Frustration!

Just a question from a lowly lurker:

If you sit for three days for a $4.00/mile load going 1,200 miles...two days to run those miles, so five days invested into that $4,800. Or, haul 600 miles each day for $2.50 each of those five days...3,000 miles. $7,500. Now, I know you'd be spending money on fuel while running...at 6mpg, you'd be paying 70cpm for fuel. While you're sitting, you're spending money...to idle, eat, shower, etc. But, I'll ignore that.

5 days, 1,200 miles $4.00/mile minus 70cpm for fuel=3.30/mile for 1,200 miles...leaves $3,960 for insurance and other fixed expenses.

5 days, 6,000 miles $2.50/mile minus 70cpm for fuel=1.80/mile for 6,000 miles...leaves $5,400 for insurance and other fixed expenses.

You would make $1,440 more by rolling 600 miles each day for $2.50 than you would for waiting three days for $4.00. I know freight does not always cooperate with a 600-mile-day average. But, it is a feasible number.

Did I miss something? Or figure something wrong?

I'm not heckling. I'm asking an honest question. Thanks!

 

She's pretty cute ain't she... at least the YOUNG ONE is...

 

Just from my limited experience I'd say there's more and greater moving parts to that equation, but you're right on with your math. If you know what the cost per day of being parked + the opportunity cost of not hauling paying freight, it boils down to your willingness to gamble and on how much.

It's not always a gamble. A topic near and dear to me this evening is running over a weekend. I shoot to put together a multi-stop run on Thu/Fri that gets us empty Mon/Tue. Back up plan is an "ok" run back to or through home for the weekend. I'm running about a 90% chance of hitting a load like that every weekend. This week it didn't happen, so the truck is parked in Philly until Monday. In this case, there is no gamble. The $800-1,000/day revenue wasn't to be had this time due to a late start on the hunt (another story for another day). I'm better off taking something 50¢/mi over my breakeven on Monday (pretty much a sure thing) versus accepting one of the dozen loads I turned down this afternoon at 20¢ below b/e to roll out now.

I don't spend a lot of time waiting on miracle cpm rates. They catch my attention, but I do the math on daily revenue because there's almost always a catch. DH to/from, heavy, lots of stops, toll roads, you name it.

 

you run up n down the road for too cheap and all you do is wear your equipment out and your not making enough to fix it. that's co driver mentality "keep the truck moving at all costs" ya that works fine if you have 15k trucks running, not so much with one.

it's a trade off. do you sit and wait, if so how long do you sit? personally by the third day i'm ready to take about anything to get moving. but i just don't seem to be able to sit still very long

 

Medicine Man, you make an excellent observation.

The question was "Is it unreasonable to expect more than $2.50/mile?" Or, more plainly put, "Is $2.50/mile too cheap to move on?" What say you?

I know the answer will differ according to a lot of factors...most obvious would be what sector of the industry are you in?

 

This theory is ok with vans but with flats you have to take alot into consideration. But you are right for the most part.

Besides, I'm hogging all the $4.00 per mile freight...

You know as well as I this is one of the hardest parts about trucking under a percentage pay. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and either take a cheaper load or deadhead to a better freight area.

 

depends. too many variables, evreyones operation is different. I just got rid of my reefer because I wasn't even keeping up $2mi. smae rates or less then I ran last year and fuels $1.50 gallon more. I needed at least that to make any profit.

sold the reefer and leased to the pumpkin. cut y insurance costs in half, no more trailer expenses and deep fuel discounts. funny thing is now i'm running for more then I was with my reefer. doing $2-$2.50/mi but on shorter runs. i'm making more after fuel then I was running 800-1000 mi a day

 

I just noticed a glaring error in one of my numbers in that post quoted by Les. I posted the figure "6,000" for miles, but did the math for "3,000" miles. The final numbers are accurate, I just had a brain fart when I was thinking in terms of 6mpg and 3,000 miles....and posted accordingly.

The math was done with the figure 3,000 miles.