what is your break even

You need to give us a line by line breakdown. Then maybe we can help you with your numbers. We don't know your insurance costs, truck payment, and all the other stuff.

 

He actually had stated that 1.03 was his cost to operate, not his revenue.

If I, or anyone else for that matter, could get my operating costs down to 1.03 per mile, I'd be filthy stinking reach. With that said, I guess having an operating cost of 1.03 per mile would prove quite prosperous.

 

Are you talking about leasing to a company, or running your own authority?

If leasing to a company, your operating costs are dependent upon your contract with that company, what they pay, what you pay, and what they pay and chargeback.

If you are running your own authority, you will be north of 1.40 and as much as 2.00, depending on many variables. 1.40 is the lowest realistic number I could see if you are paying a driver wage in your cost model. Getting that low would require a lot of effort and watching closely what you are doing, in my opinion.

 

Depreciation
replacement

 

That is one of the reasons trucking rates are so low. O/Operators figure their costs too low, thinking they can make money at 95 cpm + FSC. You cannot, you will not make a decent wage if you are pulling for those low rates.
If you think your can run a truck for $1.03, plus FSC,leased to a carrier, and make 30,000 dollars plus as a salary, you are wrong.

 

Where are you finding fuel at for 3.50 a gal . Are you on a dedicated run or only in a small regional area? And I would say your break even should be more like 1.40 a mile

 

Another thought I had is what about paying (uncle sam) taxes? You should be at least figuring 10% a month on maintenance (based on a 20000 gross) minimum and why only pay yourself 30 k a year? You can make that as a company driver