Why did you downsize or end your fleet?

Hiting that first 100k a year on truck 1 is easy but replicating yourself to run truck 2 through 10 is hard

 

I've been eyeballing starting a small fleet. Currently just one truck operating at about 50% of capacity. I spend half the week hauling freight, and the other half is spent looking at other ways to invest.

Bottom line: Current rates and volume do not entice me to expand, comparing revenue to the current and increasing costs. Fuel and equipment costs are too high and rising.

Second is labor. I refuse to build a business plan with underpaying my drivers as a central strategy. The risks and turnover is too high for a small carrier to go that route. Plus I feal it's unethical at the least, and I need to sleep at night.

I turnover land deals from time to time and just drive my truck. I think a specific construction supply distribution business, a franchise, or used car sales business, among others, would be more profitable and with less risk.

I'm not wealthy enough yet to start one of these ideas up with cash on hand, so I drive on and continue hunting real estate deals.

 

And you're trying to pass yourself off as some kind of detective. Maybe you should brush up on your reading skills before you join a forum, or create an alternate ID if you're already a member, with the sole purpose of trying to trash someone. You went to the trouble of looking up his MC authority, why didn't you also see that the revocation was voluntary? Or how that makes him any less credible since there's nothing in the docket that says why that event happened.

Ed's approach rubs me the wrong way too, but I can simply challenge anything he posts that I don't like, or choose to ignore him. However, I'm not going to mislead others in a weak attempt to discredit him. He can do fine with that all on his own. Or not.

 

I agree quite a bit with Red and have chatted with him about that too. We started our trucking business when an opportunity came up for white glove service for the Home Depot. We contracted for great rates and ran like the wind. Once the company was up and running, my wife took over the company as I wasn't going to leave my day job. I was constantly telling her the customer concentration was too high and she was overly dependent on the Home Depot jobs. She's a hard worker and would fight with brokers for good rates on loads but she just didn't have it in her for prospecting direct customers.

As the Home Depot work dried up, she was overly dependent on load boards and the rates just weren't there anymore. I probably should have sold it off sooner since she was never going to be the sales person the company needed but instead, kept feeding it cash to stay alive since it was her company. Once it got done eating my cash and had nothing left to eat but cheap load board freight, it died.

Bottom line, like any other business, you have to run it like a business. You have to prospect for direct customers and as it continues to be commoditized by brokers and mega fleets, you have to find a niche you can be successful in. Manage your customer concentrations and don't pay for a business education through hard knocks. There's not enough margin in this industry to do so.

We tried to run it like a family business and spoiled our drivers. This contributed to it as well. They constantly wanted more and took less care of things. I regret not having followed BBB's lead with O/O's. If I had to do it all over again, first I would run the company myself, second, I would do it with O/O's and third, I would find the niche and sell to it. But the way rates have gone over time in general, I wouldn't get back into it.

If you want a great niche, although its tough to break into at first, moving movie studio trailers. My truck pulls their trailer locally to the 'set' and then sits until filming is done, often times for weeks. I get paid for every day it sits there. Since it's an '84 Pete 359, I can only run it 5,000 miles a year or less in CA so this works perfectly for me.

 

What an unusual post! An honest one!!!

More company owners need to think like you do!

 

Used car sales honest and ethical?

Sorry I couldn't resist the chance, it wasn't meant personal.

 

Yeah, I know, but there is much more profit it used cars than trucking. A guy can sell quality used cars at a fair price and still make a great living. It's just greed that corrupts many of these guys, hence the stereotype. There are good dealerships out there. Same goes for repair shops. The ethical ones are in it for the long haul, and they get repeat business.

Point is: Any business is better than trucking is today.

 

I don't know about any business but a lot is better than trucking. Thing about the way it is now is it will seperate the men from the boys.

 

Really??

I don't know Ed or his situation, but I think it's always a smart call to learn from the successes and failures of others. I bet is he is developing his new business plan, and is asking TTR for help in spotting the alligators.

There are many more things in business which will lead to failure than things that will lead to success. From what I have read on here so far, it's not the government that so many like to blame. I see 3 things that jump out at me.

Keeping up with costs. Costs of doing business always rises and falls over time. You have to be on top of it and be able to cut a business segment that is not performing.

Keeping good drivers.

Not having a diversified customer base. Seems many make the decision to go big based on one good contract.

 

wow ... you ok man? you sound like a I feel today but this seemed uncalled for.