Tired, not earning as much as they said you would?

Let's say you get $2/mile as an owner..

at 78mph@5mpgx10hrs = 780m using 156gal earnings $1560
at 61mph@7mpgx10hrs - 610m using 87gal earning $1220
at $4/gal you'd save $276 in fuel but overall make $64 less on the day....

Is that close to reality?

 

Boy you got that right... and it's not just the kids either.

Last Wednesday I was travelling East on I-20 at Pearl MS. Just where the lanes change/narrow in the construction zone. Raining and blowing hard (tornado watches out too) from that front. I had dropped back to 55mph because of the poor visibility and the fact of traffic at the exits and yes, I was in the right-hand lane with all lights on.

Suddenly, this van hauler goes sailing by at speed and side-swiped me; tore my driver side mirror all to hell. No name or markings on the trailer or truck that I could see in the flying spray,etc. In seconds he was passing the truck several hundred feet in front of me and gone.

Luckily the mirror was the only thing smashed and I got shut down safely on what shoulder there was. BTW, Mack mirror assemblies are replaceable as a modular unit; 4 bolts and 2 electrical snap-apart connectors. Mack came out and replaced it in 15 min flat.

We got a whole bunch of cowboys out there folks.

 

Yes, it really is.

But some tend to not want to include "labor" as an expense as an o/o. So all they see and consider is the savings in fuel.

USMarine and I have been having this pissing match since Friday it seems.

It holds as true today as it did in the 90's and back in the days of the outlaw truckers in the 70's.

 

I'm not saying traveling at 61 burns the same amount of fuel. I'm saying that driven correctly, an ungoverned truck can reduce fuel consumption and increase productivity just by managing RPM's and proper shifting on hills, even hills in Iowa and Minnesota(allowing a net gain in profit and productivity). I currently average around 6.9 MPG since the weather warmed up and drive the speed limit everywhere... this allows the truck 14-15 more hours a week for profit loads less say $350 for fuel to do the work... $250 for my % pay is still $700-900 net profit to the truck... a no brainer in my bosses eyes.

With this said your point is taken about new drivers.

And no, a governed 61MPH truck is NOT safer. All differential speed limit data reflect that vehicles traveling at the same speed reduce accidents. One of the major reasons IL upped it's Interstate truck speed limit.

 

You did not look closly at her example ! bot had the Driver running 10 hours a day, but made $64 more driving slower. $6.40 more per hour ! Using the o/o example . If you as a driver do not like driving for x carrier for .30 cpm , find on paying better .You realy want a change every say cre driver find a new job (just a example!). And before the ltl drivers chime in , we can not all drive ltl (inless they hire 3 million more drivers)! 10 real good ltls, thats 300,000 more a peice .

 

In my example it's $64 less driving slower...

 

$6 per hour???

 

Big trucking companies aren't going to raise their cpm rates. If we had to drive less hours they would just relay the loads or add more teams. They would probably claim that it raises their costs, but any rise in freight costs would go into their pocket, not the drivers'.