Quotes 911

I understand that ... But you basically said I was stupid and quoted the same thing ( close)

 

I'm not gonna fight about this

I just tried to give a base line to figure his costs that's all I did

I'm not gonna participate in he said she said who's superior on here
It states ....in my opening sentence

My costs are not the same as yours ...

It was ment as a baseline ... Add what you want / by the base of miles you run on average or the trip in question ... Add a loaf of bread .. 3 cell phones if you want ... It was JUST A BASELINE ... It was NOT REAL ...

It was a FORMULA ..

 

I'd never say or insinuate that you were stupid. I will say if I think you are wrong, and I have even been wrong on here before, and admitted it in a subsequent post. I come here to spread information to those that seek it, and I usually learn something daily as well.

I honestly believe over 50% of o/o make less than company drivers with the same experience. As they fail, a whole new batch comes in to take their place and run cheap until they fail.

 

Well I will agree with you there ...

That is a very true statement. Ive never leased a truck from a company I did it all by myself .. Now these guys paying out over 600.00 a week for a truck then costs they are doing good to make 30 cpm after its all over .

I believe in knowing your costs . I think we have the same concept and formula except for a few of what I call household items .. Other than that I think we are on the same page .

 

Nothing was said about a trailer till latter ..
So yes mine formula is truck only correct ..

 

Not to get into a P'ing match with anyone......
Here are the FACTS from my accounts for last year.
It COST me $1.28 a mile, on 114k miles, to run my truck last year. Last truck payment was in June (yipeeeee), so add that onto any figures you come up with.
My fuel was .67c per mile last year as an average.
That figure includes a new (used) motor, turbo, and all other maintenance. It also includes cell fone, PM's, tools, ATM costs, license, permits for the truck, health insurance, showers, scales, and all other "expenses" that I can put in there as a truck expense (take that as you will, but long time self employed will know what I mean)
Again, those are MY figures for MY truck for last year.
I am leased onto a company on % pay, pulling a rgn trailer.
YOU will have to sit down and figure your operating expenses out based on as much fact as possible. By far the single biggest expense is fuel. Maintenance will be next, and so on.
Add onto that figure the pay you think you should walk away with, and you will be pretty close.

Martin

 

A WWII Navy Vet that owned his on appliance/ air conditioning business told me once. The way you price your product or service is to figure your costs then double it and that's what he charged. So if a refrigerator cost him $200. He charged $400 etc. He was a very successful business man. So if your cost/mile is .93 cpm. You should look for loads at no less than $1.86/mile.

 

US Marine,

Have felt your frustration early on in this forum on "how to do accounting" and came to an understanding. Most people that get into this O/O thing are drivers that bought a job. Problem is they can't think like a business person on how they divide up costs and that in an independent O/O deal your profit is your income.

So many of these drivers see the numbers as you calculate them, take a gig at $1.40/mile and never realize they are making less than a company driver.

I know it all seems like common sense but how much common sense do you really see in a truck stop.

 

how many here also include long and short term disability pay as well as health, dental, vision and life insurance in those costs?

Last time I asked, those numbers came to $1500 for all those for the month.

What are you using for Self-employment tax rate? Federal tax? State tax?

All those numbers come out of your "profit".

I even include an "example of a budget" that would be used for this. I submitted something similar for an SBA loan and it was accepted. I chose not to go that route now because the bank wanted a 30% down payment. For that amount, I can buy a truck for cash and be debt free. This is planning a $30,000 truck and trailer purchase and financing for 36 months. Operating Ratio on this is around 52%. The lower the better. I always planned for 45% profit margin. At 52%, I am at 48% profit.

One thing the bank did was talk to a couple trucking companies and have them look at the information as well. I was told my expenses were high and income low. Good as far as I am concerned. I'd rather have black at the end of the year and not red.


So now I work for someone else, keep track of what it is I am doing and in 18 months, I save my pennies to make this a reality.

I find it interesting that people are using fixed cost overhead and trying to budget it as a variable cost. I just don't see good things coming out of that.

(OH + variable cost)/revenue is your break even. And revenue bounces around along with variables too much to do otherwise.

Driving is only 10% of this job. It's the other 90% you are in control of that you make it what you want it to become.