STOP TAKING CHEAP FREIGHT YOU IDIOTS!!!!!

Discussion in 'Expediter and Hot Shot Trucking Forum' started by wildcoyote, May 30, 2022.

  1. buddyd157

    buddyd157 Road Train Member

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    reality is, take the lower paying freight (at times) to get to an area where the higher paying freight is, or sit on your butt at the truck stop.

    i never owned my own rig, but if i did, from my garage management days, i'd take a lower paying tire rotation job in, to keep the doors open, rather than to go home, and maybe lose out on a high dollar exhaust job, that drove by, cuz my doors were shut.

    sometime you gotta sacrifice, to get more later.
     
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  3. wildcoyote

    wildcoyote Light Load Member

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    I also have dedicated, no worries. This isn't so much for me, I'm doing fine. The headline was to get attention, that's all.
     
  4. wildcoyote

    wildcoyote Light Load Member

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    I run 4 businesses, I do just fine. More work than I can do on my own, but it seems I can't find qualified people to work in a shop for $45 dollars an hour. I can find unqualified that want it, but not certified.
     
  5. buddyd157

    buddyd157 Road Train Member

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    yeah, as i recall, Michigan started that crap about licensing/certification.

    i went and got myself NIASE (ASE) certified, "just in case" my state followed, glad it never did.
     
  6. wildcoyote

    wildcoyote Light Load Member

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    I am happy they did, if you can't pass the test, you really don't know as much as I need you to know to properly diagnose the vehicle and not waste time. The test is only 6 dollars per cert so it doesn't cost much. I wish they would do safety certs, the cars on the road and some that come into the shop are manslaughter waiting to happen.
     
  7. 24kHotshot

    24kHotshot Heavy Load Member

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    Don't crucify me for asking these questions, I only have been doing this for 3 years.

    75k miles (1 year): $19,973 Whats this? Insurance?
    450k (life of vehicle 6 years) : $70k for new vehicle=$210,970 450k miles on a pickup is rare, try 300k on most trucks. Also deduct the sale price so at least 20k for a used up truck back in your account. Don't wait for the truck to die before you sell it. I bought a 2019 Ram for $60k, drove it for a little over 2 years and sold it for $42,000. Truck cost me less than $9500 a year to own.
    Trailer Replacement: $55k $0.15/mi Your hotshot trailer costs twice as much as it should for a hotshot rig. Very few if any are buying $55k trailers to pull behind a pickup. I can get a near mint 5 car suncountry loaded for that price and earn at the very least $3 a mile avg all miles if not more. Also, replacement means that you sell that 55k trailer for i dunno around 25k when you're done with it? So subtract that as well. I pulled a 3 car HD low pro I bought for $21k and sold for $18.5k after 2 years. Trailer cost me less than 3k for 2 years.
    Office cost: (O/O with no personel) $7.5k $0.10/mi What office expenses do you have? Most O/O pay for loadboards and a cell phone if its just one truck and trailer and have a "home office".

    So I invested $81k for my truck and got back 60k after 2 and a half years. Cheaper than leasing/renting a truck.
    I don't see any tax deductions in your numbers. Almost all of these costs will lower your tax due at the end of the year.
    Now I am a moron when it comes tax time I admit. I don't know much and am often wrong but if you are being taxed as an S corp why are you pulling all your salary and not collecting part of it as dividends and paying less taxes?
     
  8. aussiejosh

    aussiejosh Road Train Member

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    I agree with you there bud it makes no sense to run at a loss or why anybody would do so. perhaps they have no overheads and don't owe money on the truck or trailer. @ $2 per mile a 1000 mile trip would earn you $2000 subtract running costs what are you left with? Again maybe a longer run at $2 is more viable then say a short run at $2 per mile. Personally I wouldn't run for less than $3 per mile on a regular basis, however would except the occasional load @ $2 if that was all that was available just to cover costs to get me back home, till the next higher rate load became available. Which is what I suspect some may be doing its not like they regularly run loads for $2 a mile but rather just except the occasional load to get them back to the main hub. Yes to run at $2 a mile all the time is going to make it rather hard to have anything extra in the kitty for that big vacation you plan on taking huh. :cool:
     
  9. wildcoyote

    wildcoyote Light Load Member

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    19,973 is misc expenses. Think plate, ucr, sos fees we will roll trailer plate or other administrative costs into that along with repair and downtime/tow. This is where you pay yourself when the truck is down too. Forgot tolls as well.

    450k on a pickup is easy, I currently have 300k and it is grossing 40k+ nearly every work day. You can't add back in the amount of the sale price as once you depreciate the asset you have to claim that as income, so to make it simple, forget that. Not all of us want to sell that pickup either as it will serve a purpose after it's work life, BTW 20k on a 450k pickup would be a dream.

    Have you priced a trailer recently? My 55k trailer now costs close to 70k, you're going to see that most good, properly spec'd HS trailers that are rated to 40k will be 50k. Again, depreciate it and selling it costs money in taxes, but why would you want to sell it anyway? Rent or use it for another business on the cheap. Computer/printer/toner/binders/paper/adobe/loadboards/accounting/email/website (many more I can't think of at the moment.) Trust me, 7.5k is easy to spend, you can also lump in some clothing into that as a little catch all.

    They won't lower your taxes when you PROFIT 120k then have to pay taxes on it, that's why I mentioned 75k take home. Your gross should be close to $223k before write offs. Assuming original 2.97/mi at 75k loaded miles with no deadhead.
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2022
  10. wildcoyote

    wildcoyote Light Load Member

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    Notice: I have no truck payment added into that, nor a trailer payment. It should have been paid in cash to begin with. This is assuming you already own that equipment and don't owe anything.

    Absolutely understand this line of thought, a lot of times, my backhaul will be below target, but my haul out was way above target and they level out to my target or slightly higher.

    I'm just trying to better educate people so they can arm themselves with negotiation power and realize that $3/mi isn't great money at the end of the day. It's just barely an average worker in a factory that comes home every night. I'm a numbers guy, although I do LOVE driving, some days I wish I could jump in the truck, but it just doesn't make sense all the time.

    This breakdown won't work for everyone, but I think most underestimate their costs by A LOT, especially the guys hauling campers one way for $1.60 lol.
     
  11. DUNE-T

    DUNE-T Road Train Member

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    It's a big misconception. I can bet that absolute majority of Mega lease purchase brainless so called o/o, are good old American boys who were born here. They might speak English (most likely broken), but lack any math ability to put 2 and 2 together.
     
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