WHen calculating your cpm

As o/o, our trucks pay for everything for all of us. So none of us are special there.

If I had to earn $2.03 per miles to make ends meet, I'd be finding some far to trim. That just seems WAY to high for my comfort level.

 

I did. I trimmed my miles. I got it down to 43,000 actual, so far this year. With a little over 2 months to go this year, I might add another 10 to 15 thousand. Last year I ran 63,478 miles, so that would be about a 5 to 10 thousand mile savings.

BTW, you ain't me and the $2.03 isn't to make ends meet. It's everything I spend, save and waste. I track and account for just about everything my husband and I spend, even sodas from overpriced pop machines.
I've never wasted my time paying myself an artificial salary. Come January 1st, whatever you have left over, after last year's truck expenses, is your profit and earned income, as a sole prop. That is the figure you base your income and self employment taxes on.

 

I like big numbers- except when it comes to fuel. I track my Revenue per Mile and Fuel CPM all month long.
Everything else is a fixed cost IMO. I know I'll spend $1000 a month on maintenance- on average, so I budget on that.

I have a rate per mile - after my fuel bill- that I find acceptable and try to stay above that. If not on a particular month, then certainly for the quarter.

 

Sorry, i always ran company driver

 

When calculating your CPM you need to include your salary. Cheap freight exists because too many drivers don't factor in paying themselves. You are operating a business not a hobby so you have to approach it from the same point of view as a trucking company. When they bid on a load or a contract they factor in what they will be paying their company driver, you need to do the same thing.

You also have to plan from a whole trip perspective. Not every leg of your trip will be equally proftiable. If you are going to haul a load into a low freight area then you need to make sure that you are getting a high enough rate to go in to pay your wages both in and out.

 

The old saying theirs more than one way to skin a cat applies here. You can break it down to every penny that you spend in life or just what the truck needs. Do it the way that makes more sense to you because they both work.

 

I like the way Autocar handles her business. I'm finally getting to that point where I actually pay attention to my expenses. Over the years past I just mailed in my receipts and let the accountant work their magic and I payed whatever I owed left over. I lived lavishly and blew money on lots of stupid and useless crap (and ex-girlfriends lol)

so now I do as Autocar and MNdriver and figure out all my costs and home expenses as well, plus an extra $500 a month for impulse spending. I need $2.05 mile to cover everything figured on 1,500 miles a week. My avg this year is at $2.35 for ALL miles and I'm over 2,000 miles a week usually. I do take a month off here and there, and do whatever.
So
for everybody it's different, but I prefer to have everything covered and if I make more than planned then I just smile.