How are O/O making a living at $1.00 a mile

Nope, I've seen the rates out of Ghent, I've never been there and for what they pay I never will be. Detroit is the specific area I was referring to. I can get great money going into SE Mich but I nearly always bounce.

 

Most people allways wanna know how I make money with a hopper. Well I dont farm so come harvest I dont disappear like the farmers that try trucking. Then I will run. Short distance and the wagon is full. Gross 600.00 on 177 miles. Now it eats fuel, lots of ideling, and one day Ill get burnt. You just save for that.

 

That's exactly the way I see it. And my carrier sees it that way as well. I can operate and actually make a good living on that. But why stop there when it can be better.

 

Great info. I have, you guessed it, a dry van. Flats are a specialized thing and I have no experience.

 

Good points but I disagree with the second statement. I payed cash for the truck and decided to lease on as it allowed having to have a little less on start up funds. I have the backing of my carrier and also am learning quite a bit from the owner as well as the main dispatcher. The owner knows my end goal is to go out on my own and have a couple of trucks. That being said as of right now I am contemplating a second truck and staying in with him, probably sometime around January.

At the same time I had one of my drivers earlier this year when I was still in management leave and go out on his own. He is on the verge of going bust.

I think it is based on the situation you are in and you have to weigh all options to make that decision.

 

Consider leasing to a flatbed carrier to get that experience. Or a reefer carrier. Or a tanker carrier. Just get away from that dry van.

 

Sorry I did not clarify, I am running flats. That being said the swap is not that difficult. I never had done it either. I have been following another driver around for the last three weeks. I pretty much have the basics down and could split out on my own at this point but as long as we keep finding decent freight together we are going to run together.

 

I will definitely work that over in my mind. Stuck for now though. Kind of like the idea of a tanker.

 

makes sense and flats always make more money but then everything makes more than a dry van. I need to mull this all over.

 

Yes at the very least you got to get into reefer. the more you can seperare yourself from others the better chance you have at getting better money.