Sooner or later, anyone who ships regularly faces this question. At first every parcel goes through a carrier — it is convenient, predictable, and needs no upfront money. Then volumes grow, delivery bills grow with them, and the owner starts wondering: maybe it would be cheaper to run my own vehicle? At LPF we have been calculating logistics for our own business and for clients since 2018, and we see that the answer is almost never black and white.

The truth is that this is not an either-or choice made once and forever. It is a balance that shifts with your volumes, your geography, and the season. The same business can ship profitably by its own truck in summer and be far better off handing everything to a carrier in winter. Below we break down what the decision really depends on — in plain words, without formulas.

What Actually Drives the Cost

Most people compare the price per parcel against the price of fuel — and that is the main mistake. The real cost is made up of several things that are easy to miss.

  • How full the vehicle is. A truck only pays off when it travels full. A half-empty run costs nearly as much as a full one — you are simply paying to move air.
  • The return trip. Your own vehicle comes back empty, and that empty mileage is yours to cover. A carrier absorbs that problem for you.
  • How regular the route is. The same route every week pays for a truck quickly. One-off, unpredictable addresses almost never do.
  • The hidden work. A driver, repairs, insurance, downtime, paperwork — none of this shows up in the price per kilometre, but it is real money and real time.

Once you add these up, the picture often looks very different from first impressions.

When a Carrier Wins

A carrier is not expensive — it is flexible. You pay for exactly what you ship and carry no fixed costs of your own.

  • Many small shipments to different cities. When addresses are scattered across the country, there is simply no way to gather them into one run.
  • Uneven volumes. If this week brings ten parcels and next week only two, your own truck would sit idle most of the time.
  • You are just starting out. While the flow is unstable, there is no sense freezing money in a vehicle.
  • Customers want to pick up themselves. A wide branch network often reaches places your truck would never drive to on its own.

In these cases a carrier almost always comes out ahead — in money and in peace of mind.

When It Is Time to Consider Your Own Truck

Your own vehicle starts to make sense once you have a predictable, dense, repeating flow of cargo.

  • A steady route with a full load. If you ship a full vehicle to one region every week, that is the strongest argument of all.
  • Bulky or specific cargo. Anything awkward or costly to ship piece by piece travels far cheaper in your own body.
  • Large, stable volume. When delivery bills have become one of your biggest cost lines and are not falling, it is worth pricing the alternative seriously.
  • Control over timing. Your own truck moves when you need it to, not on someone else’s schedule — and sometimes that matters more than the price itself.

One caution: an own truck is not only transport. It is also people, maintenance, and responsibility. So the numbers must not merely add up — they must add up with a comfortable margin.

How to Decide Honestly

The only reliable way is to run the numbers on your own real data, not on gut feeling. Take your shipments from the last few months and look at them closely.

  • Calculate the full cost of both options, including every hidden item, not just the obvious ones.
  • Split your flow into dense and scattered. It often turns out that part of it is best carried by your own truck while the rest stays with a carrier.
  • Check the seasonality. A decision that pays off at peak can lose money in the low season.
  • Build in a buffer for surprises — breakdowns, idle time, and empty runs always happen.

At LPF we do this math every day, both for ourselves and for clients — and we can turn your delivery data into one clear calculation so the decision rests on facts, not guesswork. If you are standing at this crossroads, get in touch — together we will look at your numbers and tell you honestly which option wins in your particular case.