Socratic question

Better freight out of Arkansas, and a lighter load gives you better fuel mileage, less wear and tear on engine, trans and rears, plus its flatter going over that way

 

I would have to figure out which one gave me the best easiest chance of getting my next load.

 

for me, it would also depend on the route. I would take a interstate route any day over a 2 lane, 4 lane back roads route. less miles for even more money per mile, may be less, if you have 30 red lights & 5 towns to get thru.

 

I only read some of this thread Butttttttttt on these $3/1800 mile weeks how long are you gone? I mean if your out for 7 days for 1800 miles idle time and hometime become a factor. vs 2500 miles in 5 days. Bigger pay per mile isn't always the end all give all.

 

Trick question...

More mountains/hills on the trip to VA. About an equal amount of available loads in either destination area (thinking more than one-load-at-a-time). Fuel efficiency of the lighter load (versus extra miles).

I'd say these loads were about EQUAL - but I'd take the shorter one - from simply a TIME SPENT equation...

Rick

 

I think I would take the load to Little Rock. As far as my 3 years of experience tells me, there's a better chance of getting a load out of LR than south Virginia, plus all of those mountains to get there @ 43,000 lbs would be a tougher journey.

With all things being equal, if you got 5.5mph with fuel at $4/gal, we're talking $400 in fuel to LR, and $254 to Atkins, VA.
Now with the Virginia load being 43k lbs and through the mountains, we're talking 4.5 mpg probably, or less, but for the purposes of this, let's say 4.5. That would equal $311 in fuel, and throw in a CAT scale to boot, we got $320 in fuel.

So you're spending only $80 more in fuel to get to LR.
If you happened to get 6mpg going to LR rather than 5.5, then we're talking $370. That's only $50 more than going to VA.
You should be able to make that up and then some on a better load out of LR than south VA. Plus like others said, more wear and tear on the vehicle.

Plus there aint no parkin in south VA. But then again, there aint no parking in LR either unless you know somewhere special. Galloway exit is always cram packed. But I'd take my chances in the midwest over the east coast for parking any day. Or night.

 

Could it possible be you need two numbers to more accurately reflect costs?

The first one being a cpm for what it costs to actually move the truck for a mile.

The other being the amount of net revenue you need to make in say a day, week, or month to cover fixed expenses.

 

1800 miles a week. I havent ran that many miles since I was leased to a carrier. But I am all about work smarter not harder Less miles + more $ = more $ all day long