Baseline Expenses

lets do some math
2000 miles/week x 1.84/m = 3680 or 104000 mile/year = $191360
fuel 104000 miles / 6.5mpg = 16000g x $4 a gallon = $64000
unladen liability 19.45/w = 1011.4/y
load alerts 3.69/w = 191.88/y
pre pass 2.50/w = 130/y
acc/occ 31.38/w = 1631.76/y
permits 3.83/w = 200/y very cheap compared to other companies that make you pay for permits, good is when they pay though
plate 30.77/w = 1600/y
total base expenses 91.64/w = 4765.04/y or 0.046/m when miles and rates vary per week its best to know you have to clear a certain set amount befor you start to profit. if you truck payment is 500/w which is 26000/y or 2166.67 a month. you know you need to clear 591.64 average per week just to profit, after fuel. total fixed cost is 30765
gross - fuel - fixed expenses = profit.
191360 - 64000 - 30765 = $96595 now that's not bottom line, you still have taxes, scales, tolls, and if your truck payment is higher or lower obviously your profits will be affected. its a base model. change numbers around on the gross per mile and miles per week. change the fuel millage and see how big a difference that can make. this gross was a guess at what im looking at on here after LS take their cut and then add in fuel surcharges and other accessorials. its can change drastically with a few different numbers in place and what your bottom line is depends on how often you scale, how many tickets you get, whether you have a satellite dish you hang on the back of the cab. all kinds of things can be different. this also depends what kind of accounts you have set up to cover big expenses when they arrive, like a tire account or replacement account which you could put however much you want per mile or a as a percentage of gross revenue. hope this helps.

 

Whats with the 6.0 and 6.5 mpg and 4.00 per gallon I keep seeing in this thread. My 30,60and 90 day numbers are 7.22,7.12 and 7.00. My goal now that the weather is warming up and winter blend fuels are going away is to be at 8.0 by this time next month and hold or raise that until next winter,with the 50 mph tail winds coming across from Seattle to SLC I averaged 8.42. My 90 day average cost per gallon for fuel after my LS discount is 3.77. My cost per mile for fuel is .51 and my FSC is averaging .45cpm. Fuel is a huge cost but one that is easily reduced by improving your driving habits as well as how you choose freight.

Running 3000 miles a week at 7.22 mpg and buying fuel wisely gives me 319.00 a week more in my pocket than a driver running at 6.00,that almost makes my truck payment. I better add that these numbers are based on dry van freight and 75% of the time Im running with less than 25k in the box but I do run I-5 from LA-Seattle so its not all running the flats. My tractor is a 2009 Cascadia with a DD15,smart shift,3.36 gears and wide singles.

 

I have a 2012 Cascadia and average about 7.75, but the average driver is not getting that. those were round-about figures that could be changes relatively easy. just a worksheet type deal. I don't run for landstar but want to at some point.
oh, DD15, EF 10, 3.36, super singles. I don't like it. would do better with a 13 speed. better top end without running your rpms up too high.

 

I agree with the 13 speed but it was not an option,Im running 1250 at 57 mph. I liked the DD15,my wide singles are new but they are not the best but my cost to switch over to lower rr tires will be less. Your in the ball park at 7.75,Im pretty happy where I am but of course would love to be at 8.0. As you know because of all the EGR crap we are pretty limited with after market modifications. Tires,air tabs and a bypass system with synthetic oil is about all there is. Of course tranny and gear modifications are an option but I think I can easily hit 8.0 with very little additional expense.

 

you can stock, I have had 8.5 to 9 mpg with heavy loads. rpms run the same, its basically the same truck just different year. with the 10 speed you have stay under 60. I usually run 54 to 58, lately all my loads have needed wings to get there so my fuel cost is through the roof. it doesn't help that freight seems to be dropping off as well as rates. but about mpgs, 8 to 8.5 is very doable, just not fun to do. the biggest thing you can is the ecm, you can make that truck put out more or less hp and torque by tunning the ecm, but it can either cost you fuel millage, or cost you power, stock is about the best application on these trucks.

 

my ecm is sltightly adjusted for power, and my fuel millage is still in the 7.75 range. I don't like being the slowpoke on the mountain, no mater how heavy I am, I average about 75000 gw.