Do Owner Ops actually take loads that are less than $3.00/mi?

Your answer is YES!!

O/Op’s on this very forum have argued countless times how they take loads for $1 per mile for fuel money and how it makes perfect sense to them

Good part of that is they’ll eventually be broke and out of business
Sad part is. There’s 100 guys in line to take that gravy spot

 

I do.

 

The problem is this, unless you understand how to make real MONEY and get rid of the mentality about dollars per mile, you will never make a lot of money and you will be stuck thinking like a driver - got to get those miles.

Know what your costs are, your BEP and other factors involved like location where you land after a good paying load.

But to keep it simple, I will use per mile rates.

If you take a few $1 per mile loads (there are a lot of these LTL loads around) to get into the lane from a good paying load in a dead area, then that's leveraging truck capacity. A lot of owners are using multiple loads at $2 a mile each to build up a good week.

I have a few drivers who make more money doing this than others do on full loads. They work for the load, it takes plain and does work.

 

I agree with slow loading the LTL stuff but not with doing a full load for a $1 per mile just to move

I have had several $$$$ weeks with LTL and not a ton of miles
I think too that there might be more of that as companies might not order full loads of product while the economy does it’s thing??

 

It's the norm for some lanes.

 

Then this will help

 

8-10 POs at ~$1 a mile, or 1 po at $3 a mile, I know which one I choose, and I usually am under 1500 miles a week at the highest,

 

We all did a few years back

Once I am unable to make more than the average company driver I will park it.

For me it’s just a smart business move, no sense wearing out my truck when I can just wear out someone else’s for the same money.

Hopefully I’ll be able to find a company that will put me in a long wheelbase hood..chrome optional/ negotiable.

But who knows, I may just buy a KIA mini van and deliver pizzas.