The Effect of Fuel Prices?

That is a good question.. I have talked with some local owners and broker friends and they all have said it is slow right now and that "there are more trucks then freight" (the reasoning behind cheap freight rates). But whenever I search the load boards there is only about 10% "posted trucks" for number of loads in our area(s). Long term I am afraid that acceptance of cheap rates will set the bench mark. Like in airfares and new cars... no one wants to pay more than $300 for a round trip ticket when in the 80s they were $500-$800 for tickets. And with the auto industry selling cars below invoice the buying public will not want to spend any more than that on cars.

Cheap may be becoming the norm.. but fuel, insurance, healthcare is on the rise. There needs to be a balance, but sadly cheap merchandise is forcing cheap labor and rates.

 

well the whole thing was a really tough move to make honestly. I had a local job driving for dunkin donuts. It paid 25 an hour plus time and 1/2 ot. I had to be pushed into buying my own truck, What did it for me was the huge hit 401k's starting taking losing over $50k, i thought #### I could have bought my own truck for that money, So i cashed in what was left of the 401k and used that to buy a truck when my job at dunkin donuts fell apart. The hardest part is leaving the job that pays you every week for the risk of not getting paid. Just know that if you do start your own thing you need a bunch of money saved up, because other wise you might not make it. It took me 2.5 months before i could even take my first load there are so many things that you have to get before you can get the next thing you have to wait weeks in between for things to come in the mail.

 

How about using some of the fuel effciency devices? Do they really increase mpg and so save you money?

 

The least expensive fuel saving device and the most effective is the driver.

 

Good advice in projecting costs down the road. This is one reason I would recommend that a new operator lease on with a carrier that has a floating fuel surcharge that follows the price of fuel on a weekly basis. At least until they can get a solid footing on being an O/O. There is no substitute for having a good collection of tools and turning a wrench yourself. That is also good advice. Save the major work for a repair shop and do the little things yourself. That $100+ an hour shop fee can really add up quick. It is amazing how simple some of the little things are to do yourself. It can be intimidating for someone that is not used to doing repairs, but the learning curve is not that great. Also, check around and try to find those independent shops that do good work. They are suprisingly cheaper on the hourly rate and some have darn good mechanics working at them. Some mechanics feel restricted working at the large shops and want to have a little more freedom to do the job the way they see fit, and, a lot of times, they do a better job. Kinda like why some drivers want to be O/O. They hate being dictated to by carriers and micro managed on how they do their job. A lot of mechanics feel the same way. True, there are bad shops out there, but then there are even bad dealer shops as well, but a little research goes a long way. I have two shops I love to deal with for major repairs. I get better service than I ever got at a dealer and the rates are about 25% less. They just don't fix what is obvious, they throroughly check out things and make recommendations on something I may have missed. Saved me a lot if headache down the road.