Closing up shop or thinking about it? The latest…

They are only paying $21 an hour around me……

 

It’s an adjustment for sure, but I don’t miss trucking at all. This being home and sleeping in my own bed. Is great

 

Well, kinda hope this guy becomes a direct customer lol, he had his man pull the grader off, then wrote me a check in full to move all 3 pieces, Head out for the 2nd piece in the morning….

 

I’m still hanging in there. I have had the same customer for a couple years now (one way). Finding a load to go get his loads has been challenging for the last 5 or 6 months. My original plan when I stated my own authority was to stick to less than 80k miles a year and stay short trips. Turns out I did over 130k miles last year and headed strait for it again this year. My customer haven’t changed his rates yet so I’m eating all I can and filling the war chest till I can’t fit the lock on it anymore. Every weak I’m experiencing to hear him chop the rate or just tell me to move along? He’s already cut 2 other companys out so I know change is coming. I’ll have to create a new plan when that change comes and I already have a few ideas.

But I’m ready and prepared to change gears when it happens.
I’ve got 8 more years I HAVE to work hard. I will probably finish them out in this industry. I will have options and choices after that 8 years but will still probably work till I’m dead. Hopefully I can continue on till my demise doing it on my terms instead of someone else’s like the first 1/2 of my life.
Good luck gentlemen!!

I think we are in for a long cold winter and can’t even feel good about what 13 months from now may bring?

 

Yes, I made a bit of a post about it on here some time back. I am doing great. I’ll comment on current goings on at the end.

But, With my wife having her health issues I had stopped leaving town sometime late last year. Did a few local loads and did not like the pay (Texas is full of those who will run local flatbed for near nothing) did the end dump thing and although end dump was cool the hours and ### kicking on the truck and north texas local traffic on many of the end dump routes sucked lol. I had a great direct shipper for flatbed but that just started dropping off towards the end of the year and I parked the truck and started troubleshooting my wife’s health with her doctors and watching the load boards and watching used truck prices and just woke up in late February and between what I was seeing on marketplace and truck paper auctions were bringing a better price than any of the other options and I didn’t have to answer a bunch of crazy questions. I had sold my extra seat on market place and talk about a bunch of people who wanted a brand new seat for free was maddening. Imagine the dumb stuff you see and hear at a truck stop thrn imagine the same people trying to get great stuff for pennys. Truck sold for exactly what I paid you for it. Thanks to you taking great mechanical care of it and me doing most of my own maintenance I had very little in the truck extra. It was a great truck and I truly still miss it. Nothing I’ve driven truck wise compared to its power. @blairandgretchen 53’ flat I bought sold for 4K more than I paid and I only had done wheel seals on it and took care of it.
Now selling both those were hard for me to do. I literally don’t do any decision like that without some painstaking thought and care. I literally held onto it all for to long and it cost me some insurance payments I could have avoided had I chosen to sell months earlier. It was a decision that took months. I could still be successful at it had my wife’s health not takin a turn for the worst. I mean I ran a lean operation with no payments etc. I just wasn’t going to leave her and go on the road and risk her life to maintain a business.

What has happened since? Well I did board and train of dogs out of my house and I got a part time job driving for a flatbed outfit delivering parts to GM and if that went full time was a true $100k a year local job.
I wanted to keep my CDL active and used in case I wanted to continue driving. Problem with it was the clock was always ticking and you ran load after load and my 58 year old body did not like the 127 degree heat strapping down loads in the warehouse.

So I started looking for another part time job and a local feed store chain hired me as a CDL driver so I left the other and now drive part time for them.
Man what a difference this job is from almost any job I’ve ever had. It pays decent but the people are all golden and I just really enjoy it. Daycab pup trailers up to 53’ dry vans and they do have a step deck or two when needed. I have even ran some stuff in a box truck. It is awesome. I literally knew within a week I would work full time here and retire here if possible. The people are that cool and the job is that cool and it is just like walking into your local feed store talking to Bill or Bob etc when I pick up or deliver and I am treated as a human being and not a number. So I’ll stick it out here awhile and board dogs a bit longer. I have a surgery coming up in December and after the start of next year if I can not go full time at this current gig I will start looking elsewhere for a full time driving job. I just know I can be selective because while I know I can make more working at other local places I also know a couple bucks an hour more to get treated like dogshizzle or work all the ungodly hours in the world are not worth it to me. Quality job means a lot to me these days. If I take a high paying job it is just to add to savings and then grab a good one again.

As far as my wife goes she had a surgery a month ago and has not had any episodes since the surgery so maybe we are on the way with her health recovery for now. We will see.

Sorry I did not call you directly @Diesel Dave about the truck but it was not an easy decision. I hope she is in good hands as I suspect she is.

 

It’s all a said waiting game. Freight is slightly higher than in 2018, and Truck capacity is 45% higher than 2018. Not difficult to understand that about 30% of that capacity needs to go, before we see significant changes. The freight boom is over, but it is hard to let go of the good times and move on.

 

Oh - I forgot that.

Now you owe me $2k, and @wore out owes me at LEAST $20 !

 

Nothing but wrecks this morning, 3 actually. It was like living the movie Maximum Overdrive….

 

Things are fine if depressed, but not sure why everyone has such doom and gloom.
Rates for fb where ive been at least seem to still be fine. If you had high overhead, that was your fault for getting in on better rates and thinking it would last forever