An “infographic” created by the Trucker’s Report and displayed by Easy Lift Equipment, manufacturer of ergonomic drum and roll handling equipment, is a dramatic representation of “The Real Cost of Trucking in the United States.”
The infographic shows just how expensive operating a big rig can be. It breaks down the costs of fuel ($70,000 a year), driver pay (36 cents per mile), purchase costs for the tractor ($100,000) and trailer ($50,000), repairs and maintenance (12 cents per mile), insurance (5 cents per mile), tires (3 cents per mile), permits, tolls and licensing (2 cents per mile). All totaled, a single tractor-trailer rig costs a average of $1.38 a mile or a total of $180,000 a year to operate.
The infographic also contains some interesting factoids like:
• “As of 2011, total US toll road mileage exceeds 5,000 miles.”
• “The average commercial truck drivers spends $0.004 a mile on coffee resulting in over $600 a year on coffee per industry driver.”
• “Although drivers spend a fair amount of time in docks and traffic, their operating costs are only derived from miles traveled.”
• “Issues with airlines/hoses, alternators, wiring and brakes are all common in commercial trucks and can cost $15,000 annually.”
The graphic has been circulated in the general media, posted most recently this week on the Auto Blog by AOL News.
Zach Bowman, with AOL’s Auto Blog wrote: “If you've ever had visions of telling your boss exactly where he can put his TPS reports and heading off to reenact your favorite scenes from classic trucking movies like Smokey and the Bandit, Convoy or Over the Top, we have bad news for you: Trucking is prohibitively expensive.”
The diagram is a good visual for truckers to display to shippers, state and federal regulators or anyone else they might want to convince that operating a big rig is a pricey proposition.
Read more about this infographic at autoblog.com