Some numbers for new O/O

ywdodoyang · Jun 20, 2020

I want to register an o/o company, I am living in Queens New York, anyone gives me a suggestion should I open a trucking company in NY or NJ?

blairandgretchen · Jul 13, 2020

Doing_flatbed_nc said: ↑

"Stressful and scary."

This.

It keeps me on my toes. I can totally relate to guys who want the same load(s) every day. But, I need that fear factor.

Hell, I hate climbing ladders. So, i jumped out of an airplane just to prove that I could do it.

Something ain't right in my head, but i embrace it and push it every single day. We get this one life and when it's done I want to be able to say that I actually lived my life.

Hehehe. Sounds dramatic....
Click to expand...

Good attitude. I need to remember this.

86scotty · Jul 16, 2020

Risk vs. reward. In 25 years with a company I had 0 risk and about the same reward. Now I have plenty of risk and plenty of reward. No going back for me. I have some money saved and other safety nets in place now that I'm older and attempting to be wiser.

Gus4800 · Jul 25, 2020

DUNE-T said: ↑

There have been a lot of threads lately here and in Facebook groups from people wanting to start their own business. Here are some rough numbers to show how much does it really cost to run a truck.
Lets take a single O/O with new authority and a dry van trailer, who will run 100% brokered loadboard freight (thats how majority of people start out, right?). Lets say this guy (John) has a family and wants to be home every weekend to have somewhat normal life, so he will work Mon-Fr.
1. Truck payment of $1500 per month
2.Average truck/trailer yearly maintenance/repair bill is $25000, so lets say $2000 per month
3. Trailer payment $600 per month. Yes, you should get a brand new trailer. Running a used one will cost you the same or most likely more, when you calculate the repairs and downtime
3.Insurance for the first year will be $12-16k, so lets say $1200 per month
4. Driver salary (pretend you are an experienced company driver and you make $72k per year, so $6000 per month.
5. Fuel $5000 per month
6. Ifta, plates,parking, misc expenses $1000 per month
So we have $17300 in expenses. Now for being a business owner and all the headaches, you deserve another $1000 per week, which makes it $21300 per month, I will round it up to $22000.
$22000 per month, means you need to gross at least $5500 per week, or $1100 per day. You have to figure out lanes/rates and how to make that amount every 5 working days and be home for the weekend.
If everything goes smooth as planned, John will make $120000 per year and be a happy camper.

Of course things never go as planned. John takes time off to spend time with his kids, some repair downtime adds up and now gross revenue starts shrinking. John is lucky if he does all repairs at home, thats usually cheaper. Because if his 500k Cascadia starts having DEF problems on the road and a gangsta dealer charges him $6000 to fix it, on top of the $1000k towing bill, his maintenance/repairs budget starts having problems. Its not uncommon for a new O/O to dump $40k into his truck during each of the first couple years of ownership. The worst I have seen is complete engine failure and a few months of downtime. (happened to me too haha).

Now think if you have a tough enough skin to deal with shark brokers every day, make your revenue goals and deal with all the headaches of owning this business. Remember, in busy months you have to gross much more, than $5500, because in the slow season you might be working only couple of days per week and only do $2-$3k. It means you have to play constant poker games on spot market. You have to be ready to talk to 50 people per day, constantly hear "NO" for an answer, be very resistible to stress and be very efficient with time management. The first year you will be spending time learning lanes,you will make many mistakes, like taking 1500 miles load to Miami for $3500 and thinking its a great rate, or taking already late loads to grocery warehouses and sitting there for 3 days waiting to get unloaded, while getting paid $150 per day broker layover fee. Some of those mistakes can have you make a great big $0 profit at the end of the week.

Oh, also, if you are one of those people who just want to buy a truck and put a driver in it, think about all that and about your truck going down for a month and how you will be paying your driver to seat and wait while your truck is getting fixed. Also think about your driver not checking oil level, ####ing up the engine 1000 miles away from home, getting put out of service for some stupid reason, damaging the load, e.t.c and another 100 mistakes crappy drivers do, because being a new business, you will not be able to hire great experienced drivers, they usually already have good places to work at.

Some people will be lucky and have less expenses and some will be lucky to make more money, but you still will be around numbers posted above. Good luck
Click to expand...

Mostly not true

NewbieTruck · Jul 29, 2020

wow thanks for the great break down. I appreciate your time and thoughts.
At the end of the day will I have enough work to cover my expenses right? What would you suggest for guys just want to work with Amazon or Convoy?

DUNE-T said: ↑

There have been a lot of threads lately here and in Facebook groups from people wanting to start their own business. Here are some rough numbers to show how much does it really cost to run a truck.
Lets take a single O/O with new authority and a dry van trailer, who will run 100% brokered loadboard freight (thats how majority of people start out, right?). Lets say this guy (John) has a family and wants to be home every weekend to have somewhat normal life, so he will work Mon-Fr.
1. Truck payment of $1500 per month
2.Average truck/trailer yearly maintenance/repair bill is $25000, so lets say $2000 per month
3. Trailer payment $600 per month. Yes, you should get a brand new trailer. Running a used one will cost you the same or most likely more, when you calculate the repairs and downtime
3.Insurance for the first year will be $12-16k, so lets say $1200 per month
4. Driver salary (pretend you are an experienced company driver and you make $72k per year, so $6000 per month.
5. Fuel $5000 per month
6. Ifta, plates,parking, misc expenses $1000 per month
So we have $17300 in expenses. Now for being a business owner and all the headaches, you deserve another $1000 per week, which makes it $21300 per month, I will round it up to $22000.
$22000 per month, means you need to gross at least $5500 per week, or $1100 per day. You have to figure out lanes/rates and how to make that amount every 5 working days and be home for the weekend.
If everything goes smooth as planned, John will make $120000 per year and be a happy camper.

Of course things never go as planned. John takes time off to spend time with his kids, some repair downtime adds up and now gross revenue starts shrinking. John is lucky if he does all repairs at home, thats usually cheaper. Because if his 500k Cascadia starts having DEF problems on the road and a gangsta dealer charges him $6000 to fix it, on top of the $1000k towing bill, his maintenance/repairs budget starts having problems. Its not uncommon for a new O/O to dump $40k into his truck during each of the first couple years of ownership. The worst I have seen is complete engine failure and a few months of downtime. (happened to me too haha).

Now think if you have a tough enough skin to deal with shark brokers every day, make your revenue goals and deal with all the headaches of owning this business. Remember, in busy months you have to gross much more, than $5500, because in the slow season you might be working only couple of days per week and only do $2-$3k. It means you have to play constant poker games on spot market. You have to be ready to talk to 50 people per day, constantly hear "NO" for an answer, be very resistible to stress and be very efficient with time management. The first year you will be spending time learning lanes,you will make many mistakes, like taking 1500 miles load to Miami for $3500 and thinking its a great rate, or taking already late loads to grocery warehouses and sitting there for 3 days waiting to get unloaded, while getting paid $150 per day broker layover fee. Some of those mistakes can have you make a great big $0 profit at the end of the week.

Oh, also, if you are one of those people who just want to buy a truck and put a driver in it, think about all that and about your truck going down for a month and how you will be paying your driver to seat and wait while your truck is getting fixed. Also think about your driver not checking oil level, ####ing up the engine 1000 miles away from home, getting put out of service for some stupid reason, damaging the load, e.t.c and another 100 mistakes crappy drivers do, because being a new business, you will not be able to hire great experienced drivers, they usually already have good places to work at.

Some people will be lucky and have less expenses and some will be lucky to make more money, but you still will be around numbers posted above. Good luck
Click to expand...

Whay

K33ptruckn · Aug 2, 2020

DUNE-T said: ↑

There have been a lot of threads lately here and in Facebook groups from people wanting to start their own business. Here are some rough numbers to show how much does it really cost to run a truck.
Lets take a single O/O with new authority and a dry van trailer, who will run 100% brokered loadboard freight (thats how majority of people start out, right?). Lets say this guy (John) has a family and wants to be home every weekend to have somewhat normal life, so he will work Mon-Fr.
1. Truck payment of $1500 per month
2.Average truck/trailer yearly maintenance/repair bill is $25000, so lets say $2000 per month
3. Trailer payment $600 per month. Yes, you should get a brand new trailer. Running a used one will cost you the same or most likely more, when you calculate the repairs and downtime
3.Insurance for the first year will be $12-16k, so lets say $1200 per month
4. Driver salary (pretend you are an experienced company driver and you make $72k per year, so $6000 per month.
5. Fuel $5000 per month
6. Ifta, plates,parking, misc expenses $1000 per month
So we have $17300 in expenses. Now for being a business owner and all the headaches, you deserve another $1000 per week, which makes it $21300 per month, I will round it up to $22000.
$22000 per month, means you need to gross at least $5500 per week, or $1100 per day. You have to figure out lanes/rates and how to make that amount every 5 working days and be home for the weekend.
If everything goes smooth as planned, John will make $120000 per year and be a happy camper.

Of course things never go as planned. John takes time off to spend time with his kids, some repair downtime adds up and now gross revenue starts shrinking. John is lucky if he does all repairs at home, thats usually cheaper. Because if his 500k Cascadia starts having DEF problems on the road and a gangsta dealer charges him $6000 to fix it, on top of the $1000k towing bill, his maintenance/repairs budget starts having problems. Its not uncommon for a new O/O to dump $40k into his truck during each of the first couple years of ownership. The worst I have seen is complete engine failure and a few months of downtime. (happened to me too haha).

Now think if you have a tough enough skin to deal with shark brokers every day, make your revenue goals and deal with all the headaches of owning this business. Remember, in busy months you have to gross much more, than $5500, because in the slow season you might be working only couple of days per week and only do $2-$3k. It means you have to play constant poker games on spot market. You have to be ready to talk to 50 people per day, constantly hear "NO" for an answer, be very resistible to stress and be very efficient with time management. The first year you will be spending time learning lanes,you will make many mistakes, like taking 1500 miles load to Miami for $3500 and thinking its a great rate, or taking already late loads to grocery warehouses and sitting there for 3 days waiting to get unloaded, while getting paid $150 per day broker layover fee. Some of those mistakes can have you make a great big $0 profit at the end of the week.

Oh, also, if you are one of those people who just want to buy a truck and put a driver in it, think about all that and about your truck going down for a month and how you will be paying your driver to seat and wait while your truck is getting fixed. Also think about your driver not checking oil level, ####ing up the engine 1000 miles away from home, getting put out of service for some stupid reason, damaging the load, e.t.c and another 100 mistakes crappy drivers do, because being a new business, you will not be able to hire great experienced drivers, they usually already have good places to work at.

Some people will be lucky and have less expenses and some will be lucky to make more money, but you still will be around numbers posted above. Good luck
Click to expand...

By these numbers might as well lease a truck to the spot market... I mean is that even possible?

chilibowl · Aug 12, 2020

chilibowl · Aug 12, 2020

First time uploading pics. Looks like I hit the button to many times. Anyhoo y’all look at these numbers and tell me what you think. She says she has 250 owner operators that are tickled pink to be running for this company. I’m still trying to figure out where the $1000 went from the freight rate to the settlement rate.

Leftlanemilktrain · Aug 14, 2020

BackwoodsGA said: ↑

Skip the truck payment and pay cash for something pre-regen.
Click to expand...

If new o/o has cash for a truck they're better off going to Vegas... at least you can drink for free while you lose it

Big Wave Dave · Aug 18, 2020

chilibowl said: ↑

First time uploading pics. Looks like I hit the button to many times. Anyhoo y’all look at these numbers and tell me what you think. She says she has 250 owner operators that are tickled pink to be running for this company. I’m still trying to figure out where the $1000 went from the freight rate to the settlement rate.
Click to expand...

The base freight rate is 2.36 per mile ($7299/3089 loaded miles) - which is good - BUT - look at the $0.10 per mile deduction - if you do the math, they are charging for 4713 miles - so I assume (?) that is deadhead which is 1624 miles or 34% of all miles - which is very high.

All the other deductions are quite high too especially Bobtail, Cargo & Liability, Trailer and Trailer insurance - assuming these are WEEKLY.

Look at the fuel rates, the fuel discount at GCL is horrible to say the least. Comparing my companies discount to Fernley, NV - this driver is paying $2.658 per gallon, my company's rate is $2.05. In Youngstown, OH - this driver is paying $2.499, my company's rate is $2.03. I am using today's rates for fuel purchase this driver did in June - fuel was even cheaper for me then.

At the end of the week, this driver is grossing $3348.40 - which some would think as a good week - using loaded miles, it's $1.08 per mile - BUT WAIT - you need to factor deadhead miles too - so add another 1624 to the 3089 load miles = 4713 and run that into the net paycheck and you get $0.71 per mile.

Again - not bad, I have seen and experienced worse but the deductions at this company are a too high for me. Plus, I do not care to drive 4700+ miles in a week to make this amount of money. I drive approximately 2400 per week and net (after expenses but before the tax man) $1.32 - but I own my own truck and the company I lease onto does not charge trailer fees, etc.

Not sure about your statement - "I’m still trying to figure out where the $1000 went from the freight rate to the settlement rate." - as all the numbers compute for me.

Best of luck...

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