Trying to figure this business out

Bottom line is what does it cost per mile to operate, using data from at least 3 financial quarters.

 

If you are hauling irregular route vehicles your rates will change every day depending on how many trucks are looking for loads in the same area, how many cars need to be shipped, time of the year, etc. What is good money one week may be crap the next. Ideally, it is good money if you can make a decent profit off the load. I define a decent profit as 30-40% after all expenses, assuming all your expenses are accurately accounted for (including funds for the eventual replacement of your equipment).

As for local vs. long haul rates, it is typical for the rate per mile to be lower the longer the haul and the more units you get from one shipper/location. Another way of saying that, if dealer A has a full truckload at one auction he is going to want a decent discount per unit but if he only has one here and one there he knows he has to pay more per unit to get them moved. Short haul usually pays more per mile because it eats up a lot of your available hours and is a pain to build a full load every day. It is so much easier to spend one day gathering up/building a load then the next three days just driving.

I hope this helps you get a better understanding. Thanks for asking the right questions.

 

That's exactly how we do it for two of our carriers. Seems it's really the only way to make a profit running irregular routes.

 

Easy, enough to cover operating costs and have enough left to profit

 

Irregular route means not a dedicated customer, so any work you take off a broker instead of a dealer or auction that is tour direct and usual customer. Another example, my fleet euns the same routes every day, we have about 30 dealerships we service exclusively under an agreement with three different auctions, so that is regular route work as opposed to just hoping to find a good load somewhere from a random broker or even from the same load board.

 

It seems like with these crappy rates, you have no choice but to run irregular routes In order to make good money even though u may have several stops...

 

"Trying to get this business figured out"

Hmm. Just when you think you have it...

The Monkey Wrench Gnome throws the big one.