Happier as a O/O or company driver

I'm the oldest sibling I disagree. Perhaps being paid $1 per mile and child support are a factor.

 

No kidding. My oldest sister was valedictorian of her school. An accountant with a masters degree, her life is a mess, and is terrible with money, ironic huh? I am the youngest of four, we all have college degrees. I have plenty of money in the bank enough to buy any truck I desire, and a great work ethic, having yet to call in sick at my job of 7 years.

This week, while lazy clowns were dropping trailers in bad shape, I was the one airing up tires, adjusting brakes, replacing tag lights, fixing little things on the truck, and getting the job done. My boss looks at me as the go to guy, that’s how I have been at every job, I take pride in being dependable and being the person to get it done. I got my work ethic from my dad, the oldest of his family, and he never cut me any slack as a kid. I drive a POS 97 Honda Accord that I am about to junk because I could care less about driving new things and impressing people.

Just bought a $2800 2003 Pilot that I am putting a transmission in. I will have a little over $5k in it when all said and done because I don’t care about blue book and resale. I will drive the wheels off it and keep it til it’s not longer worth having. My sister is the type that gets a raise and blows it on a payment. So, cliff notes, those stats may have some relevance for lazy millennials, but you and I know better.

 

I'm not saying you can't bag the sexy witch / catwoman chics with the Pilot, but it's SOOOOO much more help to have the Camaro.

 

Oh I hear you, I’ve got a sexy wife who is an attorney, part middle eastern with tan skin and very well put together. I never owned a sports car, but I’ve got a 99 Sierra with a 402 Stroker and an 84 mm turbo that puts down a lot of power. I had a crotch rocket once when I was in college, and if you were riding around, it was quite common for girls to ask you to take them on a ride when you’re were in traffic.

It’s easier to take kids places in the Pilot, especially with the DVD system.

 

My sister is also an accountant, controller.
Trust me, you don't wanna compare or trade basket case sisters. She's 10 years older.

 

o

well I guess your in the 10%

 

I'm not posting a settlement (who's to say I didn't just make it myself anyways?) but I am leased to a flatbed company with about 350 trucks: company, lease, and owner ops, and all i can say is I promise I make $2-3k per week after fuel costs and insurances (health, dental, vision) plus occupational/acc ins, cargo ins liability bobtail and my $62 weekly phys damage ins are all taken out and whatever else i'm forgetting. Now i know this is not all clear profit (like other posters said) i shove a few hundred into tax and maintenance accounts. I bought an automatic and everyone can make fun of me all they want, but I started with Melton and they were in the process of switching to all automatics because of the better fuel mileage, so I figured if a company with over 1200 trucks is doing that to increase profit maybe i should too... I get over 7mi per gallon loaded (long as there's not a ridiculous headwind and I stay light on my accelerator ha) and 10-12 mi/gal empty definitely pump up my bottom line, because at the end of every week I check out my fuel surcharges and compare it to what i actually spent on fuel they are shockingly close. And my company pays me $75 to tarp loads and i get 3 to 5 a week that sometimes all need tarpin so that helps too. My truck averages $4500-$5500 per week and I get 70% of it. So say 70% of $5k makes $3500 to me, plus another $150-$300 for tarping, and i'm only paying $250-$500 outta pocket on fuel, depending on what part of country i'm in (mostly southeast where it's cheap) and all my company fixed costs like truck insurances and my health ins (which my company pays half), dental and vision ins for my entire family, and all other ins i already listed all together equal $563 per week, which is a drop in the bucket when truck makes $5k consistently (more when I stay out over the weekend). I pay bank $1057/month on my truck note ($264/week). Other o/ops I've met from from Blair and Universal and Mercer all say they are doing about the same on average. Plants I haul for are busy as heck and paying good money to get their product out. I haul mostly lumber, steel, and aluminum. And my dispatcher has me planned out 2-3 loads at a time, I don't sit (unless I'm at home on the weekend). Hell I don't sit then either cuz wifey always got a list of stuff fer me to do there, ha.

 

Listen,.. just because you cant handle time management on elogs and run freight that requires appointments that dont coincide with your preferred hours of operation,. doesnt mean the rest of of dont have our ish together.

I call ahead and work out a delivery time that works for both parties,. I get my sleep and they get their freight. Its really not that confusing. That and most of my freight has a 0700 to 1630 window for delivery. Some places are 24/7. I dont bump docks.

The only time I'll have a set time will be for crane appts. And those usually pay very well so I dont mind the lack of sleep because I can usually catch a nap for a few hours on site after I deliver.

I never had those options as a company driver. It was always rushing from one load to another with out regard to my lack of sleep and listening to people piss and moan when I said I was running out of hours and needed a restart. God forbid the truck sits for a day and I get to rest up.

Hurst

 

Banging up at the $1700-$1800 range on average.

 

Not bad for a company guy (better than I ever did as one) but a decent indy will easily double that.