Finally got my own truck

Lol
I'm running the best I can.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. At this point I might have been better off driving for someone else. Sure I've had some weeks where I've made $2400-$2600 profit but couple those with weeks where I've made $0 or like this week I'll be lucky to make $1000 paycheck. It's like playing scratch off tickets. I still am learning markets and even those change. A week ago here in GA I couldn't get brokers to stop calling my phone. Today I only got one phone call. So I'm sitting again. It's ####### tough out here.

Maybe I'll find a lane or two to carve out a little niche and make some money. Like a couple of people here have suggested but haven't really done yet. Some places you go you really don't have many options. Staring at the board all day waiting for a load to pop up that goes more than 200-300 miles that MAYBE they're willing to pay more than $400-500 on that doesn't go to an even worse area, and you call and it's busy because 149 other people are all calling on it at the same time so you just hang up the phone and shoot yourself in the head.

Most days it's like that. It is NOT easy. And once you buy the truck you're stuck. And these brokers know that you gotta take their cheap crap or you go without and they don't give a rat's ##* about it.

I sweep out my trailer almost every day. I had a shipper the other day tell me I had the nicest trailer they've seen in months. Does that matter? Nope. Not one bit. Cheapest truck wins. I have straps bars and I show up looking halfway decent. Don't matter. I'm a slave to the market and to these brokers. Almost literally. The ONLY hope I have to make this worth it is to hope the market turns in my favor, and be able to position myself to exploit that as much as possible, and I don't even have the market knowledge to do that properly yet.

TQL called earlier with a load GA to NJ. Told they guy I'm interested but it's $1/mi outta there so I need $2.80 going in. He laughed and hung up. Someone here would say " I wouldn't go there for any less than $3/mi!" OK so I guess you're not going there at all then.

The reality is that if you're thinking about doing what I'm doing, count on working your ##* off for $4800 on 3000 miles average and then take your expenses and your carrier's cut out of that and tell me you're gonna make money. That right there would net me a $1400 paycheck before taxes. Which btw since you're on a 1099 you gotta pay an extra 7.65℅ in taxes. Might as well drive for someone else.

I'm in this for the potential money, sure - but I'm also in it for the adventure, the life challenge. If it were just the money then I wouldn't do this.

You have to be crazy to do what I'm doing. And yeah I am one strange, crazy mofo. Works well for me. I don't care if I fail. As a Christian I don't worry too much about this life and material things. It's just a means to an end. If you are in a position where you can't fail, or failure would be too be a risk to take, then you'd be an idiot to do what I'm doing.

Tomorrow I'll probably take $1/mi to Chicago. I'd end up with a $500 paycheck for the week. Or maybe I'll take $2.15/mi to PA again and have a better paycheck but it will start next week off with no profit to begin with. Because it's $1.10/mi coming out. But no broker is gonna be desperate enough to pay more than $2.15/mi. In fact 75℅ will want to pay $1.90.

It's a bunch of BS is what it is. But it's cold hard reality.

Good *ing luck and goodnight.

 

In a good market sure, but when it's not a good market, call after call after call...Not happening. It's not for lack of trying. Maybe doing your reefer loads you can get that. 2pm I rolled into Macon and the pilot was almost full of empty trucks. Sometimes it's just like that. When options are slim and the brokers know it...They don't have to move that load today, it can move tomorrow, and they'll find some cheap mofo who needs to get back to NJ or PA for a backhaul. Whether it's an owner op, swift, cr England, Jose's Trucking or Russia Transport.

Rollin coal I can't tell you how many times I've quoted high and told them what I need, only for them to say "I'll keep your number written down in case I need you" and they almost never call back.

Shooting myself in the foot...You people keep telling me to reach for the sky and not take cheap freight. But taking that advice has cost me days where I sit. So I'm going to say now that heck yeah I'm gonna take cheap freight, from now on, if I can't find a good paying load, I'm taking cheap because it's better than sitting. I'll go broke waiting for something that will never happen on those days.

Say yes to cheap freight, when you have to.