Hopper Bottum Hauling

yup im not saying don't do it im just saying take your time to try to find a decent gig rather than just jumping on the first thing that comes your way.

 

I don't believe 'hopper' and 'not run that hard, be home more often' belong in the same post together. At least that wasn't the case in my experience.

There's money to be had, but you've gotta hustle for it. It's a full time job just keeping that wagon cleaned out so you don't get rejected at the next loadout. Hopefully y'all see a rate increase. I know I wouldn't want to do it on a ELD.

 

its not so much that its harder to live off the same amount of money its more being able to survive the up and down swings. a big repair can kill any profit for a while. or depending on your contracts ect sometimes you have to wait a while to get paid and you still have to keep the wheels turning in the mean time. its easier once you have been doing it a while and you have a pretty good nest egg biult up to handle the +/- cash flow swings. but just starting out it can be rough. may mean not paying yourself for a while at times to keep the wheels turning. its harder and will take longer and your need more luck to get yourself established running low margin work. to work your own truck and only make what a company driver makes when you have twice as much on the line is just not worth it.

for someone just starting out without a lot of startup capital leasing to a carrier that supply's a fuel card pays weekly or twice a week ect can certainly make it easyer on a new guy starting out. of course these deals are typically lower pay.

mabye even get in a hopper gig as a company driver first get your feet wet learn what its all about and you may even find out about some better company's to lease onto once your out there, and your talking to the guys unloading next to you. will also help you familiarize yourself with what a good and bad rate is hopper rates are not quoted in per mile is normally per bushel or cwt. what loads may be a pia to clean out from places that are known for long wait times. so if they say iv got a load of xyz from blank to blank for 1.12 per bushel or a load of wxy from blank to blank for $2.00 cwt on the surface the second load may seam like the better load but really the first is the gravy.

getting good hopper work can have a lot to do with who you know.

 

You and @Cottonmouth85 are from the same region. It wouldn't hurt to pick his brain he is a hustler, I have seen that first hand. Just from what I have seen leasing on to almost any hopper outfit lands you pulling freight that they stepped on the rate and are charging you 20% or whatever. I don't talk money in line but I have all but gotten sick to hear what some owner operators leased on are making on the same load as independents. That said I am sure there are exceptions to that rule. No way would I pull forced dispatch with any trailer but for dang sure not with a hopper. Anything to pet food places is a pain in the ###, lots of washouts find out who pays for them going in. I'm not telling you there isn't money pulling a hopper, like @Ezrider_48501 said be cautious.

 

I belive what he means by stepped on is that the lease hands are getting screwed.