Yearly Profit After Expenses...

I don't fault you for anything. But trust me, things have changed since daddy & grandaddy have driven a truck. I'm a thrid generation in this industry as well & I'm fighting a battle that the men before me haven't witnessed....

I wanted you to list your reason because I was looking for money to be in that list. I'll accept what I quoted above as your reasons.

Here is a hint.... Forget about paying yourself. This is how you truly do it.

Estimate all your fixed costs for the truck/trailer.
Estimate all your variable costs for the truck/trailer.
Estimate all your fixed costs at home.
Estimate all your variable costs at home.

Add them all together. Then divide them by the miles that you desire to drive. The answer will be what you have to make per mile as a break even point. Anything above that is all profit.

 

You can disagree all you want...But since REDD and many others on these forums including me are O/O's, Your "opinion" will be duly noted and then dismissed as flawed!
Have fun running your numbers in your fantasy world of trucking the way you want it to be...But remember all of the advice that was offered here when you get to the "real world".

You can make good and even great money as an O/O....But there are many variables that you are ignoring.

A barber shop?

DUDE! How often does a barber shop suck a valve unexpectedly in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere?

How often do you have to get the barber shop towed to the barber shop repair shop at a cost of $1,300 before the barber shop repair shop even gets to see it?

Not to mention the $6,000 repair bill three days later....And then, Back to work!

Great...Another guy that will haul the freight "cheap" because he has "plenty more where that came from!

Things happen...It's all part of the cost of doing business. I can assure you of one thing though, There will be weeks when you cannot pay yourself because of those costs!

But.....But, If I have to pay for all of those things...How'm I gonna pay myself $.45 a mile?


It's just not fair....So I disagree with it!

 

I'm so glad that all these o/o's keep it real with expenses and the "real" reality check. I've done some research after reading other posts where people think lease purchase is the way to go. check this website out when you get a chance http://www.acttransportation.com/act_spreadsheet.htm. After seeing this I would never do anyones lp espcially at .92cpm this is really ridiculous and insult to hard working flatbedders. Drive safe everyone!

 

I have been an independent O/O all my life. Owned as many as 5 trucks, currently running one flat-bed local for great rates.Barely making a living.
To make it as an O/O, you must have an edge. You must have something on your side to do well.You also need some luck.
That "edge" might be your ability to do your own repair work. Maybe you have a great deal on buying a used truck in great condition, or perhaps you won the lottery and have cash to pay for it.Perhaps you have a friend who can get always keep you in high dollar freight.Being single with no bills would be great for a new O/O, also a wife with a CDL who knows trucking would be nice. :smt055
You need some advantage to make it work.
Just being average is not enough. Being a good driver is not enough.The deck is stacked against you in most cases.
Think about it. If there was a high profit margin in owning a truck, these trucking companies would not hire O/O's, they would simply hire drivers for their own trucks. They know they can find suckers who think they can get rich owning their own shiny trucks. Most of these companies just want their cheap freight hauled.
Do not buy or lease anything unless you have some type of advantage.

 

Just wanted to chime in on this topic and ask if all the mechanical expenses you O/O are facing now days come from the new enviornmental emmissions crap that these motors have to abide by. I know our daycabs are always experiencing EGR and turbo actuator problems along with regeneration problems and the fuel milage suffers. We are only getting around 4mpg out of ours but we haul heavy double belly dumps full of coal.

 

That is exactly what they do. Now what do they when they have guys quitting for ( insert reason here ) and their trucks are sitting?

What do they do when nobody applies to work for them and they have trucks sitting?

What do they do when they have freight to move and their trucks are sitting??

In a perfect world ( their perfect world ) they would never have to use O/O's or broker out loads. In a perfect world they could cover all their freight on their trucks and make all the money. Sadly the world isn't perfect, for anyone.

 

Hello to all,

I am getting ready to get my O/O buisness off the ground in the next couple of months and I got to say from all the information I have read I am doing this at the perfect time. I have a fiance that wants to go with me and help me out (she will be finding me loads while I am driving and doing the financial end of things , she has no equal in math) and I do not own any property. The only expenses I have will be directly related to the buisness so my CPM will be fairly low allowing me to make decent profits on any load in the 1.30 and up range. I have found trucks that are going really cheap and have a friend that is a mechanic for HEB in texas and an uncle that is a certified diesel mechanic for the last 20 years (recently unemployed from mechanic work) so they can look over the truck for me before I make the purchase. The truck and trailer combo will cost me around 7-15k and so there will be a very small loan payment(startup funding is 30-50k spread over a 1-3yr payback). It seems that alot of pessimistic views are coming out of these forums towards the new guys, while I am not complaining about people giving real information and ensureing that people understand exactly what they are getting into. The comments that pretty much tell people that they should not get into it because they will never make money is just wrong. There is money to be made just like any other buisness just have to be a smart buisnessman. To all the new guys out there remember J.B. Hunt started out with one man and has grown to be one of the largest companies out there.

 

20 to 30k? I figured my start up costs would be over 200 thousand dollars, that is of course with a new truck and new trailer but also things like a 20k rainy day fund, and many, many other back ups to aid my success as a new O/O.

There is so much more than having your ### in the seat. Especially these days.