New L/P operator with questions about minimizing costs

If you’re not paid off your odometer then you weren’t paid for all 130k.

 

Man are you over thinking it. It doesn't matter if you buy 200 a day m-f or 500 on Monday and again on Wednesday. It's still a 1000 dollars.
Fueling strategy is pretty basic stuff. Fill up where ir is cheap and where it is high buy just enough to get you back to the cheap spot. Don't forget to factor ifta into the price. You need to look at the actual cost of fuel. That would be your price minus that state's ifta price.

As for getting better fuel mileage, that's just gonna take time and diligence. Need to approach it like a science project. Take notes, examine data. And give it time.
No one can give you a concrete answer like run x speed for maximum mpg because there are simply too many variables. You got to learn your truck for the load it is carrying. And that takes time collecting data.

 

Not going to do the math … you either know off the top of your head how many paid miles you actually average a week or you don't.

If you don't, then your theory of how to run is invalidated by your lack real world data to back it up.

 

When I say I ran around 130k miles last year, that means I was paid for about 130k miles last year.

Now that I am shut down for the day, I will break it down some.

My odometer is now 576146. When i bought the truck it was at 443565 miles. I bought the truck on January 10, after a fairly decent 3k mile last week as a company driver. I have driven about 2500 miles since the first day of the year, so my total miles on the truck last year was around 133081.

I am paid by Rand McNally route miles, not zipcode ######## miles. Usually not as good as odometer miles, but there are a few times when I get paid for more miles than I drove because Rand McNally is retarded. Not regular runs, sadly, but I got a few last year.

Overall, my variance between paid miles and driven miles averages about 5% per month.

That's roughly 126,426 paid miles.

I took 8 weeks of home time last year + 1 month for the mess of cracked head / EGR cooler / stupid warranty company ########. Let's call that 12 total weeks off last year. So I drove 40 weeks.

So, I averaged about 3160 paid miles per week last year.

 

I have a thread dedicated to my time as an o/o. In several places on this forum I have posted real numbers in the past. When I have submitted all my expenses to the accountant, they will send me an end of year profit and loss accounting. It will not be pretty due to the engine rebuild, but I will post it.

I answered you when i was eating lunch on my 30. I wasn't going to try to calculate everything at that time, and, no. I do not keep a running tally of mileage and other crap in my head.

I have a load book for that.

 

Good info here, enough that I agree with some and disagree with other. (Cimes down to driver preference) But my question is, how do you save $150-250 on a PM by using dealer vs truck stop? The dealer is doing it for half price? Or do you mean the dealer is also going over truck. Finding and fixing or reporting problems or potential problems BEFORE they happen?

 

Most dealers BPM cost more because it covers more.

With that said I have gotten dealers "price match" trucks...

I do it when I have it in the dealer for something. Before I pick it up I will Mention that after I pick it up I have to take it to the truck stop for pm. They will always say that they can do the PM and I will say yes you can but not for the price the truck stop charges they will ask me how much the truck stop charges. When I tell them most of the time they will they will do it for that

 

#6 is called trip planning, when possible shut down on the other side of the city. So when you start in morning your not in traffic. That alone usually will get you thru the day. Although you might have light to medium traffic at the end of the day.
Fuel tax IS NOT MOOT it comes out of your settlement. That means it comes out of your pocket YOU are paying for it. Every one has thier own thought, and strategy on it. The most consistent thing I've heard is buy the cheapest PRE tax fuel. (Use the fuel book app to help figure that out)
Where would you fuel up. Who is cheapest?
Gary in $3.199
Girard oh $3.179
Emlenton pa $3.459
Seems like a stupid question right? But look at pre ifta price
Gary $2.709
Girard $2.709
Elmenton $2.718

 

Well that's not cheaper that same price. But the only reason I asked is because. Whenever possible (99% of the time) I take mine home to the dealer. It costs me about $50 more than truck stop. But it has saved me from a road call break down. (I always tell Dave to have harold work on my truck) Also I feel as though the dealer takes better care of me. As opposed to only going there every now and then with a problem.

 

truckstops use generic filters and upcharge for OEM filters.. my dealer does the BPM with OEM filters and no upcharge. So yes its cheaper