Can You Run For $1/M?

Oh wait--sorry you meant my truck! No sorry--I can't even walk out to the barn to get my truck for a dollar a mile! Good luck with that!

 

I could run my truck for a buck a mile...if I didn't pay myself or keep back my regular .25/mile for maintenance/emergencies. Oh, and it's paid for, but I doubt I could even cover expenses with a payment.

That leads me guess that guys are taking those loads are only covering fuel to get somewhere? Maybe home? To another area where they think freight might be better?

I have another business besides my truck that started as a hobby and grew to the point where I either needed to make it pay enough to be self sustaining or quit. EVEN with a business that I just want to break even, I don't make deals that LOSE money. Truckers are the only bunch that go out of there way to work longer hours and then turn around and do it for free.

One of my buddies has a truck parked at my place right now that's been there for about a month and a half. It's a pretty specialized outfit and what he does with it isn't real hot right now. There are only a handful of guys that do what he does and they all agree that when things get slow, they park and wait for the shippers to get desperate to use them. They can afford to do that, because he doesn't move for less than 5.00 a mile. I'd guess it's that way because they don't cut one another's throats.

The two that I know have a saying. "H3LL, I can go broke sitting at home in my undies watching cartoons and not put miles on my truck that'll further lower its' resale value. Why would I want to go broke and then have to fly home?"

 

when I was at LS that was more the norm then the exception but that's vans.



I could run $1mi if I had to and cover costs up till a few months ago. now i'm slightly over that. BUT that's just covering costs, no pay. And I don't work for free. Although sometimes it comes close getting out of TX

 

I'm sorry, but I got a little confused by your abbreviation. Are you talking about a drivers Break-even Point (BEP), or is BPE for something completely different?

Not tryin to bust your chops, or be a jerk, just looking for some clarification. (Note the answer to "Trucker?" in profile box.)

 

I don't really have a dog it this fight as I'm a co. driver, But I did consider buying a truck and doing the same dedicated run I do now. 577 miles a day (paid for 576) With paying cash for the truck at what they offered (.90cpm +fsc) I could make it pay but the return just wasn't worth the risk! After running all the ## a couple different ways I'de be just about where I am now but with out the worries of what if the truck breaks. I don't know how so many do get by at $1, I guess that's it most are just getting by and not ahead.
My hats off to you O/Oit's rough out there!

 

Lots scrambling to cover the $1 / mile freight and with a on their faces.

Few months they are the ones on here complaining about load brokers , finance companies and how there is no $ in trucking.

If some of them actually knew the $ that the customer actually pays on some of the so called cheap freight they would

 

Truly one of the better posts I have seen--I am constantly amazed(since I KNOW WHAT THE shipper/receiver is paying)to find out what someone else hauled for--More often then not I don't have the heart to tell them--that whoever they got the load through--actually kept more money than they paid them to haul it

 

Yes lots of $ never gets passed down to the poor guy hauling it.

Ran into a fairly new O/O pulling a flatbed last week. He asked a few questions about a Broker / Customer that I use to deal with on a regular basis until the $ started getting shaved by the Broker.

He was to find out that the customer paid $95.00 for each tarping occurance per load. So a 4 drop load would pay be $760.00 not the $100.00 he was getting. Also paid $55.90 per 1/2 hour after 1 hour delay at any of the deliveries along with $9.50 per appointment setup with delivery sites and $7.50 per call to confirm pickup / delivery.

He thought he was doing good at $1.70 / mile FSC in & $100.00 tarping fee and delay pay of $45.00 / Hour after 3 hours.