Yearly Profit After Expenses...

15 cents??

15 cents????

Do you have ANY experience?

 

First and foremost you have absolutely no idea what is included in my CPM so you cannot not judge what 15 cents above that number is. Secondly as I have stated before you can be one of two things. A. A pessimistic egotistical prick that simply wants to bash everyone that wants to ask questions as I have seen you do in more than one post. Or B. A realistic person that attempts to arm someone with the information that they need that may help them to succeed. It is clear that you are choosing A. As such I would appreciate it if you would stop replying to any comments I make. I have not tried to dissrespect you up to this point because I do realize that you have far more experience in this buisness than I do and was hoping that you might just come around and give me some potentially usefull information. Instead you want to insult me and my intelligence based off of your random assumptions about me therefore any help you might have I don't want. Have a nice day and good luck in your future adventures.

 

How much start up cash do you have Leland2004?

BW9 is correct. If your only running 15 cents over your costs your not making anything. When you start to haul cheep freight they never will go a decent price because your marked as a sucker. How will you eat, how will you pay for a sudden repair. If PM's arent in your CPM your even worse off.

You really need to listen to these guys telling you whats what. The great info on this forum shouldnt be free!

Cheep freight will not keep your truck running.

 

I don't know if you have read my previous posts so here is the background, startup cash will be 30k, truck and trailer will be bought for 7-15k this should allow me to start out with around 5-7k in a emergency fund (savings account) that will grow by anywhere from 1-3k per month after the first 3 months (for the first three I will filter the majority of my personal earnings back into the fund untill it grows to around 15k). As far as food that has actually been calculated in my CPM. I have calculated everything that i will need to live into my CPM as well as PM incorporating everything down to average tire wear and cost. Considering we will be living in the truck with no home payments, car notes ect my personal expenses are really low. I do not want to haul cheap freight and the question in which this guy responded to, arrogantly I might add, was if my CPM is roughly 1.71 (say 1.75 for ease of math) and I use the following figures;

15 cents above CPM (1.90)= never go below
20-30 cents above CPM (1.95-2.15)= always ask for more
30-40 cents above CPM (2.15-2.25)= preffered

Would these numbers be considered resonable by both the industry and shippers?
Secondly if i was using these numbers and I called and was offered 2.20 should i ask for more then accept if they say no, or just accept to avoid having a reputation of just bluffing?

 

Seriously?
Emergency fund should be MINIMUM of $20,000. $5-7k is chicken feed and nowhere near enough. If your thinking of buying a rig and trailer for the $7-15k range it likely will need repairs and likely will break down.

BW9 is one of the most experienced people on this forum. His opinions and comments or advice comes with over 4 million miles behind him. The problem is many people on here don't look at the REAL and COMPLETE picture and are running 1 breakdown from bankruptcy.....He and a few others are trying to advise people before they do something stupid. Many times someone like you will post a question, then become annoyed at the responses and then about 6 months later "Poof Gone" and we wonder what happened to these guys?....I am sure anyone can guess...

I presume (although I haven't read this entire thread) that you are still accounting for the approximate $2800 for base plates and the nice spendy insurance ($6-8k on average) that will also be needed? (Could be more based on your driving/credit record too...)

Running .15 over cost will rocket you right into bankruptcy my friend. But I do wish you the best of luck in pursing your goals....

 

I had my start up costs figured around $270K that's new everything and large maintenance fund plus many many other things.

And I have plenty of doubts about being successful!

If your going used you need a larger maintaince fund. Even with new I have planed for 20k

 

Last week I cut down one of my month-old fresh retreads... must have hit some road debris and put a 2" gash in the sidewall. I had $147.00 plus the value of the casing ($35.00) invested in it so I lost that $$$...

Plus I called Michelin road service hoping I could stay put and save the tire by having it repaired not replaced.. the service call was $200.00... the tire I put on, a new michelin XZE2, will probably be another $400.00 (I will get billed later).

So that tire deal will have cost me $782.00.

A month earlier I had an air valve go bad on my trailer... no trailer brakes. I had to get it fixed at a TA shop... another $582.00 (for a $40.00 valve that I replaced myself a few months earlier)...

My point is you cannot figure when you will breakdown... those cpm estimates are just that... estimates... I gave up banging my head against the wall years ago figuring those...

You need seat time... you need experience... all the wishes and guesses in the world won't do for you what a couple years behind the wheel will...

 

You forgot "C."....

C. A person that has seen a million guys like you come and go in this industry that all think they have all the answers and all they do is crush rates and make it more difficult for the real, Serious guys like me to deal with these brokers that constantly tell me about clowns that will haul for ####rates like the ones you are talking about!

I'm choosing "C."

You don't get to choose whether I reply to your comments...You may put me on ignore if you like (and hide from the reality if you want to) but I will say what I have to say so that other people that aren't too timid to deal with it can learn from your mistakes.

You may disrespect me all you want to....I'm immune to the disrespect of newbies that think they have all the answers.
I have given you "potentially usefull information" If you can't find it in these posts...You are not prepared to deal with this industry and you will be eaten alive by it.

Sometimes in life the information you need is not spelled out in the exact words you want it in...But it's still there!

I'm not necessarily insulting your intelligence...Merely giving you a light slap across the face to get your attention!
Your numbers are based in pure fantasy and are a formula for disaster...But YOU don't want to hear that so you decide that I an ####### for pointing it out to you...

YOU do not have enough wheel time to succeed in this business and in the time it takes you to fail you will do much more harm to everyone else here with your lame ideas about being able to run for crappy rates because you're not bright enough to know that you have grossly underestimated the cost of running one of these trucks!

You say you want to have a reserve account for maintenence that is about $5,000 to $7,000 and that you want to spend about $30,000 for a truck and an equally paltry amount for a trailer?

Then you seem to think that you're gonna have the cash flow to add $2,000 to $3,000 to that every month?
One minor breakdown with the money you're talking about having...You're out of business!
With some $30,000 worn out fleet dog or worse yet some $30,000 repoed O/O truck, You're probably gonna have at least $5,000 in expenses within the first month or two.

Last month I had an unexpected breakdown that cost me $7,200 on my very well maintained truck...A friend of mine from this board has had over $10,000 in repairs this month on his fairly late model well maintained truck and he still has a few issues to address on it....So you'll have to forgive me if I scoff at your numbers! Because YOU with you aniemic business plan and your ridiculous numbers would be out of business if you encountered any of the problems that I just mentioned.

Are you prepared for having to pay for your fuel?

My fuel bill is averaging aroud $13,000 a month right now...Tires?, Brakes? These costs add up way faster than the money that you'll be earning with that truck in the beginning.

My advice to you is...Drive a company truck for a while, Keep very close track of the costs required to run the truck and then decide if owning a truck is something that you want to consider.

Reality will always trump your little fantasy!

 

jmcclelland2004, you are getting invaluable information hear from some very seasoned veterans who know what it takes to survive this industry. If you can't see that well then you'll have a short career as an O/O that's for sure.

Take some advice and go drive a company truck for a couple years and get some seat time before you jump in head first and loose everything you have.

 

I thank everyone for their advice even BW900 however I think that BW is being a prick with the way he presents his information. As well based off his last post he actually has no idea of my plans and therefore I have little reason to merit his points of than experience. For hanadarka I have accounted for initial costs (around 5-7k for everything including insurance). My calculations are based off of real numbers (1103/ month insurance qoute from progressive) and overestimations (4k for permits and fees). As well I will post back my adventure be it success of failure. I appreciate the warnings as I can find advice in almost every post I recieve. However I ask if anyone on here is going to simply tell me I will fail and not give me some kind of usefull information, please keep your arrogancy to yourself.