Dead Markets

The $2600/mo truck payment doesn't affect me much. It's the fact that I don't want to have to be driving a truck when I'm 50.

In fact, the truck payment isn't the big thing. The biggest expense is paying yourself what you're worth. And time is an expense.

You can take those $500 loads. You won't be getting more than one of them per day. You want to gross $10,000/month you won't be making very much. You will be making the same as a McDonald's manager. Or less.

Paid your truck off, ok. Gonna cost you the same as my truck payment in repairs down the road.

Take your $115,000 gross per year, subtract what your company gets, say 80%, you're at $92,000. Take off $30,000 for fuel, throw ifta in there as well. Plates, etc. Repair maintenance add another $15,000/,year for that truck. You're at $45,000 before taxes. Insurance?

If that's what you want, fine.

 

I bought my truck for 55 and added another 55 in the last 3.5 half years for maintenance.. So indeed add 3 or 4 more years at this rate and you have a cash value of a new truck at the point of it coming to its end. 1.2 - 1.5 million miles. It does not always work like that though. One good and often decisive thing about a paid for truck or a truck soon to be paid off, is not being terrorized by payments all the time. You can stop running and get into hibernation mode for as long as you can afford it. But that's just theory, who does that? Insurance and plates need to be paid, and most of my recent 15 years were on the road, anyway.

 

I know quite a few people that do that actually.

They leave the country for 3-4 months (winter time) and then restart when it warms up. They buy trucks cash (<$25K) and do self-maintenance on most items, other than internals.

It's doable. If you are frugal and run a well managed operation.

 

I've been in hibernation mode for a month.

Took two weeks off, took a load to Georgia, then haven't taken a load for 2 weeks. I still expect to make good money this year even with my truck payment but rates dropped it seemed and had nothing interesting come along.

But then again who here saves like I do?

 

Me. My seasonal drop off is way way bigger than you guys.

 

Aaaand that's why I don't mess with produce... we just bought a house. Seasonal dropoffs are gross.

 

Don’t feel too bad for me. I’ll still be doing 10-15 loads per week.

 

Those numbers are very skewed. It's more like gross 115k AFTER the carriers cut, so 115k to the truck. Spend 12k to 15k on fuel, not 30k. Plates are about 1500 to 1750 a year. Ifta covered by the carrier, or if a guy had to pay his own its only a couple hundred a year in fuel tax. Repair costs will vary but the only time mine has ever been over 5k in a single year was the time i did a compete rebuild of the engine and bought 8 drive tires in the same year.

Now I'm not suggesting a 150 mile run at 500 bucks is a good idea. Im just suggesting those numbers you posted are way off.

Personally at this stage of my life I'm perfectly content to only make 60k a year cause i only have to work 5 to 6 months out of the year to make it. some where along the 22 years of owning trucks my philosophy changed from making as much as possible, to working as little as possible. I work just enough to live comfortably and save a little and when a big expense is on the horizon(or an expensive emergency happens) i can crank out a big chunk in short order to cover it. For example a few weeks ago i decided i wanted a boat so i busted ### for a week to cover it and have now spent the last week and a half fishing nearly every day.

Work to live, don't live to work.

 

Not gonna lie now that I've wrapped my head around the fact that the season is in fact over I'm intensely grateful to past boredsocial for putting up with the last six months. Now I get to enjoy the results of all that work .