pulling containers in St.Louis as an owner op?

When you set limitations on what you will or will not do as a business you're shooting yourself in the foot. Everybody wants the easy way that's why it pays less than profitable. What you set out as on here as a limitation, make that an objective or goal to work towards not something you must have right now.... get out there and work smart. Learn what's going on around your area.. Think outside the box.. You might have to "rough it" a year or two regionally before that lightbulb goes off in your head and you find a niche..

 

Good advise!

 

I drove a co. truck to get the best inside info,on the intermodal gig I hit 15 railyards in Chicago to Wi. mainly,some other midwest states. I park at a truck and trailer repair shop in G.Bay for a 34hr reset.One driver I talked to there,has a extended hood 379-heavy truck,he pulled a reefer trl for decades going to Cali,grew tired of that and now he,s leased onto comtrac. He bobtails from the shop,hooks a 18k to 28k container,runs to Chicago r.yard,then goes to a diff. r.y. runs the load to Green Bay drops it,then bt to the shop parks,hops in his pu drives 3 miles and he,s home,2,300 after fuel,that was 13 months ago,that,s 5 days a week.If ya run nights, at 65 mph average round trip in under 7 hrs,8 to 15 min. at the customer hooking trl,no lines at the rail yards at night,never have a open scale,get fuel every other day.A 8 to 8.5 hr day is possible,8.5 hr day x 5 days at 2,300 is 54.11 per hour. It,s possible to make 1 more run to Chicago I,ve done it in a 62 mph co. truck with wore down drives-top speed of 59mph. Just to giving ya an idea,of what,s happening in another area. You set your own schuele,you could set it up,so your on the lake fishing at sunrise everyday, or have some kind of cash work on the side,etc.

 

All these comments "$2300 or $1500 to $2000 weekly" leave out too much info. If these folks are running 3,000+ miles a week those are some very poor numbers they're hauling freight below what the real cost to run. A quick or slow but certain way to ruin.

 

The old timer with the 379, works 5 days a week, 2,250 mi. per week.Makes aprox 2,300 a week,that was 13 months ago,comtrac gave them raises since then, along with e-logs boo. He runs with another 379 alot of the time,68-73 mph. When I heal up from surgery, there,s a good chance that I,m buying a truck and leasing on. I talked to a recycling co. about buying hydraulic fluid,from him. Then put a few gal. in the truck everyday,the Mack engine runs good on it and I don,t buy as much fuel. Plan on running at night, wind is calmer, traffic is lighter,no coops open. Shut down at ex 107 the truck stop has bunk rooms under 17.00 with tax. I want to race mx this year and doing the railyards is the only way,to make it work. The staying out 30-90 days otr,got me no where anyway. You can also do crosstown-railyard to r.yard,pulling emptys or just a chassis,50.00 yard to yard, 12 moves a night= 600.00 and use very lttle fuel.