flatbed freight areas

So I want to be a skateboarder. I'm sick of hauling dry van and watching my ### get wide(r). I won't be doing the switch until next summer and plan on doing a lease purchase through a company. CRST Malone looks promising as they let you find your own loads as well as providing a load board to choose from. I got 6 months to learn everything I can.

One thing I am curious about, what is freight like in and out of central PA? I live right near Altoona off I99 and it would be great if there was freight close by going in and out.

I'm also going to look for info on freight lanes and pricing as I know little about it yet. Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

 

Well, my old trainer went with a lease purchase from crst and he's pretty happy with it so far. Its a 3 year lease and at the end you can walk away or pay a $5k balloon payment and own the truck, they will even finance the balloon payment for you if you wish. Like I said I have 6 months to look around. I just know I don't have the means to finance my own truck and REALLY like the idea of being responsible for my own loads rather than staring at a blank qualcomm screen for hours waiting.

I know there is some steel in my area, but other than that I have no clue. I've been learning taxes, how to pick loads by figuring minimum profit goal per mile and break even point per mile (to get out of a bad shipping area). Spending a lot of time studying equipment maintenance and how to maximize fuel mileage.

I still need to research how to get loads using load boards/brokers. Is it unreasonable to expect to make a profit doing tri haul taking 3 loads and getting home every 3rd load? Was something I heard about but not sure I want to do it. I want to spend the first 3 years paying off the truck and building a fat maintenance fund and either get my own authority or just stay leased on somewhere.

Thanks for the input, I take it all under consideration.

 

Malone doesn't use qualcomm, they have agents you can use or you can get your own loads from loadboards. The truck payments avg $275-$300/wk not including tags, insurance, maint., etc. With all that added in I'm figuring on the high side $800/wk. But malone covers all the PM and maintenance during the lease bumper to bumper, drivetrain, tires, electrical, whatever. And it is a walk away lease. At the end you can choose to pay the balloon and keep the truck or walk away.