Truck Load Rates Halt 8 Week Slide 2.0

I have a brand-new set taking up room in a closet that have never been opened if anybody is interested in getting them for a bargain. I seem to recall they were around $950 new. They are the auto-sock brand. Shoot me a PM if anyone is interested. Since I no longer have a truck and trailer, no need to keep them.

 

Yeah I know

according to a few posters the norm right now is 1.00 mile with daily new threads on that topic. The vast majority of us it seems like are still working.

When the rates were high more than half the time we just ran back empty to the guaranteed load that would be there for the next day instead of dicking around and trying to load back....maybe getting screwed out of the good paying load you couldn't grab it you got held up.

Now it's the opposite the last 6 months I really haven't had much empty miles. I don't keep a spreadsheet like Blair does but it's pretty low. Usually within 30min, 1hr max of where I'm picking/dropping

 

This seems to be the new trend on YouTube also. “We need to stick together. Something needs to be done about these rates” as he’s sitting in Wildwood at 75 Chrome Shop.

 

It was so chilly yesterday morning in Miami my toes got cold and I had to swap out my flip flops for crocs. Almost ain't even worth it to go down there anymore.

 

All right. I am committed to two more loads before Thanksgiving. They will have finalized three relatively busy weeks by then.

6719 miles with about 20% deadhead to arrive at $15,480 in revenue. Average: $2.30 per mile. It is mostly Midwest. Fuel cost: $5,147 , Tollways: $950
Net to the truck: $9, 383. About 3K per week to the truck.

I can comfortably live with that, however, that's the blessing of not having equipment payments in the range of 3-4K per month, and my insurance premiums after 6 years of no claims are comfortably small too. Right now, I don't have any major pending maintenance issues, except that the truck mileage is getting to the point that lots of folks can hardly believe that I have been able to run without an inframe for this long (1, 400 000). I don't have any signs of motor fatigue nor soon to be experienced a catastrophic failure yet. The oil pressure stays normal, and so is the oil burning - I have to add 1 gal after about 8 000-10 000 miles - which is how it's been since I bought it. I change the oil every 12 000 - 15 000 miles.
But those motor failures can come unexpectedly - e.g. a spun rod bearing and if that happens, I will want to tow it back home and decide to purchase another motor or even a truck. I kind of dread the moment but I am determined to let it go to 1, 500 000 miles, and then regardless I'll do an inframe or purchase another motor, if not a truck. For now, I'll keep squeezing the lemon - which can hardly be called a lemon.

The 4-5-year-old trucks of 500 000-700 000 miles are dropping prices to the $70K-80K range. The Utility trailer salesman just told me that I could a brand new trailer for 60K as soon as January....hmmm ... it all starts looking different, doesn't it? I would trade my current 6-year-old van for a brand new one, but I would not want the difference to be more than 30K...which right now may not be possible. The 6-year-old 4000DX van is still in good working order and I can't see why I would not be able to get another 4 - 6 years from it.
Having been on the spot market for 6 years, I am coming to the conclusion that keeping the lowest possible overhead is the key. I mean the key, not necessarily as much to success as to survival. On the spot market, you live for those short moments when the gravy train arrives and until it is derailed by all those new hopefuls. In between, it is like today's Chicago weather. Drury, gloomy, cold and without much life.
In order to survive on the spot market, you have to be like a bear. You need to hunt, gather, amass fat and then when the times like these arrive, go into your bear den and fall into a hibernation state. Or almost hibernation - because the spot market winters may take too long to afford to do just nothing.
BTW: If I were an animal, I'd choose to be a bear - a grizzly bear. Everybody respects you and there's no challenge, except maybe for other grizzliles ... other than that all the salmon and bee honey is yours.

 

Well done Joe. It's nice to see a few on here who truly understand how to make it in this unforgiving business, regardless of how bad the rates get. The same is true in any business. Save when times are great, keep your debt as low as possible, and hustle to find work when times are lean. That's a winning formula regardless of what line of work you're in.

 

I hope dry vans keep coming down in price. Sure, inflation and all that stuff, but vans literally doubled in price in two years

 

Even if we consider the inflation to be at 25% (I still think it is an overestimate) counting it from the pre-Covid times, the true reflection of the van trailers prices should be at the most at $40 000. $60 000 is way overpriced and there is room for them to go down with that. Evidently, availability is becoming higher already and that price must have a lot to do with that.
In my opinion $30K for a brand new van even 6 years ago, was cheap. I was surprised to see people wanting to buy beat up trailers with leaky roofs and fatigued floors for 10-15K and bring all kinds of maintenance problems onto themselves. But now, the price is overdone. As far as I am concerned, $45-50K is the fair price that I'd be willing to pay.

 

I'd keep that dry van you have for the next 20 years. I wasted a pile of cash once upgrading to a new one when the 7 year old one I had was perfectly capable and fine. I justified it by the age requirements that some rare shippers had, namely General Motors. I used to do a lot of GM loads with my old van. The funniest thing happened after I got the brand new one those loads disappeared and I never again hauled anything with an age requirement in the new van. Lol.. that was a good lesson in you can never count on anything staying as is, the freight will always change. Just my opinion.

 

@TallJoe, we have a lot in common with our time in, equipment purchases, prices and dates, etc. I'm about to turn 1 million in the 2015 Volvo and this is my 5th year in business. $30k Great Dane dry van was going to be replaced when Covid happened and since then I've changed my plans. I'm with @rollin coal, no interest in replacing it anymore. I will reassess in 2-3 years but doubt I'll buy new then, I'll be happy to find another at a few years old. I truly don't care a thing about new equipment anymore. I'd rather have no notes.

As for 1.4 mil with little major maintenance you are doing awesome. My truck has cost me a lot this year, plus a lot of down time. It's all mid life stuff. Last week was DPF cleaning plus lots of sensors and parts, the week before was kingpins. I did spend nearly $10k on her this year that I didn't have to, but wanted to. That was a new turbo because I was at 900k on the original and new front suspension. Just like you a few years ago Joe I couldn't handle the Volvo's awful front end. I'm super happy that is all done and now have new king pins and a fresh alignment.

It is great to have no debt in this market. I'm holding strong at $4k or so gross a week and not sweating it. The 4 day/3 night weeks closer to home don't bother me at all.