What is a fuel surcharge?
A fuel surcharge is a per-mile adjustment paid to the carrier to offset the volatile cost of diesel. Most brokers index it to a public diesel price (in the US, that is the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly retail on-highway diesel price) and apply a formula like: surcharge $/mile = max(0, current_index − threshold_price) ÷ $0.06 × rate_per_mile_per_$0.06 — so each $0.06 the index rises above the threshold adds one step of the rate to every load mile.
How does this calculator differ from PC*Miler?
PC*Miler is a routing engine that gives you the actual miles driven (HOS-restricted routes, tolls, one-way streets) and integrates with carrier-grade fuel programs. This calculator is the free, public math-layer: feed it origin ZIP, destination ZIP, your known miles, MPG, the current DOE national diesel, and your program's threshold and per-$0.06 rate. It returns the per-mile surcharge and a printable worksheet. Use whichever mile source your team trusts — they pair cleanly.
Does this store my data?
No. This is a free public tool — the compute endpoint and the PDF endpoint both log only anonymized hashed analytics (no email, no carrier name, no addresses). PDFs are rendered on the fly and discarded. If you sign up for HatchOS, every load auto-applies the latest EIA weekly diesel against your lane miles — no worksheet required.