Hypothetical: Profitability Of Trucking As A Side Gig

Where will u find freight? That should be ur main focus. Dont matter what kind of truck u got . If u got no freight ur not making money. I have no idea the market for a daycab and small radius on the loadboards but im sure it aint pretty

 

Save your money, invest in real estate and make money that way.

 

Can't say No,because stranger things have been done. So u get your own authority...there's That. Not Too Bad,But then there's the fact "you Can't Miss Monday A.M. Formation or you're AWOL! There's That. Then you have to" tear enough money outta your pocket" for an "passable federal inspection tractor trailer". Then you have the freight insurance( used to be 720 month on the low end.Fuel $800 a month. If you search load boards probably get "grunt runs' nobody wants.You would need a dedicated gig. Need to know somebody. In a few years you could " maybe break even'. I'm just saying.

 

You can log 10 hours off duty and be perfectly legal.

 

You can log 10 off in a day cab that is not moving, no splits obviously, and you are only allowed 2 hours of someone else is driving, I don’t care how local you are I would never buy a day cab, I spent to many nights passed out in my bunk for hours on end 10 miles from my house while the truck got hourly pay to go otherwise

do you have another business that is doing good and you need to “loose money”/write off for Uncle Sam on? If you answers yes, I’d spec out a stretched out hood with anything else you can think of to add as that is perfect, if you answered no I would Head to Vegas and after the hookers and blow are paid for put the rest on red so you can atleast enjoy pissing your money away.

 

Your plan has Office Hours in the future. Maybe run a wrecker on the weekend. You can not go anywhere. What I like about your plan is you are doing this in your Mind.

 

I have a full-time non-driving job with a flexible schedule. I've driven flatbed and power only under my own authority part-time for the past 2 years, so it is doable.

Your biggest problem will be finding loads that pick up and deliver on the weekends. Those are almost non-existent in my area so you may want to start knocking on doors to see if you can find some loads on your own.

The next big hurdle is insurance. To keep your cost down consider paying for your truck in cash. Get a quote for just the minimum liability and cargo insurance to see if you can even cover the basic minimum before you jump in.

 

If say get into hopper bottom work... Grain, fertilizer, gravel, and the like. Those kind of loads are more likely to be available on weekends and can be very lucrative short hauls if you get in with the right customers. I know a guy who runs a few trucks local to my home 20, last I heard he was getting $10 a ton hauling fertilizer. Runs were 100 miles or less round trip and could get 4 to 6 loads in a day... No scales in that particular area so he would load up heavy and rake in the money. Was hauling an entire railcars worth (100 ton) in 2 loads, pulling A-train hoppers.

 

Technically in our set up we could get away with running day cabs but sure as #### wouldn't wanna be in that all day Lol