August week 3

BIG MIKE’S FREIGHT & RATES REPORT | August 2026

Welcome back to another episode of “The Freight Market Is Dead” — brought to you by the same people who have apparently been attending its funeral every week for the last three years.

August softened. Fuel stayed expensive. Brokers occasionally answered the phone like paying $3.00 a mile required congressional approval.

And yet…the trucks kept moving.

Our loaded freight averaged approximately $3.18 per mile, with plenty of real 500–1,200 mile freight living comfortably in the $3s and $4s. This wasn't a spreadsheet rescued by two freak-show short hauls.

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 CHECKMATE OF THE WEEK

Altoona, PA → Haines City, FL

1,054 miles — $4,200 — $3.98/mile

Now that is a thousand-mile load.

Four grand to Florida with enough mileage to actually accomplish something.

No scavenger hunt. No driving 1,100 miles for $1.54 because somebody said, “Miles are miles, brother.”

Miles are indeed miles.

Unfortunately, dollars are also dollars.

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 FREIGHT UNICORN OF THE WEEK

Cold Spring, MN → Lakeland, FL

1,678 miles — $5,700 — $3.40/mile

This is the kind of long haul we like.

Long enough to keep the wheels turning, enough money to justify occupying the truck that long, and it finishes in our backyard.

Because the question isn't:

“How many miles can I drive?”

It's:

“How much money did those miles produce, and where did they leave my truck?”

This one answered both correctly.

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 THE 500-MILE SWEET SPOT

This week once again showed why we love freight around the 500-mile neighborhood.

Austell, GA → Palmetto, FL
499 miles — $2,200 — $4.41/mile

Chillicothe, OH → Battleboro, NC
497 miles — $2,135 — $4.30/mile

Marble Hill, GA → Auburndale, FL
498 miles — $2,000 — $4.02/mile

Enough distance to generate real revenue without marrying the load for two days.

And that's where good dispatch matters.

The best load isn't necessarily the highest RPM.

It's the load that sets up the next load — and the one after that.

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 DEAD FREIGHT CEMETERY

Welcome back to everyone's favorite attraction:

FLORIDA OUTBOUND FREIGHT

Population: millions.

Outbound freight budget: apparently twelve dollars.

Lakeland, FL → Atlanta, GA
462 miles — $700 — $1.52/mile

Groveland, FL → Bessemer, AL
522 miles — $800 — $1.53/mile

Tampa, FL → Bonanza, AR
1,106 miles — $1,700 — $1.54/mile

But that's exactly why getting paid properly INTO Florida matters.

This week we saw:

North Chili, NY → Tampa — $4,700 / $3.69
Rochelle, IL → Lakeland — $4,400 / $3.58
Altoona, PA → Haines City — $4,200 / $3.98

Florida isn't automatically bad.

Going into Florida cheaply and THEN discovering Florida outbound rates is bad.

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 LANE TO WATCH

Midwest / Ohio Valley → Southeast & Florida

There was good money moving south:

Princeton, IN → Tampa, FL
879 miles — $3,500 — $3.98/mile

Lawrenceburg, TN → Tampa, FL
717 miles — $2,800 — $3.91/mile

Streetsboro, OH → Davenport, FL
1,049 miles — $4,000 — $3.81/mile

The lesson isn't blindly point the hood south.

The lesson is:

When Florida needs trucks, make Florida pay admission.

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 DISPATCH LESSON OF THE WEEK

Stop judging loads one at a time.

A $4.00 load can be terrible.

A $2.80 load can be brilliant.

RPM without geography, time, deadhead, reload probability and destination is just a number.

Take a beautiful $4.00 load into nowhere, sit until tomorrow afternoon and crawl out at $1.70 — congratulations, you won the load and lost the week.

Meanwhile, the right 500-mile load can deliver today, reload today and put another strong load behind it.

The objective isn't winning screenshots. It's winning the week.

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 BROKER EXCUSE OF THE WEEK

«“That's all I have in it.”»

Remarkable coincidence.

Every broker somehow has exactly the amount in the load they wanted to offer us.

Never $300 more.

Until five minutes later:

“Okay, I can do another $300.”

Another freight-market miracle.

We remain grateful witnesses.

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 OWNER-OPERATOR IQ TEST

Two loads:

LOAD A: 1,100 miles at $3.00/mile.

LOAD B: 500 miles at $3.50/mile into a strong reload market.

Which one is better?

Correct answer: You don't have enough information yet.

Deadhead? Delivery time? Same-day reload? Destination? Tomorrow's market? Where does the truck need to be?

Anyone who immediately screamed “A!” or “B!” has been sentenced to six hours of Facebook trucking groups.

May God have mercy on your soul.

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 BIG MIKE’S HOT TAKE

The freight market softened.

It did not disappear.

That's an important distinction.

Our rate sheet still contained substantial freight throughout the $3s and $4s — including 700-, 800-, 1,000- and even 1,600-mile moves.

So when somebody says:

“Freight only pays $2.00-something right now.”

No.

Some freight does.

Some pays $1.52.

Some pays $3.50.

Some pays $4.00.

And occasionally some beautiful confused creature pays $6.

The market doesn't have one rate.

It has millions of individual transactions involving different freight, different trucks, different timing, different geography — and very different abilities to say NO.

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 FINAL WORD FROM THE FREIGHT CAVE

Easy markets make everybody look like a genius.

Markets like this expose the difference between having a truck and actually running a trucking business.

Someone needs to watch the destination.

Watch tomorrow.

Watch the deadhead.

Watch the clock.

Negotiate the rate.

And sometimes say:

“Absolutely not. Keep it.”

There is still money moving around this freight market.

The trick is making sure enough of it ends up inside the owner-operator's pocket.

Because you're not paid for how many miles you could drive.

You're paid for what the truck produces after the week is over.

Choose freight intelligently. Position the truck intelligently. Negotiate everything.

And keep the left door closed.

— Big Mike