Who’s in and who’s out?

I understand what you're saying and I'm not disagreeing with you. When you say the east coast, I'm assuming you're talking about the northeast, because the southeast and midwest are not like you're describing (parts of midwest could be considered east or west coast, depending on classification).

But again, simple math, a 7-9 hour driving day of 420 miles per day (so this accounts for heavy traffic in the northeast depending on run times), times $0.73 CPM is $306 per day, $1533 per week, $79,700 per year.

Are you saying LTL linehaul drivers in the northeast, especially on I95, don't get at least 420 miles a night?

If not, at certain LTL companies you have to work the dock if you have a short linehaul run, so wouldn't the hour or two of dock work per day after a short linehaul run get them to about 80k gross per year?

I can't imagine anybody on linehaul in the northeast is making less than 75k gross per year, although maybe I'm wrong?

 

It definitely occurs in the Midwest, South East, and South Central as well.

Take Chicago. It's 90 miles to Milwaukee, 200 to Oshkosh, 170 to Madison, 350 to Eau Clair, and 430 to MSP Heading west it's 170 to Rock Island and 340 to Des Moines. South east it's 126 to Bloomington, 190 to Springfield, and 290 to St Louis. South east - 190 to Indy, 288 to Louisville, and 280 to Cincinnati. East bound (and down) - 90 miles to South Bend, 169 to Grand Rapids, 200 to Lansing, 140 to Ft Wayne, 235 to Toledo, 290 to Detroit and 335 to Cleveland.

Going out and back 600 is the most any sane person would plan on, 550 is more reasonable. Looking at the distances - a lot of runs less than 400 miles (either meet and turns or hub turns). And that's just looking at the major population centers - plenty of service centers closer in. Think O'Hare, Midway, Joliet, and Gary - plenty of freight moving between those neighborhoods.

Out of my barn the shortest run is 228 miles total with about 4 hours of dock time. Still beats the city guy with the most overtime - barely. I know a couple of guys whose 'linehaul run' is 40 miles. City guys defintily make more than they do - but it's short term pain for long term gain.

 

Tomah wi to Minneapolis is 170 or so miles, that is the normal turn for MN guys with Chicago or that area freight. The good run is Minneapolis to Fargo, but there isn't As many and seniority plays a huge roll in getting that. The normal for line haul guys is a little under 70 a year until you get a better mileage run. On top of that most line haul runs are the middle of the night which I don't mind but most guys don't want for long periods. A seasoned otr guy can beat linehaul every day of the week, the company I am looking at around me does cabinet runs to the west coast and there west coast drivers make over $125 a year, that's about 4-5 days out 2-3 at home, I don't know a linehaul guy pulling that in consistently I was around 80 doing my bobcat run but I also worked 6 days a week, granted now that run would be over 100 after raises but barely and still going 6 days when available

 

How many miles do the Paccar's have on them now? What is the down time vs the Cummins?

 

Should’ve gone with the 510’s instead of the 455’s. I sold mine with 390k on it, they did the cleaning twice and then I got 6 of the gen 3 injectors. The guy I’m driving for now used to run a mix between Cummins and Paccar but the last 8 have all been 510 Paccars after he had a Cummins with less than 200k on it down for 62 days last year. Cummins didn’t want to overhaul it under warranty.