The Road Less Traveled

Dont Worry, Its Painless

My DOT Safety Audit is complete. I do not want to give anyone the wrong idea about how these things go because I dont know how they are done in other states but mine really was painless. After all the work I did to prepare it turns out I really did not need to worry. All the post I have read on the subject came from drivers or owners who have been through the audit in the past and required a visit from an officer or a trip to their office. Mine took place over the phone and was complete in about 15 mins.

The FMCSA sent me a letter before I even began operating and it required me to upload a list of dicuments to their website. Since I was not operating yet there were quite a few things I just did not have yet so I gave them a call. The process was explained to me and I was told to upload documents when I had them. I began the process right away with anything I had that they needed. My proof of being enrolled in a drug testing consortium was first. I received a check list and worked through the list. I figured as long as it looked like I was trying to do something on the site they wouldnt hassle me and i was correct.

The items they wanted were pretty basic.... Proof Of Insurance Form MCS-90 , Accident Register ( you only need this if you were involved in any accidents and I imagine this might move you from offsite to onsite when it comes to your audit), Driver Qualification Info ( Med Card Driving history and copy of your CDL), Drug Alcohol consortium papers and proof of pre employment drug screen, Vehicle maintenance schedule , a list of company vehicles and trailers with VIN#s, List of Drivers ( I just put all my info on it as I am the only driver), 30 days of logs that must include at least one interstate trip.

Thats basically it. If I forgot anything Ill list it later in an edit. So you are givin a website to go to and you need you DOT# and PIN to access. You sign in and begin uploading. I scanned documents to my computer and then uploaded right to their site. It wasnt difficult at all and as a matter of fact, it was an easy, efficient, user friendly service that in the end made the entire process painless. I know the FMCSA gets on all of our collective nerves most of the time but Ill give credit when it due and they really did a good job with this safety audit system. Of course you have to be proactive and do some of the heavy lifting but if you keep up and provide the documents needed the last step seems to go rather quickly.

The last step is that I was contacted over the phone from an FHP officer. He told me that he was in charge of my safety audit and what documents I still needed to provide. For me, I still needed the 30 days of logs. I waited to upload logs until I had 30 days of operations and due to holidays and some repairs I only had 11 actual days of driving and the rest showed me off duty but it was 30 days and he was happy with what I sent. he gave me 10 days to comply and I had them uploaded by day 3. He then followed up with a call but I missed it so I calle dhim back. He told me everything looked fine in terms of my paperwork and just had a few questions. He asked when I began operations(the date), how many miles I had driven since then and how much gross revenue had I generated. Then he told me about the suspension of the restart provision but reminded me that I still needed to take the 30 min break. He also said I no longer have to do a DVIR everyday unless I wanted to but I do need one on for any day that I find something needing correction or repair. He then asked if I had any questions for him.... I had a few but nothing major. I just wanted to clairify how I log my hours working as a firefighter. Then he said Im good to go and I could call him anytime I might have a question, even if its years from now. Hes not retireing anytime soon so unless hes involved in a scandal he will answer my questions.... It ended with No violations...Nothing to correct!

 

So it has been a minute since my last update to this thread so I thought Id breath a little life back into it with a new update. so it has officially been 1 year since I set up the company. I am in the process of renewing my cab card, insurance (next 60 days) and 2290 and all that good stuff. When I started the plan was to run a limited schedule since I am still working as a firefighter. I kept to that plan but I did not get to run as much as I would have liked. I generated enough revenue to keep things going and move into year two, so thats a win in my book. I have not taken a paycheck from this business venture but since the plan was to be able to pay off the equipment so when I retire Ill own the truck and trailer outright and have a profitable business model to suppliment my pension.

As I move into year two I have decided to try something new and I hired a driver. The idea being with the truck running more consistently and hopefully generating more revenue the company will do better overall in the long run. The plan now is to have a driver do the driving while I hustle the loads and if the numbers hold up over time Ill consider adding a another truck to the fleet. Maybe if all goes well I can retire and have three trucks. I think three trucks would be well within my span of control once I build a stronger knowledge base running things from outside the cab of my truck.

 

Thanks. Year one is a big hurdle to get over so Im happy to have at least made it this far. I wanted to post more updates but there is an inherant craziness when you are driving, dispatching, billing, maintenance and everything else that comes up with trucking. And still have a regular job. I dont know why I thought Id have time to post and monitor the forums..lol.

Anyway, my driver is on the road and picking up his forst load as I type so Im excitied and worried all at the same time. The idea is for both him and I to make some money and try to have a positive trucking experience. So Ill try to update more now that my job is behind a computer screen with occasionally taking loads to their final destination here in Florida.

 

Ill Buy, You Fly

I am now a couple weeks into the new venture of hired help. I have to say that I feel pretty lucky so far with my hired driver. I have heard and read a ton of horror stories about hiring drivers, and I know its early but so far it has been great. The truck is grossing about 35% more per week then I wasdoing by myself. Part of that is my ability to find inbound freight paying over $3/mile. You can call that lucky but the reality is that I could not be looking on the load boards while driving the truck so now being free to stalk the board most of the day I can hold out and grab the best loads before they get scooped up.

Of course this has all resulted in more maintenance costs because the truck is running more miles. The driver I hired has a lot of experience and was just looking to srive again because he was bored. This worked out great for me because I dont have to run the truck everyday to cover expenses. So having the ability to take my time and get him loads has given me an opportunity to learn the office side of the business and simultaniously make both him and I a little money. And by a little I mean the driver groses $1100 in week one and $1150 in week two. Week one he left Monday and was home Thursday night, delivered Friday and home all weekend. In week two he didnt leave until Wednesday returned Saturday morning, home all weekend and finaled that load Monday morning.

So he is not running ragged to make money and I have enough time to learn a few things and still pay the bills. Im just over a year into starting this thing and I have not drawn a paycheck for myself yet. But that was the idea. Run a limited schedule, pay the bills, pay off equipment and when I retire from my full time job I should have a profitible company going forward. We shall see if the entire plan comes together, but for now its working, not perfectly but working.