mercer transportation

Just take youre time when you buy a truck. Search around, there are some good deals to be had.

 

Oh of course I've been looking for about a year while getting my funds together and also learning and talking with our mechanics about different things. If I learned anything on here that's don't rush when it comes to buying a truck. I thought starting with 5k as working Capitol would be enough but I see I'm gonna need atleast 10k but I'm gonna try and push it to 15k before I pull the trigger. Thanks for the heads up.

 

can anyone give me an average take home based on a per mile rate running the middle 37 states ? looking at l/s and mercer, trying to decide which way to go.... driver i know was with l/s and said he was making $2.69 all miles after l/s took their cut pulling a stepdeck... this sound right

 

also second dumb question... at today costs what would be a good cost per mile estimate to base my calculations on for comparisons of companies

 

I'm not entirely new to trucking... but am in a position to need this information to insure my son doesn't loose his ### if he buys a truck and trailer.. Again any help or opinion will be appreciated ..

 

"My two cents" You need to figure out what your cost per mile will be. Truck payment per week divided by miles you expect to average per weak. Basically break all you expenses down to a cost per weak then divide that by the miles you expect to run on weakly basis. Example..... Truck payment is $1750.00 a month. divided by four is $437.50 divide by 2250 miles a weak is...0.20 a mile. Do that with all expenses add in .25 a mile for maintenance. For my self my cost per mile including house hold expenses is 1.46 a mile. I live very cheaply. No kids (Grown) Etc. Cost per mile varies between O/O. Hope this helps.

 

thanks frliner.. i've run a guesstament using the $2.69 @mile and used 9600 mi a mn for base... we are going to try to start with new truck ((glider)(who wants to go to CA)) and trailer... every expense i could think of and a generous ($.10 per mi) oh #### fund.. and came up with $1.58 a mile just to operate.... i'm trying to get some real world rate to the truck numbers to see if this is even doable .... thanks for input... NEED MORE INPUT (johnny 5)

 

Ya at one time yes not today's LS I have two buddy's that have left over the last few months as one of them told me he was sick of hauling $2/mi freight that at one time paid $2.75/mi.

 

Best of luck Gunny. I run for ls myself and love it here.(it's not for everybody). Patience is key and finding the right freight lanes that work for you. If you come to ls you will have to get a electronic log. (pretty much that way every where). If you are going to pull platform freight I strongly suggest you get your own trailer, It will pay for itself in a short period of time.

 

I beleive it's a rare case to average over 2$ mile for all miles at Mercer. Most of us are probably there this last month but not for the whole year. And I'd be quite surprised if thats any different at LS.
I personally think your crazy for starting out buying a new truck and I think he'll lose his butt learning the ropes especially with a new truck and the new emissions.
Better to find a slightly older truck and get those truck payments way down.
There's a lot better and more information on this fourm on other threads about this same subject. Don't limit your self to asking just Mercer guys and (the LS guys that like hanging out here. LOL)