O/O and Profit

depends what trailer, what product, what area

o yeah....and what it costs YOU to run an efficent business, trailers can be swapped, but you can only cut so much from your bottom line.

right now i hope you dont like to eat to much, fuel is seriously eating all of our lunchs

 

reefer does pay well, but is halfway seasonal, and you run the risk of a huge claim

in my experiance ca is not the best for flatbedding, normal rates for me run around $1.60/m to the truck

midwest to east pa line to as far west as ne seem pretty decent

give it time , more will post thier thoughts on this and you will be overwhelmed with advice

 

Reefer is the way I went for 2 reasons. For me, I had 2 herniated disks last year that have been repaired and even though I have been fully released by my doctor with no limitations, I don't want to go through that agony again so throwing tarps is out of the question. 2nd reefer gives you the best of both worlds, you can run climate controlled and dry freight so it gives you double the options of loads. Reefer is very seasonal as we typically haul what ever is being harvested, so your freight hot spots will move from FL, to TX to mid west to So Cal and AZ for product coming from Mexico etc. I never have had a problem of getting freight to or from CA, either produce or electronics for example are always coming from or going to CA. Typically reefer gets more a mile but remember we have two engines you have to feed and the colder the freight has to be maintained the more the fuel bill will run you. Remember 50* freight in February is great to haul but -0* in August is a nightmare. You will run the possibility of freight loss especially if your equipment is old or inadequate to handle a load of below freezing temperatures etc. These are all things you need to know and learn about your equipment and be smart enough to know when to say no even if the pay is unbelievable. You wouldn't haul a D8 dozer in you van because the freight is $5 a mile, don't haul a -20* load with a recorded variating of +/-10* when your equipment will struggle to sustain -15*......

Hop this helps and good luck with your decisions.

 

i run 7 reefer units OTR i'll give you a breakdown on one of them..we usually run fruit or fresh seafood or livestock nursery from NW to NE or MIDWEST kept between 28-45degrees..each o/o makes 6000-7000miles each trip and usually makes 2 trips a month a solo, each trip takes about 10-12days, their gross each trip between 10k-14k...now minus diesel lets see usually 4-5k each trip...minus 5% of the gross that i take..it would leave them with about 4-6k to take home each trip its not counting insurance road tax and if you have truck/trailer payments...yea it basically sucks right now i remember 3yrs ago we were doing pretty much same gross each trip but our fuel was $2500 to each coast and back. The produce loads went up in our neck of the woods here but east coast freight hasn't changed since who knows when..i found one way to get my guys back with LTL freight..id rather spend extra day doing 2 more picks but i'll send him home with 2-3k more in gross.

 

To me it all depends on where I go, usually when I go OTR they pay me $1.60 p/m thats with their equipments and their insurance and my own truck. I pull oversea containers, the reason I do containers is because I can be home everyday while still making like $500- $600 a day doing local jobs and I also have the option to pick some long haul job if I want to, but with the fuel so high now I decide to stay local..