Overwhelmed, and looking for insight...

Stay the company driver part for a while. If it was that lucrative someone would be on it now and if it was really profitable his own trucks would be doing it imo

 

What he said^^^^^

 

Stay away from the Wood products. A log truck has a hard life, it's off road. Go with the dirt hauling. That's my take.

 

Get a company job to start.
Buy the Kw and fix up if need be while you drive someone elses truck.
Use the kw to do parttime local dirtwork or odd hauling jobs on the side when you are on your off time from full time company.
Build up a good reputation in the local construction hauling sector and you will be first call. Then in future when you are ready to take the total ownership step you have the truck, contacts, and experience to do so already. You will just kind of naturally progress into it.

Some guys can’t believe a 25 year old truck can be good. I can. I drive a 52 year old truck and a 47 year old truck and do good locally when I want to. Besides the old stuff is just fun to play with anyway for me.

 

I wouldn't buy the KW. As you already know, log trucks take a beating. The drivers work the heck out of those trucks. No matter how well he took care of it, it's still a log truck at the end of the day.

I think I would second the dirt moving. That is going to be the most consistent income and there's nothing wrong with going home at the end of the day. They also traditionally pay pretty well.

I wouldn't walk away from the auto deal, I'd run. If they are asking for non-eld compliant trucks, they know they are going to push you to run illegally. There isn't a load out there worth your CDL.

I once looked into a Fedwrex deal along the same lines. When I asked them what the contingency plan was for me running out of hours on that "daily" run in case of accidents/closures/etc., she stated, " oh, that never happens." I asked what if it did happen? Will they put me up in a motel, give me layover pay? She repeated, "It'll never happen." I kindly declined the offer. I knew they would push me to drive illegally to make all their stops and return to the yard in 11 hours. Same deal will apply to your parts run. If they claim it's an 11 hour run, it's not. There is so much road construction and born-yesterday idiots wrecking every 5 miles, there is no such thing as a straight run anymore. Especially in that part of the country.

If you were my son, I'd recommend you consider longevity of the position, future market growth, and what your long range goals are. Will it be steady year-round work, or seasonal? Looking to get married or stay single for a while? What's the growth opportunity? Make a list of pros and cons of each job and go with your gut. It never lies.

 

I would recommend for my son to consider another line of work!

 

It’s lucrative if you are willing to cheat. That’s what they are saying. Personally I feel like if that’s how it’s lucrative and that’s how I have to run for 48 weeks a year it’s not very lucrative at all. My 2 cents

 

Stay away from automotive freight.