What should be an owner operator net income per year?

I'd be surprised if a hamburger cost more than .15 when he said this fwiw... So probably closer to 55 cents today. 55 cents per mile in net profit isn't all that bad at large scale.

 

"J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. was incorporated in Arkansas on August 10, 1961 and originally started with five trucks and seveI don't know n refrigerated trailers to support the original rice hull business. By 1983, J.B. Hunt had grown into the 80th largest trucking firm in the U.S. and earned $63 million in revenue. At that time J.B. Hunt was operating 550 tractors, 1,049 trailers, and had roughly 1,050 employees. Today this company has grown into one of the largest transportation companies in the United States with annual revenues of about $7 billion."

I don't know when he said it but I'm over 50 and can't recall a $.15 hamburger. White Castle maybe lol. Easy enough to calculate I guess for someone with time on their hands....say like a broker. Net profit from annual report divided by all miles from MCS-150

 

I thought JB Hunt was older than that. He might very likely have been saying he could take .20 a mile in today's money. In other words he got filthy rich taking food off other trucking companies plates by undercutting them on price.

That's not a knock on him... that's how business works. We are all in a race to the bottom, and finding a way to operate cheaper than the next guy so that you can lower rates and get his freight is just standard capitalism.

 

Called completion which is what drives the industry. Supply and demand with competition your gonna have division

 

Yeah... I hate and want to destroy every freight brokerage that competes with me. This takes no effort and isn't something I have to consciously maintain or think about. I think it's human nature. I suspect they feel the same (or worse!) about me.

 

Competition is a pretty base instinct I feel. Being "better" in some/every way than the next person/people.
They should write a chapter on that in a book called "why communism never works "

 

All I'm saying is that when I was a kid reading about history I couldn't understand how someone could make their whole life about wanting to thwart or destroy someone else... and now I absolutely can. Probably good for the species on a genetic level... But wow does it explain a lot.

 

I’ve got nothing against competition although there’s something to be said for NOT undercutting your competition. I am not in that game.

As far as destroying someone else it’s easy but where’s the challenge in screwing someone? In my book there’s no greater scum on earth than a thief and a liar. Back in the day they got hung for good reason. Way too easy for scum to reincarnate in this business.

 

Agree to disagree. Undercutting isn't stealing. Customers are people not property. They have a right to go out and pick vendors any way they please. It's our job to figure out how to keep the money rolling in in a competitive marketplace.

The good news for you is that you're probably very good at your job... Which means there's a fairly decent chance your current price is lower than what your price actually should be... Which means that if people aren't willing to pay the price someone else most assuredly will very shortly. You picking different people to load isn't stealing from the customers either.

 

I believe that’s accurate. He was the Sam Walton of trucking. I remember when they first started running up here in the mid 80s they weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. I recall talk on the CB about how trucks would box them in, run them off the road etc