North by NorthEast by Choice - the saga of sadwar continues

I'm glad to see that they are giving you the opportunity to practice a little before jumping in with both feet. That wasn't available when I started 7yrs ago when they started IC Choice. At that time no one really knew what was going on. It was all new to everyone. Drivers would go to a shipper and if their load wasn't ready they would get the load that was ready even though you had that booked. The program has evolved and things are a whole lot smoother. Not to say there are not hicups but not near as many as we had in that first year. Now, IMO, this is THE best and easiest program for IC's picking their own loads available. Good luck and enjoy the Freedom.

 

It would be nice if they would give me a temporary pass to get on the load board. That is one of the advantages of being a company driver for them first.

 

Are you planning to lease a truck from SFI or bringing your own truck? I would recommend starting out by planning your loads pretty conservatively. If you're leasing from SFI, for the first two weeks you won't make a truck payment (although insurance and maint. account are still pulled from your gross), and this is a good time to learn. Leave yourself some wiggle room, if you pack on a bunch of loads and then start falling behind it can turn into a real mess. Oftentimes they won't be able to find other trucks to cover the loads, and you're stuck showing up to customers late and that never goes well when a customer gets pissed off, enjoy spending half the day sitting in a dock watching others fly in and out lol. Then as you begin to learn how each customer works you'll be able to make tighter strings of loads.

But don't worry about it too much. A $3000 gross week is incredibly easy to achieve, can be done pretty much anywhere at least on the eastern half of the country (maybe not out west, never been there) and will easily cover your truck payment/maint/ins costs, cover the fuel, and let you bring home something. Not a huge paycheck, but something.

Also, if you're playing with the load board, remember that it may be near impossible to plan out a full week at once. Instead, find 2 loads to get your started, then spend a few minutes here and there over the next day or so looking for the next load, then the next, then the next. Then look at your gross for that week and subtract your expenses.

If you're leasing, plan on $1100/wk for all your truck payment/insurance/maint account/etc.
Looking at the OC fuel prices (which include the same discount we can get a P/FJ) right now they appear to be in the $3.20/gal range. Play it safe and say $3.30/gal.
Now let's say you're just having a crappy week and can only find cheap loads to pull so you only average $1.40 per mile. How do you get to that $3000 gross mark? Only 2200 miles needed to get there.
These new trucks get great fuel mileage. A very conservative estimate is 7.5 MPG.

2200 miles @ $1.40/mi = $3080 gross
2200 miles / 7.5 MPG = 293 gallons * $3.30/gal = $966 in fuel

So you've grossed $3080, subtract $1100 truck payment, subtract $966 fuel, that leaves you at $1014 gross for the week. Take out 25% for taxes if you want and that's $760 left over.

Not a great paycheck, pretty slow week. But what I'm getting at is that that is doing really bad. Low miles, cheap rates, poor fuel mileage... and you're still OK.

My first full week when I was leasing I grossed around $4800 if I remember correctly. It's buried somewhere in my last thread. I had no idea what I was doing, just picking loads that came up when I had a chance to check the load board.

So now, use those numbers I put up for payments, fuel costs/MPG, etc., as your base numbers, and watch the load board over the next week (or however long you plan to usually run for, be it 5 days, 6 days, etc), pick your loads as they come up trying to stay at least 1 load ahead of yourself, then at the end of the week total up the miles (take the mileage estimates from the load board and add an extra 15% to be safe), and use the above numbers to calculate your fuel costs. Then subtract your payment and how did you do?

 

Hey DFO, really enjoy and appreciate your posts. I hav applied with SFI and just waiting. My question is, I know you get 50 for chasing a trailer over 50 miles, but lets say you hav booked a load, and after you drop in charlotte and you hav to go 45 miles the opposite direction to get a trailer. So that makes it 90 miles for ur trailer since it is the opposite direction. Do you get $50, or is the extra 45 miles on you. Also, does this happen much, or every now and then. Thx for any info.

 

This is what I have been searching for. Great info! Starting out if I can bring home 600 a week learning the curve that'd all I need. Not good money but my house bills are important.

 

those "cheap loads" still pay better than what you'd get on a flat mileage rate most everywhere else.

Take Celadon for example they pay O/Os .94 plus .35 for fuel which is $1.29 all miles http://www.driveceladon.com/ownerop/

 

Hey DFO, are you sure you are on the right forum?( insert sarcastic laugh here ). A logical , common sense response born of experience. Not what you usually find on a forum. Excellent info.

 

Holy Crap! $1.29 on all miles? But that's ok, they have those nice fancy LoneStars, along with the HUGE truck payment that comes with it, that they have to pay with the $1.29 per mile they are getting. What? Why? Who would do that?

 

Driving a Lonestar with a bank account smaller than a Stevens driver =