So you want to "own " your own company

Interesting read,. i had 3 trucks and 2 drivers once,. made less money than just me,. every shipper has a calculator,. they do the math before you quote them a rate,.
The whole industry is based on knowing that the "trucker" likes what he's doing, so consequently will do it for less, and less and less .just to keep trucking.
I know of many folks that do jobs that take less knowledge and skill than trucking, and they get paid plenty more, and work less hours,and yet are so impressed with my skills and astonished i make so little,.
After you,ve been trucking for awhile,. try getting another job,. when your resume says "driver" you'll be pidgeonholed ,. a driver is a dummy to the rest of the working world. The skill to operate truck well has been overlooked for so many years,. The way the world judges people is on their pedigree, not their abilities,.(i.e a newbie with a clean license is preferred over a veteran with a couple of tickets) if you are a very good student, and excel at book studies you will do well in this world,.but if you are a good operator, (of any machine) you are worth less than the man who can't operate it, but has paperwork that states he is qualified to tell you how to operate it.(ever notice that every body is more qualified than the driver? from shippers right thru to the cops, dot, prosecutors and judges)
guys are willing to run a business so they can say they 'own' their own truck, bring home 870 awk??, after taxes i bring home 750 as a driver, home every night, but working long hours hauling gravel, i have nothing invested other than the air freshener and my lunch pail and gloves,
There's a word thats missing in the trucking industry, something that the guys that own their own trucks are willing to forego just so they can say they are an O/O
The word is ...............
Profit,...... it,s all about better than average "wages" now. The 15-20% difference gets eaten very fast first time there's a malfunction with the unit,.and oft times will eat into the "wages" too.
There's not too many jobs in this world where you can work all day, and then be penalised for a clerical mistake, and end up having worked for nothing. Ever hear of a law enforcement officer having to pay a fine for wrongly writing a ticket that got thrown out in court? A judge fined for making a mistake in court therby giving cause for a successful appeal ?
No,. people make mistakes all the time, only truckers are monetarily penalised for a mistake in their work.
So sniff up all that diesel smoke,. enjoy those 5 mins of 75 mph with the window down, the 6 perfect shifts you just made, the commanding sound of the jake, the feel of the motor working hard up a hill, the looks of admiration from those who think a trucker is someone to be admired, because its all a farce. All that stainless and chrome and led's can quickly turn into a sentence to live a life of long hours and no money,.which the rest of the world will be oblivious to.

Nick
i,ve hauled flats, vans, reefers, specialised over weight over dimensional(multi axle joe dogs, jeeps, stingers etc,), cars, boats, and aggregates.

 

Duke - currently pulling a 53' Dry Van w/ Swing Doors in regards to the rates posted. Scheduled for a run out of Tampa, FL on Monday at $1.70 per mile. With a flatbed I would think your average would be a little higher than mine and based off what I have seen off the boards. On Get Loaded there appears to be just as much Flatbed freight as Dry Van these days.

 

I was having fun dealing with a Western Express driver coming up through AR and TN a week ago - wonder if it was the same guy?!

He decided to drive through a 55 contruction zone (posted all over the place) at 40mph, backing up traffic for 3 miles. Then he speeds through Chattanooga and gets out in front of me, only to hit the next mountain at 55 mph on cruise and put me in the weeds (couldn't get around him). Needless to say, I finally said more than hello on the radio......

Who in the HECK are they hiring these days?!

 

Some people just dont need there CDLs and should be elsewhere maybe behind a desk in a big office building.

 

I started as a flatbed however I would never go back

There was a song a few years back about having to be superman to be a flatbed driver. . .and he was right.

It was fun, but a lot of work, and some of those locations where like out of this world

 

this may be an incredibly silly sounding question but It would be very helpful to me in what I am trying to accomplish, I want to know what rate on the mile, do you feel is the the minimum you can haul for and remain profitable. I am looking for opinions on Dry freight, Reefer freight and Flatbed loads. Just be honest, if its 2$ a mile say it, if its 4$ a mile say it ( yeah right). I appreciate any responses

 

For an O/O or a company driver?

 

whatever it is that you are. O/O or Company

 

O/O minimum is half the price of fuel where you live. If fuel is $3.69 in your area, then you should be getting $1.60 a mile.

Company isnt much andit also depends on the company. Most start around 30 cents a mile.

 

That all depends. The loaded mile rate needs to be high enough to cover ALL miles necessary to complete the run. If there is a 50-100 mile bounce to get to the shipper, those miles need to be included. If there is no return freight and the truck is going to be expected to bounce home, those miles also need to be included.

Now me personally, I need my percentage of the load to be AT LEAST in the $1.50 neighborhood for all miles traveled in order to be comfortable. Sure, I could run for less and not lose money, but the goal is to be profitable. I'd prefer at LEAST $2/mile for all miles to my truck (not to the carrier). That may mean that a load has to pay $5-$6 per loaded mile to the carrier...minus their percentage....if I have to drive a lot of empty miles to get it, and if there is no return freight. If the shipper or the receiver is known for long wait times, the rate has to also reflect the time the truck is expected to be tied up at either end....time is money.

Sometimes $8-$10/loaded mile isn't enough to justify hauling a load.

So when you say "(yeah right)" after suggesting a $4/mile rate, I get the impression that you are either a potential shipper looking to justify a cheap rate, or a broker looking for an excuse not to pay a decent rate to the trucks moving your freight. If you are either, I hope your ##### sits on the dock and doesn't move, and that you lose customers as a result. These trucks aren't cheap to buy. They aren't cheap to operate. They aren't cheap to maintain. They aren't cheap to repair. It all costs money, and we get that money by hauling freight. If the freight doesn't pay, truck payments are missed and trucks repossessed....maintenance and repairs are put off until the truck just won't run anymore (or the DOT shuts 'em down)....or the fuel card is shut off. When any of that happens, a driver loses the ability to put food on his table or keep a roof over his family's head.

Look at it this way: If your truck gets 6 mpg, and fuel costs $3/gallon, your operating cost JUST FOR FUEL is $0.50/mile.

If your truck payment is $1000/month and you drive an average of 10,000 miles/month, your operating cost JUST FOR THE TRUCK NOTE is another $0.10.

If you as a driver pay yourself $0.40/mile, that already puts you at $1/mile. You STILL haven't bought insurance, grease, oil & filters, tires, brakes, u-joints, and every other wear & tear item on the truck that will eventually need replacement. Then there are taxes that need to be paid, communications devices (be it quallcomm, cell phone, etc...), and a whole slew of other expenses that also need to be figured into the rate.

So yeah, $1.50/mile is fine if I'm loaded both ways, and it doesn't take longer than 10-15 minutes to unload & reload, I don't have any out-of-route miles to get home, and there is nothing else going on. Otherwise, I'm going to need more.