Gonna disagree with you on this one. Freight rates are banded to the company as well. The reason is the percentage of time loading, unloading, and dealing with local traffic when compared to miles traveled is less, making the truck overall more efficient... AND costing less per mile.

Generally the shorter the mileage the higher the per mile rate. There tends to be a drop in per mile around 450-500.

Example:
Day 1: You and I report to work at the same time. We have identical trucks, hook to identical loads. I'm going 1000 miles, you're going 400. You get to your drop the same day and unload. Afterward you head toward your pickup but have to stop for a 10 hour. When I stop for my 10 hour I'm 350 miles from my drop. Difference so far 250 loaded miles. You've spent an extra hour in traffic with its higher wear and lower fuel mileage plus idle time.

Day 2: You head to your pickup and load for another 400 mile run. Lets say you "barely" make it to drop and park before you have to take your 10. I drive my remaining 350, deliver, and have to take my 10 before getting to my pickup.

Now its Tuesday night and I have an extra 200 loaded miles on you and I've only had to deal with local traffic leaving the yard and in my drop city. While you've had to deal with the yard city, a pickup city, and two drop cities.

It looks bad enough, but what if your 1st drop is in the middle of Chicago at 5pm? and its on the west side? and you have to drive up Cicero for 7 miles each way. Of course you could pay the tolls, what does that do to your per mile average?? Still think that 400 mile run is doing the same wear and fuel per mile as my 1000 mile run? Not hardly. My 9400 with a 525 N14 averages over 6.5 per mile, I've burnt through 50 gallons in Chicago in 1 DAY! 50 Gallons to go a whopping 130 miles.

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Hello again Preacher: OOIDA has a good section in the "tools" catagory for figuring cost per mile. Good info in that section. Spend a few minutes with that and enter your figures. It is good information for a guy starting out. I will probably get the boot for posting a link, but so be it. There is no financial gain for anyone here, just a link providing good info. Isnt that what this forum is about? To provide and share info and ideas? So have at me, Mods....
[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

one sucks slightly less then the other.... But just SLIGHTLY less


lol

sorry, couldn't resist any longer. I'd buy an international before a shoker given the choice

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I have downloaded ooida's excel worksheet for figuring cost per mile. It is a great tool. The biggest problem with drivers that I have noticed is they know trucking very well, but not business. I am just the opposite, that is why when I figure cost I figure my pay as a salary rather than per mile. This has allowed me to budget my fixed cost at $1100.00 a week. I also need to drive for someone that pegs my fuel at $1.20 to $1.25 per gallon. The company I currently drive for has a reputation for being difficult to work with not only from drivers but vendors as well which is why if I get my own truck I won't be driving for them. I also notice that most companies do not use banded pay. The ones that do have other reasons to not drive for them also.

However this thread is actually looking for answers from gear heads for us non gearheads. I agree that with freightliners it's a choice between bad and worst, but I am looking for the same type of info a previous poster gave regarding the Internationals. Thanks, I'm enjoying this.

Agreed Preacher, driving the truck is the easy part. Everyone is a truck driver, just ask them. Any clown can drive a truck, not always good at it, but they can drive it.
There are some excellent chauffeurs out there, and some not so excellent steering wheel holders. And alot in between.
But for me, the business and logistics end of trucking is the tough part. one has to be smooth dealing with people(not one of my strong points... ). I watch some guys spend $100 dollars and come out with $1000. Some guys spend $1000 and end up with nothing. And i believe the man that wants to hustle and work is going to have an advantage. And on and on.... but you get my point?

For all intents and purposes.... the only difference between the century and columbia is aerodynamics. The columbia being slightly more aerodynamic than the century.

As far as runnin' gear and interiors..... there's probably not enough difference to fuss over.

Shakers are great trucks if "economics" outweigh all other considerations. But if reliability, comfort, and/or resale value are important considerations, then I would look at other brands.

International makes a good truck. The parts are easy to get, they are fairly easy to work on, and you can actually get to the engine. A huge plus for me is that there is plenty of room in the cab. The company I drive for has quite a few of them, all with between 1.2 and 1.5 million miles, and still running every day.

ou can get to part of the engine/LOL try pulling the push tubes from 5&6 cylinders in a 9200i Trust me thats what I'm doing. But I will say overall yes your can get to the motor. The quarter fenders come off and make access pretty easy.

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Probably because you're the only one looking.

I wasn't taking the 9200 into consideration. I was thinking of the 9400i, 9900i, and the really easy to get to 9900ix.

Can you still take off the engine cover behind the cup holder to get access to the rear of the engine like on the 9200s from the 90's? I had a '95 model 9200, and I could have the rear cover off in a few minutes with full access to the engine. Pushrod tubes you say. That's what you get for buying a truck with obsolete technology, like cam in block and pushrods. Just kidding.