Double Yellow's Company Driver to Independent Thread

I'm both encouraged and depressed by your reports. I'm leased to a small carrier, pay 13% for the privilege plus liability, trl rent, plates just like if they were my numbers. Gotta pay for those connections I guess right? Yet I still have to freedom to book as I please. Not having to chase my money is nice too. I also run a day cab. I have two kids under 2 and a needy wife. I jumped into this Feb 2015 (literally the same time our daughter was born, "Now or never." I said) so I'm nearly two full years in.

Grossed $134k (to the boss)
67,887 miles (in a day cab)
Boss $16.5k (It would have been nice to keep that, but most of the work is from "his" brokers, and I'm not interested in getting my own numbers ATM.)
Fuel $23k
Maint $20k (18k last year. Nickles and dimes sure do add up. Can't wait 'til it blows up!)
Trl rent $5k (Brand new, with no wood walls our one broker requires, true month-to-month)
Tractor payments $6k
Tolls $5.6k (Gotta love PA)
Insurance $5.3k
Plates/HUT/NYHUT $3k (Good thing I'm doing this exercise, forgot to enter 2290 in my acct)
Travel $2k (CMC)
AT&T $5.5k (Big ext family share scheme, inc. Next payments)

Net $38.6k
Last year I netted $43k on $125k. I'm moving backward!
If we back out my travel and AT&T my net goes up to $46k

I guess I could be doing worse but I'm working every day there's work available worth doing, and some there aren't. The ELD mandate has me thinking I need to trade out for my "dream truck" but of the -'99 variety (KW T600 or T800 w/ sleeper) I fudge my logs constantly. Even if I can buckle down to be compliant, I really don't think my sleep, health, hunger, stress, and fuel mileage is worth it. However I'm afraid of investing in ancient equip to have carriers and insurance make my strategy moot anyway. I guess I'll keep waiting and seeing?

 

OK found some of my money. All of 2015 I was doing power only work with no trl rental fees. I started with my current carrier at the 4th qtr of 2015. Prior to that, I was doing intermodal on a flat rate basis so the boss' cut isn't factored. Also the intermodal gig was a much smaller radius so less tolls.

 

grossing 2 bucks a mile on short haul NE corridor seems kinda weak IMHO

 

5k dollars to rent a dry van? Holy smokes. You can buy decent used ones for just a bit more than that. And unless your credit is trashed could finance a new one at that rate.

 

I should buy one but I don't want the commitment. I have issues selling things once I have them. I have 2 cars I don't drive!

 

Income per mile is way too low for your area. At this rate you are making less than a company driver at a bad company. You could improve things by purchasing a pre emissions truck and your own trailer but that still won't help your income per mile

 

If anybody wants a nice owner op spec Great Dane I would suggest calling Mike at Crossroads in Albert Lea: http://www.truckpaper.com/listings/...e-champion-se-101-with-lift-axle?OHID=7924093
$34,500 if you pickup at the factory in IL. It's an auto lift. When it hits 18k the axle drops. He said they are almost gone.

My rental is $400/mo plus 3 CPM. It's a true month to month with maintenance included. With my estimated miles my payment is $505. I need to recalc as I think my miles have gone up but if I committed to a trl it would be the one above and the payment would go up unless I can get 0% for 60 mo lol

IFTA. Supposedly you can file in any state. Who does efile and who is best? I live, plate, and file in PA but they don't efile. NY does efile and I already have an OSCAR acct for NYHUT so I was thinking maybe there but do I really want NY on the side of my truck?! I'd like to pick a cool state: TX IA NH ME AK ?

 

AK does not have fuel tax and is not part of IFTA. I am base plated out of WA and they have everything online (IFTA and IRP).

 

Why would anyone spend 35k on a freaking dry van? You can get them all day long for 10k max.

 

That one has good specs and is nice. But I wouldn't buy a new one in current economic conditions. I bought a brand new one in Dec 14... .....and the past 2 years of low, low rates made me regret that one a lot lol. And all the freight I was running requiring a newer trailer disappeared too so that was a double whammy. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe if things heat back up I will be tapping into some of that good freight soon and a lot of it again. But haven't seen it yet.