Todays great rate

I agree spyder, they treat you like you murdered a family member of theirs. When it happens to me i think to myself people go through a lot now days, maybe divorce, money or family issues. Still does not give them the right to treat drivers like that. But it does calm me down once i think about it. People do not have education how to deal with each other and that too is becoming worse and worse. 10 years in the future we will think how good it was 10 years ago.

 

with the economy in a slight contraction and rates kinda tanking I just bit the bullet and mailed in a OCE-46 there is no way I can cut costs enough to make any money in this weak of a market soooo I'm now watching from the sidelines

 

I'm leased to a carrier, so i have a lot less worries. Mainly about ten grand a year in insurance, and never have to chase down a broker to pay me and get paid within hours of scanning in the bill of lading. That really frees up capital.

So i was doing some math in my head as i was driving home this afternoon. Lots of guys on here are going to think I'm nuts, but assuming fuel stays similar in cost, i can pull at a buck forty average and still make a good profit. But i sure hope i won't have to go that low.

 

Lean and Mean. To the truck?

 

Yes i meant ttt. After carriers cut. But i also meant all in truck pay, after fsc and accessorials such as tarp, extra stop.

Edit to add: if you do the math you see what i mean. Fuel right now is running me under a quarter a mile. Another 10 cpm covers all other variable cost, the maintenance stuff like oil changes, tire and brake wear. The fixed costs such as trailer payment, plates and insurance are gonna be there no matter if i run or not. So basically I'm left with 1.05 after variable costs. Thay leaves me enough to pay fixed costs and bring enough home that our standard of living won't change. But i will have to work more than I'm used to. That makes me sad. I really liked working less than half the year.

 

Double Yellow had a pretty comprehensive repair log that came with his truck documenting repairs from 500 thousand to 1 million and it was right at .9cpm. From 10 years ago
I think even you doing your own labor you would be pressed to do it at 15cpm when you have to figure majors on the motor and drivetrain.

What are you running for power and what truck Spyder?

 

@tommymonza
Starting out, I'd look for the cheapest to operate and repair drivetrain. Hands down, that is a pre EGR Series 60 Detroit, especially in S FL where you can get rebuild done for $2k in labor. A huge majority of gliders are built with this engine because of those factors.

 

An 03 columbia i bought new with a 60 series pre egr 12.7. I have the receipt for every single thing ever done to the truck, and it's under 10cpm over the life time. Sure when i pulled the engine and rebuilt it that was a big expense, but you gotta look at things at a life time cost. Many years the only expense was a pm every 25k.

 

This. And buy a service manual for that engine. A basic inframe is under 2500 for oem parts and requires no expensive tools. A pre egr series 60 has got be the most efficient engine out there. Great fuel mileage and ridiculously good reliability and very cheap parts. Before i rebuilt mine i had to open it up 1 time for a bad injector. Think about that. 1 engine repair in over a million miles.