A Noobs Business Plan.... or.... Working harder for less money

Interesting post. What part of Idaho? I am in a similar situation, but have not got into a truck yet. I have had pretty good luck helping out locals to keep up on windshield time. If you have relationships with any farmers or dairy men, they will keep you as busy as you want. There are quite a few private bullhaulers around Southern Idaho that are always looking for help and if you get to know them, for the most part they are good folks and will help you out, just be careful what you wish for. Bottom line, if you get outside the city limits, you and your rig can stay busy.

 

Interesting... good luck with it. Good idea trying it out for a couple years. My guess is you’ll get your fix and settle back into your job but this may be exactly what you need to figure that out.

I know a guy who makes 75k/yr as a race car mechanic for a big team. He was totally over it even though most would kill for the job. Long story short he bought an old truck and hauled grain in the fall the last two years during his vacation time. He ended up deciding trucking is really expensive and even with busting his butt he wasn’t making much profit. Truck is up for sale and he got another raise at his job.

 

Sometimes there is more to life than money, sounds to me like you have it figured out. Have you bought a pot or have one that you can use. I knew a guy that had a small company hauling cattle, he bought some reefers with the thought that he would be more steady. probably 6 to 8 months later they were all for sale, told me the worst day ever with a bull wagon was better by far as the best day with a reefer. lol

The little cattle hauling I have done, granted it was years ago, paid much better than most freight, but had higher insurance costs too. You might be pleasantly suprised what kind of money you can make pulling short loads of them critters. It is a different kind of driving and takes a little more common sense than running the interstate, but it sounds like you have the right stuff to get her done.

 

Get your retirement then truck. It’s much more fun when you are not trucking to survive. But in the end it’s a job. Some days are great, some days are ####. If kids are grown and money ain’t an issue have at it.

 

Give it a year.
You'll wish you had that cushy desk job back.

 

Don’t know much about up north, but if it’s like the rest of the state, you won’t have a problem.

 

The bad part about the NW is that you will have to haul the weight. In the land of big loads nobody will want to mess around with an 80k truck. And the bad part about your truck is the small power plant. The good part about hauling the weight in the NW is that you will get paid for it so it’s worth it to haul the big loads.

I’m not sure how much work you could get trying to stay close to home in that part of Idaho, you would be better off in my opinion to relocate down south if that’s a possibility for you. There’s a way better chance of staying busy and close to home down that way. A good option would be to get hooked up with a dairy and move all their short loads. Or maybe even a company like Wagner would be interested in using you too.