So it begins

This is a good thread about finding local customers
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...get-a-direct-customer-skip-the-broker.306494/

And one with really good info on hot shots
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/hotshot-questions-answered.315499/

I can't really advise on whether to get your own numbers or not. Everyone's situation is different. I went the established route, my sis and brother in law went out on their own from day one. However, they already had contact with a broker that guaranteed work before doing so, which is vital to have. I say that because we run off Landstar and CHR boards sometimes and they both require outside carriers to have had their dot numbers for three months before they'll use them. That's a long time to wait if you don't have anything else lined up.

 

I'm going to post some more in depth numbers when I get off the road from this trip, such as my fixed costs, fuel for my trips, etc. This week and last week I've just been running, trying to get the cash flow going again and haven't had a chance to put all that into any sort of organized form yet.

I was thinking earlier though, that I don't really subscribe to having a fixed cost per mile expense. I see that a lot on here, guys saying it takes .XX per mile to run their truck, but I don't see any reasonable way to arrive at that number. There's too many variables. You would have to run the truck the same miles for the same rate day in and day out for that number to be accurate.

Say your truck payment is $1,000 a month (nice easy figure). If you run 10,000 miles a month, your truck payment would be 10¢ a mile. If you run 7,500 miles, now its 14¢ a mile. Your fuel costs are going to vary by weight, terrain and price at the pump. You need to run more miles at a lower rate and less miles at a higher rate to hit the same break even point.

I haven't decided exactly how I'm going to approach this issue yet, though the easiest way seems to be figuring all my costs (truck, ins, X amount per week maintenance fund) to determine my break even point per week and taking loads that exceed that in revenue. Pretty simplistic I know and I'll probably modify it as I go but its a start!

 

No luck on a weekend run so I headed over to El Paso for the weekend. Hopefully better luck Monday. In the meantime though, I saw the sights, ate good food, went hiking two days in Franklin Mountain State Park and just generally had a good time. I recommend the overlook on Transmountain Road just off I-10, the view is impressive.

Picked up a new trick though. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere before and it didn't occur to me until this weekend so I'll share for others to benefit from. If you're laid over for the weekend somewhere like I was and don't want to be stuck pulling a trailer around or be limited by it, check with the local self storage places. I saw a billboard for one on my way into El Paso and thought, wait a minute, most of those places have RV and car storage as well. The first place would have let me store the trailer for the weekend but they were full up. Lucked out the second place I called and they agreed to let me park it there a couple days for $25. Not too expensive for secure storage in my opinion. I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it at a truck stop, even with a lock, so yeah. New trick of the trade



The overlook



Hiking!

 

Hey MrEd. No, the rules apply to every CMV requiring the use of logs so we got caught in the net too. Haven't decided what exactly I'm going to do yet but I'm leaning towards pre 2000 truck if we make it to Dec 2017 and the rule is still in effect.

 

So this is how my week went



After sitting a few days in El Paso, I got a load from El Paso to Crawling, WY and back to El Paso. Two pieces of pipe up, test heads back. Pay wasn't anything to brag about but it was mostly flat running and under 1k in weight both ways so that helped.

So about that picture. First real issue I've had so far. Got loaded Tuesday afternoon and didn't make it two hours out of El Paso before the carrier bearing took a dump. In the middle of nowhere naturally. The closest parts store was 45 minutes behind me and closed. There was an Auto Zone an hour and a half ahead of me who closed in an hour and a half. Go figure.

The rubber center of the support mount had come completely loose, so I could wiggle it back in place and run about 20 miles at a time before the driveshaft shifted and started clanging around again. I called ahead and to Auto Zone's credit, they stayed open 10 minutes late for me and I made it just in time. Not to their credit, they didn't have the right part haha which I discovered after my driveshaft was already out. Luckily there was an O'Reillys across the street who did have what I needed.

If you've never changed a carrier bearing without a press, I do not recommend it. I could do it quicker now, but the whole operation took a few hours that night and another one the next morning.

Anyway, made my times on both ends and got to spend some time in Denver with friends. I really miss living there. Until next time!