A number you can execute profitably, consistently and repeatedly. Not the lowest number, and not a number arrived at by feel.
Charter, spot and contract as two different problems, building a real cost basis, margin strategy, the six-step bid process, accessorials and margin leakage, the rate repository, margin governance, and when to build a pricing function at all.
There is no single margin floor. Margin moves on five axes — company strategy, new versus incumbent, customer segment, mode and market phase — and the search for one universal number produces both of the common pricing failures.
Six to eight percent on the contractual award to win the volume, twelve to sixteen blended once spot builds alongside it. And expect ninety days before the margin moves, because margin on a new account is a function of network depth.
No industry benchmarks. Where a figure appears it is either sourced to a public filing and cited, or labelled as the author’s own judgment. Written by an operator with fifteen years building and scaling freight brokerages.