Running all 48

It can be a matter of preference really. You may find this guide helpful for several different reasons, all having to do with temp controlled perishables, and the protocol for packaging and transporting. Here's a good place for commodity market info, as well as a lot of other AG related data.

We haul Onions from Boise much of the year, but season stops around July-August, depends when the onion shed runs out of product. During that downtime we run Potatoes, generally from July to the spring onion crop the following season. Potatoes out of Idaho are mostly year-round though, and command $2+ per mile if you're a good salesman.

Are you sure you want to run all 48? Some guys like the Northeast, or California, etc. I have no need to run them usually so I don't license my trucks for those certain areas. In the beginning I thought I'd be losing opportunities if I had to buy trip permits everytime I wanted to run those places, but in reality, I found constant loads on specific lanes which pay well, are year-round, and let me settle in and get a routine going. Depending on your state, all 48 could be very expensive. I license for 41 of 48 and it was $1900 per truck a few weeks ago for IRP.

I'd consider running your first 6+ months or so just checking out the different markets. You'll quickly find certain lanes you like / dislike, and good reasons why. Many times owners will get out there and find lanes they like and loads that are continuous, leading to opportunities for repeat business with customers / brokers. I run Potatoes from Idaho to South Carolina every week, and have a regular return load of drugs. Um. Medicine, not street drugs, that is. Both pay well enough that I can bounce out of Denver (where the drugs drop) and find better rates if necessary to get me back to Idaho, but usually I grab a produce load from Denver and drop at Walmart in Corinne, UT, which puts me close back to the starting line. Local runs fill in those gaps and also pay dang good. After awhile you'll develop a contact list that you will call on for loads, and after time not even need load boards, etc. Those are the core revenue stream and will provide mutually beneficial relationships for your company.

 

To plate all 48 US jurisdictions with IRP for the first year will run you $1,600 - $1,900. The first year is based on estimates for as many states as desired. The estimates are all within a 100% fee calculation. Meaning that all the jurisdictions are assigned an estimated mileage, those estimated mileages are totaled, the individual jurisdiction's estimated miles are divided by the total for individual jurisdictional percentages. The individual percentages are multiplied the jurisdiction's full plate fee and then all those are totaled for a IRP plate fee paid to the base jurisdiction. The base jurisdiction sends each jurisdiction their share. Not too bad for the first year.

The second year may also be what are consider 1st year estimates, called 2nd 1st year estimates, if the registrant (you) does not have mileage (or sufficent mileage) during the mileage-reporting period. Again, 1st year estimates are all within the 100% calculation. Not too bad.

If in the second year the registrant has suffient mileage during the mileage-reporting period to report actual miles, the actual miles are calculated at 100% for jurisdictions in which the registrant actually traveled. Any additional jurisdictions are added as estimates outside of the 100% fee calculation. The rational is that the jurisdictions with actual mileage should get their fair share since the registrant did travel there. The estimated jurisdictions get a fee but it is extra since there was no actual mileage. This can get VERY pricey depending on how large the total actual miles are and how many estimated jurisdictions are added. The more you travel the lower the jurisdictional estimated percentages will be. It also depend on how the base jurisdiction calculates estimated miles, if the estimate jurisdictions have a high plate fee (such as IL) and if the jurisdictional estimated miles are per truck or flat per company.

Sound complicated, right? Here is an very simple example. Trucking company registers for IL, IN, and MI. IL and IN having actual miles and MI not.

Example: I didn't take the time look up the actual plate fees and MI estimate for one truck but it will give you an idea of the setup
Indiana Actual Miles 30,000 75% x $1600 plate fee = $1200
Illinois Actual Miles- 10,000 25% x $2400 plate fee = $ 600
Total Actual------- 40,000 100%------------------- $1800 What the plate would cost without estimates
Michigan Estimated 10,000 20% X $1500 plate fee= $ 300
Total --------------50,000 120%--------------------$2100 Fee with estimates paying 120%

If the company ran 90,000 actual miles compared to the 40,000, the MI estimate would be lower by half at $150. If IL was the estimated jurisdiction then the estimated plate fee would be $480 at 40,000 actual and $240 at 90,000 actual.

The best way plate is add all jurisdictions that you could possibly run during the 1st year estimates then fine tune down to the jurisdictions that you actually travel during the first year to two. If you want to continue to plate in a jurisdiction, make sure that you have mileage in that jurisdiction each July 1 to June 30 mileage reporting year. One actual mile in a jurisdiction counts and gets a jurisdiction within the original 100% for actual mileage. Make sure it is documented on a trip sheet and reported to IFTA. Running 10 jurisdictions but wanting them all would get pricey. Running 38 jurisdictions but wanting them all would not be so bad especially if the estimated jurisdiction is some of the smaller estimates.

If that is as clear as mud, ask me some questions and I will try to explain. I have been told that after writing internal reports for 20 years, I can be confusing to someone outside of governement.

 

When you complete the application with actual mileage, you would want to look at the jurisdictions that are missing and determine if what percentage the estimated miles would be. If you want to keep some of the less mileage jurisdictions, the percentages would be very low such as many of the upper New England jurisdictions. I don't know how each state determines the estimated mileages but the one I worked for determined estimates based on actual carrier activity in previous periods. So the farther away from the state and the less industrialized, the lower the estimates. Adding jurisdictions via estimates can be reasonable depending on your actual mileage and the estimate. Many states have systems to easily add jurisdictions when needed. Others not so easy.

 

Not to mention such high toll fees . Pennsylvania to new jersey and North. It will eat up your profit in a hurry.