I Need Some Advice

For us it was simply economy of scale. One truck netting 4-500 a week didn't make it worth the trouble, plus it didn't justify having a shop to do the pms and other work ourselves. Once we blasted up to 5+ trucks (our business model called for 10 within a very short time, 18 months iirc) the peanuts one truck made became multiplied by however many trucks we had Rollin, and having our own shop guy to do the heavy liftin saved us a ton. Plus thE accelerated fuel savings at the time saved us quite a bit at the pump. I forget how many gallons we committed to to get the best fuel savings for ourselves but it was pretty significant.

I ain't sayin this is gospel, mind. Just our experience some years ago. Although in my mind it would still hold true today.

 

I ran the numbers and for me the first number was also 10 trucks that made sense as it provides enough revenue for me to support both my wife and 2 girlfriends.

 

Hahahaha well YEAH

 

I would try a new driver one more time if that don't work, I would return the leased truck (of course I do not know the penalty in doing so). If you cannot find a new driver in a short time I would skip it. Drive the other till it is payed off and you have enough to purchase a used one out right (older truck of course) then try a driver.

 

There's a few reasons, some good ones already mentioned here.

@scottlav46 is right about economies of scale. This is a commodity business and profit margins are thin. Here's an over-simplification. You pay well enough to hire good, conscientious drivers. You have refined a maintenance schedule, fuel purchases, tire plan, and so on, to have the operating costs minimized.

A catastrophic failure of one truck/driver in your fleet of two or fleet of 10 costs exactly the same in number of dollars. How about a blown head gasket that turns into an in-frame? On a good day you can limp it into your preferred shop and get the truck back for around $15,000 (it's a Detroit S-60 ok?) in about two weeks because they're fast like that.

You could put your driver on paid vacation for those two weeks, or maybe take the time off yourself and hand them the keys to your truck. Either way is a cash flow hit, since you're down one truck. Maybe your customer likes you a little less because they have to hire someone else they don't know to fill in.

Or, if you're able, you rent a truck, probably in the realm of $1,500 a week, and keep the freight and revenue moving, and your customer stays happy with you and doesn't dump you for that other guy.

So at the end when your own truck is back on the road making money at full clip, you've optimistically taken a cost hit around $20,000. If you didn't rent a truck, there's lost revenue too.

Here's the important part. In terms of percentage of ALL your dollars, the difference in cash flow (key word) is huge. Let's say your trucks are booking revenue of $5,000 a week, each.

You don't need to be a math scholar to see how a $20,000 unscheduled (remember in this case, I said you run a good business, so this wasn't unplanned) cost dissolves a lot faster in a pool of $50,000 a week money versus just $10,000. Before you jump in and say "but I have cash reserves!", remember those would have to be replenished. So maybe it weathers the storm, but you still have to rebuild that reserve somehow. And somehow keep going however long that takes.

I think this is where a lot of truck owners mess up, myself being one of them. Although, I have managed to survive my own ignorance long enough to do it a little better. The profit in your business plan speaks to sustainability. As-in, will it be alive next year? Cash flow is what pays the bills, to keep this shark of a business keep swimming and not suffocate.

 

Now THATS an explanation. You the man red...I always enjoy your posts.

 

Thanks for posting this, and I hope you get it behind you quickly.

Personally, I agree with @rollin coal 100%, for the reasons in my long winded post.

 

Boss Lady, what about buying a new ignition switch from the dealer parts department for the truck? Like $35 or $40 bucks, new keys just in case your "friend" kept a copy?

They're easy to change out. The switch, I mean. Remove the surrounding thread body/nut, push the old switch back until you can remove the wire plug, plug it right back into the new switch, push it back thru the dash and fasten the threaded nut. Maybe 10 minutes. Best.