotiating harder."
    },
    {
      "q": "Does high margin always mean the broker is overcharging?",
      "a": "Not necessarily — margin also covers the broker's risk (advancing carrier payment before collecting from the shipper, sometimes 30-60 days out), claims liability, and the cost of sourcing capacity on hard-to-cover lanes or short notice."
    },
    {
      "q": "How is this different from a factoring fee?",
      "a": "Broker margin is the spread between what two different parties pay for the same load; a factoring fee is the cost one party (carrier or broker) pays a third-party financial company to get paid faster than the standard invoice terms."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/load-board-rate-vs-breakeven",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/factoring-fee-cost",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/deadhead-percentage-impact"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Broker Load Margin Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/brokered-load-margin)"
}