Are you actually making money after ALL expenses… or just think you are?

Well, 1st, you're "somebody" here, and 2nd, if you have to put too much thought into trucking, it probably isn't for you. You must remember, for many O/Os, including myself, it was still the easiest job and being able to call your own shots, made up for the lack of money we made. Oh sure, we could have "gone to work like a workin' jerk", and made twice as much, but we would almost do it for nothing, and many times we did, just so we didn't have to kiss the bosses aXX. Well, times have changed, and what an O/O has to put up with today, makes my stint a walk in the park. Trucking, for me, was a "good day, bad day" kind of thing. Some days I did great, and somehow made up for the bad ones. I wouldn't do it today for anything, for just the reasons you say.

 

Pretty easy to track numbers in an excel spreadsheet... Not sure why anybody would run a business and not track their numbers

 

You've been beating this dead horse.

My money says you're gonna try to sell us something, cause we're just too dumb to know if we're making money.

What is it?

Some "dispatch service"?

An app?

Do tell

 

I never did, it was too depressing. Obviously why I failed as an O/O, but to me, it just wasn't worth it. My ex old lady had nothing to do with the business, something others may have had the luxury of. I had better things to do, like restore my old 201 Diamond T pickup, than spend my precious off time crunching numbers or worse, PAY someone to do the books, when it was a lost cause to begin with. It was so much easier to punch out on Friday, see ya' Monday,,,

 

A) plenty of "o/o's" don't track their numbers beyond the settlement statement

B) many of those that do track the numbers don't do any analysis of them

C) those than do try to analyze their results tend to not draw valid conclusions.

Remember the guy from last summer who said he was going to "pump the brakes" because if he earned much more he would end up paying more in taxes than he'd make?

Or the innumerable guys who focus on revenue per mile and don't understand the need to calculate the daily rate.

Or all the guys who end up owning the irs.

Or the guy from a few weeks ago complaining about his carrier gouging him over tolls and other fees.

Or AFC.

Many "truck owners" have no clue about their actual profitability, particularly compared to being a company driver with health insurance and a 401k.

 

So true. I even track numbers as an employee. Takes 5 minutes every month to record everything i spend and everything i make . How else does a guy know how much money he has?? Crazy to me people can walk thru life like that

 

Smart thinking and you are absolutely right. The absolute majority of o/o and l/o don't have any business sense and don't count all those things

 

I don’t waste time with nonsense..if a load isn’t screaming out my name I pass. If the rate catches my eye then I proceed to look at how long it will be on the truck. If it exceeds my daily revenue expectations then I grab it. Lastly I look at rpm just for giggles.

Rpm really shouldn’t be obsessed over, I’ve had $180.00 per mile loads that wouldn’t cover daily revenue.

Anyone at this game for any amount of time already knows what to expect on the pick and drop wait times.

I do dry van so most of my dock time is less than an hour..Most times it’s not enough to even get organized before they green light me.

Food warehouses I stay away from..time is money..

Bid high and don’t get emotional if you don’t get it. I bid $6,600 on a load listed at $5,500 this morning. I was sent a counter minute later for $6,200 and I ignored it. Minutes later I won the bid. lol, they even called and I blocked the number as soon as it popped up..I don’t want to listen to a sniveling broker

 

how one can possibly owe more then they make with one of the greatest tax write offs you can own I’ll never understand.

I was $4.16 on all miles last year, bought a bunch of new tools to try and offset what is owed to the crown, then I said #### it I’m leaving the tools in the box and bought a new trailer, as well as half the max contributions to a IRA (other half went into Roth)

underfunded capital and back due taxes I believe are the two biggest killers, though insurance has sure been trying to catch up

good work has never really been a problem for me, it’s all those pesky wild cards that start adding up