O/O Journey, Numbers and Updates

Thanks sir! I’d say 10,300 is a relatively “busy” month for me - lol - but I agree, I was able to keep it at my 2000-2500 a week goal.

MPG was about 5.4 for the month. Last years average was 5.9. This month I was loaded both ways a lot more than average, so a decrease in MPG.

Thanks sir. I agree I have been dying for a new dry van but just can’t do it based on principle. I will wait it out but am looking forward to an upgrade someday. Toting around a sturdy old 21 year old van for now.

Yeah mate no worries, so April will have the Q1 2022 estimates (about 5k) coming out. I also had additional 2021 taxes owed (about 15k) so I got them paid for and they’ll come out in April as well. I did quarterlies for 2021 but we underestimated them quite a bit. More aggressive this year.

 

Thanks sir, my main work is somewhat seasonal so it won’t be like this every month, but really happy to have a great month like this before the slowdown.

Im blessed it be in IA situated in between some great cities to make awesome home-daily routes. KC, twin cities, Sioux City, IL, WI, and of course lots of local work.

 

Replied above forgot to quote you.

 

April recap below. Solid month with several days off as things slow down for the contract work. Enjoyed some time at home, and May will be the same.

Total miles: 6,766 (5,015 loaded)
Total revenue: $26,957.27
All-in CPM: $3.98
Truckin’ Expenses + Driver Pay: $21,022.93 ($4,487.03 fuel)
7 days off as well!

Had the all the Q1 taxes come out this month for about $7,000 of the expenses this month including IFTA. Also not included in that number since it was 2021 write-off, was the remaining '21 federal balance of about $11,500. Always rough to see almost $20k leave your account in a month to the Big Man, but shows the importance of escrowing accordingly. I didn't mind because I had it all set away in the separate tax account. But it still sucks, of course!

Maintenance this month...
- Service, oil sample, grease, filter change, adjust brakes
- Cleaned off old epoxy from a tank leak and replaced with new - it had seeped through and leaked through the old patch
- Installed an eBay tranny cooler to replace the one that crapped out this winter
- Fixed a leak at the air leveler

 

May was a pretty slow month with lots of time at home. Very much a part-timer, if that… only worked 7 days. Got a lot of things done around home. Definitely enjoyed the slow down from a busy winter. Weather didn’t even “get good” until this month either, so it was timed well!

Total miles: 3,230 (1,744 loaded)
Total revenue: $10,748.21
Loaded CPM: $6.16
All-in CPM: $3.33
Truckin’ Expenses + Driver Pay: -$11,091.54
Days worked: 7

Maintenance…
- Drive drums and shoes
- Trailer shoes
- Adjusted brakes (mechanics always seem to leave too much travel after a brake job)
- Air valve replaced up in the firewall area
- Parking brake knobs replaced
- Fuel gauge electric line
- Fifth wheel cylinder air line replaced
- Driver side tractor tail light wiring replaced

 

Not a bad month for June, but hoped to stay a bit busier. Hassled with several maintenance issues and went down at the end of the month due to losing my clutch brake and then the whole clutch. So I missed out on a about 6-7 days I could have had some good runs going, probably missed out on 7-9k in revenue. Clutch expenses will be on next month's #'s since the bill was payed on 7/1. Had Q2 taxes come out this month so expenses were higher.

Total miles: 6,945 (3,450 loaded)
Total revenue: $20,737.21
Loaded CPM: $6.01
All-in CPM: $2.99
Truckin’ Expenses + Driver Pay: -$19,760.18
Days worked: 14

Maintenance...
- Charged up AC freon and tinkered with sensors and switches until I got it working, replaced pressure binary and AC switch in the process. Ended up being a loose connection behind dash on the low air switch. - $200 or so in parts and freon.
- Replaced fan clutch solenoid
- Replaced a missing drive alignment shim
- Changed out fuel and oil filters, greased truck, fabbed a broken fender bracket
- Epoxied leaky fuel tanks again...
- Shop fixed some slack adjuster pins, remounted my grille and adjusted clutch (when I thought I was losing my clutch brake) - $420
- Overhead on the motor and had a coolant pressure test done to verify some coolant sitting in the valvetrain - test was good and thinking it was spilled from removing the valve cover and coolant tube spilling in there. - $1200
- 3 axle tractor alignment - $320
- New clutch, input shaft kit, turned the flywheel, rear main replaced, U joint, carrier bearing all replaced... also had body guy fix my hood catch/stopper as I have been having to use a 2x4 to hold the hood up for over a year, lol. This bill will be on next week's #'s but all-in was $3,700 - about $1000 was the hood labor and repair so happy with that price overall. The truck runs a lot better and I can feel the difference the U joint, flywheel and carrier bearing made in power.

 

Thanks for the input sir. Luckily for me, I do almost all my work through two shippers directly. Right now I’m getting almost $6 a mile one-way rate. With it being short haul and home daily my DH is paid for, all miles are paid at around $2.90 all-in currently. Surcharge changes weekly based on national fuel average.

I don’t necessarily cash in on the gold mine on the load boards when they are hot, but I also have the advantage of a solid, consistent and higher rate when the load boards tank. My rate will only continue to go up as fuel prices rise and load board rates fall.

Either way though I agree about getting more revenue in. I was disappointed to miss around 8k of revenue with the repair downtime this month. The direct work is usually dead during May and August so I’ll have another slow month ahead. Things should take off again mid Sept or October.