Price a truckload lane quote that covers my true cost per mile
Builds a lane rate from fully loaded operating cost, deadhead, dwell, and market data, with a floor price and quote options.
The prompt
Help me price a quote for a freight lane.
Lane: [ORIGIN, DESTINATION, LOADED MILES]
Equipment: [dry van / reefer / flatbed / other]
Volume and frequency: [e.g. "3 loads per week, 12-month contract" or "one spot load"]
Our costs: [fuel cost per mile, driver pay per mile or hour, maintenance and tires per mile, insurance, truck and trailer payments, overhead - or total cost per mile if known]
Deadhead expected: [MILES TO PICKUP, AND LIKELY EMPTY MILES AFTER DELIVERY]
Dwell time expected: [HOURS AT PICKUP AND DELIVERY]
Market data: [spot and contract rates for this lane from a rate index or recent quotes - or "none"]
Backhaul options at destination: [STRONG / WEAK / UNKNOWN]
Customer: [direct shipper or broker, payment terms]
Do the following:
1. Calculate our cost for the full round trip, including deadhead and time lost to dwell.
2. Set a floor rate (break-even) and a target rate with margin.
3. Compare to market rates and say whether this lane is a headhaul or backhaul market for us.
4. Recommend linehaul plus fuel surcharge structure versus an all-in rate, and which accessorials to state in the quote.
5. Note risks: fuel swings, poor backhaul, long dwell, slow payment terms.
Return: a cost build-up table, floor / target / walk-away rates per mile and per load, a recommended quote, and a 3-sentence quote email.
Use only figures I supply; label estimates [ESTIMATE] and missing inputs [ADD].
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Sales prompts
What to fill in
- ORIGIN, DESTINATION, LOADED MILES
- dry van / reefer / flatbed / other
- e.g. "3 loads per week, 12-month contract" or "one spot load"
- MILES TO PICKUP, AND LIKELY EMPTY MILES AFTER DELIVERY
- HOURS AT PICKUP AND DELIVERY
- STRONG / WEAK / UNKNOWN
- direct shipper or broker, payment terms
- ESTIMATE
- ADD
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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