My journey with Dart

I'll post numbers and the rest of orientation info later tonight. Picked up the truck today and signing final paperwork in about an hour.

 

Sorry for the delay in posting. After I singed the paperwork on Friday they were able to get me a load headed out in a few hours and before I delivered they had another load for me right after. I've been trying to catch up on sleep since they both ran over night.

Thursday Orientation
We had a contractors meeting first to go over the basics of being paid, fuel surcharge, trip scanning, etc. We also went over insurance for the truck and yourself. The last class for the day was PeopleNet training.

As a contractor you are in charge of when you want to settle your account. You can do this daily if needed. They said most of their drivers are doing it weekly. If you are going to do it daily then you just have to watch your fuel spending more closely. Fuel purchases are posted the following day so ideally you should settle on your past trips then purchase fuel the next day.

Costs and Pay
OTR Mileage pay is .96/mi plus FSC which is around .40/mi
.05 extra per mile on hazmat
.04 extra per mile on loads over 43k lbs
.90/mi empty 0-200 miles and .50/mi above that
Rarely you will get a percentage load that pays 70% plus FSC
$100 for the very very rare load to NYC
Stop pay $40 for first and $60 for others after
Trailer shuttle is $20 plus mileage
Detention pays after 4hrs at $20/hr, $220max per 24hrs
Tolls are reimbursed if charged to customer

My truck costs (2013 Volvo 630)
Truck Payment-$1595/mo for 60/mo
BT Insurance- $40/mo
Physical Damage Insurance- $400/Mo
Personal property insurance- $10/mo
Breakdown insurance due to accident- $20/mo
Occupational insurance- $172/mo
Temporary disability insurance, covers truck paymemt- $50/no
PeopleNet rental+ins: $47/mo
Transflo and Mobile scanning: $20/mo

Total fixed cost...monthly: $2354, Weekly (monthly X 12 / 52) $544 rounded.

Variable cost:
.07 mi for maintenance (goes up to .09 depending on truck mileage)
.07 mi for second account ( this is optional and you decide the amount)
Both of these collect interest and as long ad the truck doesn't need repairs and I decide to leave I'll get the remainder of the maintenance account back.

Baseplates- collected at 7.49/day til paid
Highway use tax - collected at 9.16/day til paid ($550 yr)
Security deposit- collected at $3.23/day til paid($700 collects interest, paid back when lease is terminated)

I'll post my figures later this week when I finish out a few more trips. Currently getting 7.5 to 8 mpg. I'll post about these first two trips later as well.

Got to get rolling on this load. TTYL!

TJ

 

No I think that is a different company. When I selected CA to look for opportunities it shows Mainstream Transportation as the division out of CA.

 

Week 1

So it's going well with Dart. I had three runs on this settlement with a take home pay of $1392. First load was on Friday last week from Eagan, MN to Effingham, IL. I stopped about 2 hours away and took my 10hr break then delivered Saturday evening. Just before I was done with my 10hr break I received a preplan for the next load which picked up near St. Louis right after I delivered. The second trip was a drop/hook at both ends headed to Loveland, CO. Stoped just past Kansas city and finished out the trip on Sunday. After dropping at the WM Dist Center in Loveland BT to the truck stop and took my 10hr. There were no empty trailers in the lot when I dropped. No loads available Monday so they got me a trip Tuesday going from FT. Collins to Sauk Rapids, MN. I headed back to WM on Tuesday morning but wasn't able to find a trailer so I had to BT to Cheyenne and PU an empty to take to the shipper. They paid for this so no big deal and the shipper needed a trailer for another load so I couldn't BT in anyway. After finally getting out of the shipper (Anheuser Bush) I headed out and got about 4hrs away from Sauk Rapids before I had to take a break. I finished driving Wednesday but the customer closes at 1400 and I was 30min past that time so I had to wait til Morning. Delivered Thursday morning and had a preplan already for a PU in St Cloud going down to MT. Vernon TX. This will be on the next settlement since I settled out Thursday. Got to MT. Vernon yesterday and got a PU today in Shreveport and I'm taking it to Toledo, OH.

Here is the breakdown in pay for this settlement:
Total Revenue: $3345 ($2328 mileage pay plus $1017 FSC and fuel discount)
Paid Loaded Miles: 2248
Paid Empty Miles: 188
Actual Mileage: 2530 (avg 7.2 MPG, used about 350 gal.)
Fuel Cost: $1490 (386 gal purchased, $91 of this is the discount which is in the fuel adjustment and I didn't use all 386 gallons.)
Fixed Cost: $463


Two of these loads paid extra since they were above 43k lbs. Also the first truck payment for the week was free so
my next settlement might be lower depending on miles.

I'll start posting daily now that I have my inverter setup in the truck and I can actually use a full size screen. Feel free to ask any questions.

TJ

 

Added my MPG numbers to my last post.