Running with JCT

Exactly! On this coast to cost trip I ran down to, "Gee, that's been on "E" a while now". Packed 192 gallons at $3.63 in VA to get me to the next cheapest fuel, Okie city, and packed 141 at $3.74. Next stop, Joseph City, AZ to vet me into (and out? of Cali where its $4.25ish). AZ should be $3.82 (prices include my $0.05 gal rebate). Other places along my route were running high 3.80's low 3.90's

TAfool

 

I hope you guys look at fuel prices before tax not just the pump price. I meet a lot of guys that do not understand IFTA. I am not sure if you guys file your own fuel taxes or JCT does it for you. If you do not file your own make sure you check with the company what average mpg they use to calculate the fuel tax. You might be paying too much if you get good mileage and you get averaged to a lower mpg.

I guess I just missed you in Salinas Sharpp. I came in Thursday night to visit my two favorite places at Taylor Farms and Mann Packing. Just pulled in to my stop in WA for a tomorrow morning offload.

Also thank you very much for the info and inside look you provide.

 

Great point Viking. Something anyone about to lease a truck or buy a truck and lease on to a carrier needs to consider. Some carriers take care of the fuel taxes for the contractors and others don't.

For those about to make this leap here's how it breaks out.

If the carrier you choose takes care of the fuel tax you only need to the pay attention the pump price. Make sure to take into account any difference in fuel discounts you get through the carrier at the different truck stop chains.

If the carrier leaves the fuel taxes up to the contractor then you have more work to do. You need to get an understanding of what IFTA is and how to subtract out the taxes from the pump price to make sure you are paying the lowest possible for fuel. The reason for this is that any over payment in one state will go to pay your fuel taxes in the states you didn't fuel in. You are gonna pay the same amount of tax no matter what state you fuel in. If you buy your fuel in a high tax state you'll get a refund on your fuel taxes. If you buy in a low tax state you may owe fuel taxes when it comes time to settle them. Sounds like a lot more work? It can be but there are programs and services that will do it for you. There are also several websites that help you find the cheapest fuel pretax.

Here's a great example of why all this is important. If you drive for JCT and let say you have a run from Los Angeles, Ca to Portland, OR. Your cheapest fuel will almost always be in Oregon because the at the pump price is lower. If you drive for Knight(they leave the fuel taxes up to the contractor) more often then not your cheapest fuel will be in California. Why? California has high fuel taxes while Oregon has no tax at the pump(you pay tax there just not at the pump) so even though the pump price is often higher in California the pre-tax fuel in California is actually cheaper for the Knight driver.

Over the course of the year this could make a huge difference in your bottom line.

 

This doesn't address the very important info that viking gave. Sharrp is posting some very envious fuel economy. What is the average mpg that JCT is using to calculate fuel tax? Is it individualized per each truck? Is it an average for the whole fleet? How is this number derived?

It is a very important question. After fuel, the next most important thing in your bottom line is getting good at taxes! Just looking for Sharrp's nickel.

With that said, While I do not work for JCT, I would find it hard to believe that JCT would be in the business of paying .90cpm, paying fuel taxes and doing it in a manner that they are overpaying. There isn't any incentive here to overpay or even imply an overpayment. In fact it is in their best interest to pay no more than absolutely necessary.

I still think it's a good question, in the spirit of Sharrp's nickel.

 

Sharrp, or any other JCT contractor, how much freight does JCT have coming out of the TX valley, and border crossings in TX? I would also like to know about the Nogales freight situation.

Another question. How much of your freight is on contract, and how much of it is brokered freight? Depending on your answer, I have more questions along this line.

 

Actually i would assume most of their feigjt is on contract as they broker out quite a bit

 

Jct pays the fuel taxes based on a 6.0 mpg. A growing number of our fleet are newer more fuel efficient models capable of averaging 6.6 or higher.
As for the question of contracted freight. I don't know the exact numbers however In my experience JCT Does broker out more freight than they broker into.