The national dry van benchmark for the week of 10 August 2026 to 16 August 2026, snapshot recorded 15 August 2026: what the carrier is paid, what the shipper pays, what it works out to on a real lane, and what it leaves the truck once its own costs are covered.
| Measure | Week 33, 2026 | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier rate per mile | $2.95 | What lands on the rate confirmation. |
| Shipper all-in per mile | $3.39 | Before any accessorial actually incurred on the load. |
| vs prior snapshot | ▼ −2.6% | Compared like for like. |
| Snapshot recorded | 15 August 2026 | Never edited afterwards — this page keeps showing the week 33 number. |
That is −2.6% against the previous recorded snapshot of $3.03.
The $2.95 per mile above is a blend of appointment and FCFS dry van freight. If your load carries a hard appointment, expect to sit above it; if it can run first-come-first-served, expect to sit below.
On dry van freight the appointment question is sharper than usual, because the loading itself takes time before the clock question even starts. If your van quote sits well above the benchmark below, you are usually paying for one of three things: a hard appointment, a slow-loading dock, or a destination nobody wants to run to. Two of those three you can change. Ask the broker which one is driving the number before you accept it — a good one will tell you.
Put the real window on the posting rather than the defensive one. A carrier who can see a genuine two-day delivery window prices it lower than one who assumes a fixed morning appointment he has not been told about.
This week’s benchmark multiplied by real lane distance. A starting point for a conversation rather than a quote — direction, season and the receiving requirement all move the true number, and none of them are in a national average.
| Lane | Distance | Carrier gets | Shipper pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago, IL → Atlanta, GA | 717 mi | $2,115 | $2,431 |
| Los Angeles, CA → Dallas, TX | 1,435 mi | $4,233 | $4,865 |
| Columbus, OH → Charlotte, NC | 426 mi | $1,257 | $1,444 |
Distances are practical truck miles and will differ slightly from a car routing.
Against a working all-in operating cost of $1.90 per mile for a one-truck carrier, this week’s dry van benchmark of $2.95 leaves +$1.05 per loaded mile — about $735 on a 700-mile run, before deadhead and before any unpaid time at a dock.
That gap is not profit. It is what has to absorb the empty miles to the next pickup, a wait nobody paid for, a week with a bad reload, and the repair that has not happened yet. A rate that clears the floor by a few cents only works if nothing goes wrong. Work out your own cost per mile →
Week to week, mostly noise. Over a season, these are the things that actually decide where this benchmark sits.
| Lane balance | A load leaving a market everyone wants to leave pays less. Dallas and Atlanta outbound run soft; a lane heading INTO a low-volume market carries a premium because the truck may deadhead back out. |
| Season | Q4 retail and produce season both pull vans off the market. January and February are the floor. |
| Weight | Past roughly 44,000 lb you start limiting which trucks can legally take it, and the rate follows. |
The full dry van rate hub → carries the rest, plus the specification table, the regional breakdown and the accessorial impact.
The national benchmark was $2.95 per mile to the carrier for the week of 10 August 2026 to 16 August 2026, which works out to about $3.39 all-in for the shipper before accessorials.
It depends entirely on your own cost per mile. Against a working all-in operating cost of $1.90 for a one-truck carrier it leaves +$1.05 per loaded mile — before deadhead, which typically takes a further sixth off it.
A national benchmark blends lanes running in both directions, appointment and FCFS freight, and every region at once. Your lane is one direction, one receiving requirement and one market. Direction alone can move a real quote by a third.
No. Detention, layover, TONU and lumper fees all sit outside the per-mile number. On a short lane they can be worth more than the whole margin — see the detention policy.
No, and deliberately so. This is a dated report and it keeps showing the week 33 number. The evergreen Dry Van rate hub always carries the current figure.