Double Yellow's Company Driver to Independent Thread

ampm wayne is booked with our outfit, has been last 4 years, was 2nd load off the yard, home most nights, runs St. Louis, Kentucky, an occasional Chicago, maybe Ohio, Missouri. More 'possibles.' But mostly he runs St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis. We have all of 11 destinations that leave out of Bloomington, Indiana. Wayne's work is regular, predictable and when something 'out-of-route' is asked he negotiates it. I think we have 4 O/Os like Wayne out of our yard. (I'm a company driver.) We pull the same stuff to the same places week in and week out. Yeah, maybe boring.

Also: Predictable. Consistent. Wayne never has to talk to a broker or take a brokered load. We don't bother with those.

Met a guy this summer who has pulled nothing but Monsanto for 29 years.

No broker involved.

 

That's all fine and dandy. Not everyone is interested in that. Can't speak for DY but as for myself I actually prefer the open market and brokers.

 

In the past I was leased to a company that ran 80% customer freight and 20% broker freight. I have had to talk to brokers, stop at truck stops and fax BOL.,call and give updates, call and make appointments. I have been there done that.

The company I am leased to now has a terminal 10 miles from my house. All loads are round trip. It fits my lifestyle. My wife is happy. That is a huge advantage.

I am positive I could make more money if I was leased somewhere else. My pay per mile is not as high as I would like. I get detention,and stop pay. I can negotiate extra pay when I am asked to do things out of the ordinary. Sometimes I am asked to run an unpopular run or, asked to run an extra load, or go out of route to pick up a back haul. I am usually offered a bonus for doing it. Standard bonus is $100. I get the added miles and stop pay associated with the extra work.

Sometimes I miss going to different places. I do get bored running the same loads. I have considered leasing to other companies. I always keep my eyes open for new opportunities.
I am interested in Farm to Fleet. I have read posts and threads about Farm to Fleet and enjoy what Rollin Coal has to say.

Right now I am content running where I am. The perks of being close to home and still averaging 2,500 miles a week is worth it at this time in my life. It is very predictable. I am tied to one company and primarily pull loads for one customer. The down side to this is I work a little cheaper than others because of these perks.

I predict that sometime in the future I will make a change. I will eventually have to upgrade my truck. In doing so I may have to find higher paying freight. I may get bored or ,find a deal to good pass up.

One thing I know is that trucking is ever changing. Do not ever get to comfortable. The ones that survive are the ones that can adapt to change.

 

There is a price for predictable and steady. Sometimes myself I even wonder if would be better off in that scenario. When it's good it's good and I think that is crazy think. When it's bad it's bad and then it seems all the more sensible. Everyone has a certain comfort zone. If you get uncomfortable you do something different.

 

What I like about DY's numbers is this: It's how he looks at what he spends versus what he needs. He's not saying it's the only way and he's not closed-minded about it. Data analysis is a critically important part of being a business owner and I bet seriously overlooked by those who don't make it; being a numbers guy myself, this in-depth look numbers - and more importantly, how they relate to each other and to possible (likely?) changes in the business - is marvelous.

If this is how a reformed professional gambler looks at life, I have a newfound respect for the slimey guys I see playing poker behind those dark glasses.

 

What I found with numbers is sometimes you can crunch and keep up with too many things. It's a distraction. When I started I didn't even have a written, formal business plan. I still don't. But I know my numbers very well. The ones that matter.

 

I was always a gambler. I didn't watch numbers as close as many of these guys. The majority of my income in trucking was hauling cattle direct for customers. The rest was hauling grain for one broker that charged 5 percent to load me. So the rate was the rate take it or leave it. The cattle rates were crazy good but seasonal, no back hauls just go get another load ASAP. However it was well worth it. The grain rates were busy work that gave you something to do when cattle weren't moving. The cow hauling business is changing fast more are venturing into it so it's time to step up and change my game. Reputation no longer guarantees me the load as most of my old buyers are retiring. The younger guys filling there spot are looking at numbers more closely so I need to be as well. I haven't had a truck payment in years but did buy a new cattle pott 6 weeks ago. Reading every ones ideas has really helped me form my own plan by using a little something from every one. Of course we all serve different markets so one plan can't work for all of us.

 

When I bought my first house, it was with the idea that 1) once rented out, someone else would buy it for me, and 2) a house is something you could buy today for $22,000 and sell for $17,500 years later at a profit. Why's that?

Because you've paid it down!! (Or someone else has paid it down for you.) Even selling below what you paid, you can still 'make money.' Maybe. (Of course, owning rentals is not trivial. One night I fought a tenant who pulled a loaded 30-30 on me. Dumb move on his part.) And, no, managing rentals is not for the faint-hearted. Neither is trucking.

Was there a lot to learn? You darn betcha!!

But if you can manage what I call the down-side risk, maybe you're on your way. I bought my first house for $9,500 (something I could well afford even on unemployment if need be--I was a young truck driver back then) and could've sold for a tidy profit at any time.

Result: low down side risk. I calculated out just how much I thought I could invest in the house in repairs and improvements and not lose $$ based on what it would sell for 'as-is.' I spent that on improvements, eventually refinanced the house, got all my money out and it paid for itself as a rental for many, many years. Good investment, low downside risk.

Can that be applied to trucking? I don't know why not.

A while back I sorta needled one of our very experienced long haul company drivers that he should do what Blair and DY are doing, claim his 'freedom.' He shot back that he wasn't going to take any 'risk.' Well, what higher risk is there than using up your most productive years by failing to take a risk??

Agreed, we have a predatory industry that will use dreams to trap drivers into leases that automatically fail. That's not managing downside risk. It's catastrophic.

To me, a key element is managing the down-side because you have to push a lot of chips and sweat equity out onto the table and into the pot. Perhaps we forget that new drivers do that very thing every day just to get into the industry. And once upon a time, so did we. We took that risk.

When I read this thread and Blair's, downside risk's always in my mind...

And how to manage it.

 

RC, you don't have to choose one or the other. When you get customers it doesn't mean you put your hand on a bible and promise to never use brokers again. I have some customers I only haul a couple loads a year for. I still have every option available to me that load boards and brokers have to offer, I just have many other options as well. I want all the options I can get.