GunMetal345's Tanker Lease Experience

You don't have to be good. You just have to know how to read your settlement. You will be getting most of your information from those documents. The spreadsheets you make will just be to get break downs that you want.

Update: This is my first week that I got all low pay (for tanker) loads but my take home before taxes was $1600. This is higher than I expected for low weeks. I'm a little salty about the mileage charges. This stuff that I'm doing is not the lazy tanking I saw in training, lol. I'm happy they trust me with the tight loads after such a short time. They were lining me up to go home so hopefully I will be back to the high profit lanes when I get back to work.

Later guys. Mrs. GunMetal345 says hello.

 

That is all very helpful information and great for looking back on what has happened. Most of my focus is on saving on costs and earning as much as possible. I don't turn down any loads because getting money now is always better than waiting for something else with where my business is at now. My low mark is $1.30 per mile on the dispatch but the lowest I've seen was $1.47 per mile revenue on actual miles I drove. So far as long as I'm running I'm profitable even though I'm doing the worst out of any tanker driver I have seen as far as my loads. January is my time for looking back on the year. Going week to week and looking at the year to date revenue is enough for now.

I used to make $1400 a month before taxes and now I'm making $1600 on a bad week. Double that on a good week. It's real easy to see where I'm at in these early stages.

For you guys out there thinking about bookkeeping, learn to read the settlement first. It's where you will get all the business information for your number crunching. I use my debit cards for everything so I just look at my statements to figure out what I spent food and entertainment. Yes I spend more on entertainment than food but I pay myself first, lol.

 

I don't know what kind of settlements you get over there but a week is the best way to look at it from my point of view. You made the fixed cost and turned a profit or you didn't. The settlement will tell you why you did or didn't make a profit. The "Holy Grail" of fuel is 8 mpg and I'm close to 9 almost every week. On a bad fuel week I'm still 8 or a little less (7.98). With the surcharge my fuel cost me less than a quarter per gallon.

At the beginning things are going to be more expensive because you are getting set up. A lot of the stuff I'm spending on for the truck are one time expenses. The work I'm having done are things that need to happen. There is a time to look back and see what's going on but most of the time you should be running your business.

Make the money. I don't turn down loads. I see the team at Prime as my business partners and we are on the same page. My low loads usually lead me to higher paying loads. At worse I look at is as building a relationship with my Fleet Manager and Sales. I help Prime look good by solving problems and they look out for me. My FM get all the extra money he can for me and in return I get loads delivered on time.

I set myself up in the best way possible to make a profit on my first lease. I have a lightweight truck that gets greater fuel economy and has a low payment compared to the other trucks. I am a fuel commando so no idling and I try to keep the miles low. I drive a few extra miles because I always take the fastest route because I'm driving slow.

With all that said, at the end of September I will be doing all the number crunching IP was talking about because that will be my first quarter of this year. I look at the settlements in 4 week chunks and also enjoy the year to date numbers while I'm out there. It's a great snapshot of what's going on.

Run your business or if you're still thinking about it, learn how you want to run it. Some of you company guys will not make money because of your driving habits. Save on fuel!

Laters, GunMetal345 out.