Somebody is hauling it ??

.70 operating cost per mile sounds about right to me. I run a little truck too and last year my average cost per mile was exactly .72

That includes everything, fuel, maintenance, repairs, motels, eats, permits, truck payments, insurance, well, everything.

 

So who tells the shippers what the going rate for shipping is?

If a broker puts a load out from Texas, and gets a bid for a 600 mile load at $900, then goes back to the shipper and says "I found a truck, its going to cost $1,500 to ship it."

Who competes with the brokers for a shipper? The broker can tell the shipper any arbitrary rate, and if the shipper says no, then what?

 

I negotiate my own prices with my own customers. I have used brokers in the past but dislike doing so for just that reason... you often don't know what they're actually charging the shipper and therefore don't know what your percentage is taken from. JMHO, don't anyone get your feathers ruffled now...

 

Praying for $1.50 a mile out of Texas, no wonder my boss doesn't want to send his drivers out there.

I almost never go anywhere outside of the states that touch the Great Lakes.
Almost always IL, IN, MI, OH, PA. Sometimes KY and TN, once NJ and we have a customer to AL and back to Cincy.

When I requested to go to AZ, she laughed at me.

 

Yup. I didn't say I work cheap, I said last year it cost me .72 per mile to run. I made a (small but not bad) profit and it was my first year out.

Now, having learned some about what I'm doing, I'm hauling much better paying loads now and my profit margin is growing.

I'm also putting away money for my next truck and repairs when they're needed, so yes, I do figure what I need per mile at a higher level than what it actually cost me last year.

And yeah, I'd rather keep my money that I earn than give it to some broker, just sayin'.

 

What kind of mileage do you get in general with those rigs ? I mean I'm sure it will differ based on the profile of your load, but overall if you pull something tall as compared to say a 3 foot high load ?

 

If I have something on that really catches the wind I can get down to around 5 mpg on hilly terrain pulling a 40' even if it's a relatively light load. Something low profile the same weight is around 8-9 mpg on the 40'.

On the 20' the worst is about 7mpg and best about 12.

My best and favorite runs are truck only, then I do 14-17 mpg.

 

My current cost per mile is $1.70 that is every expense you can think of, including my salary and employment taxes. Last week it was $1.71 per mile.