Some numbers for new O/O

To be fair, I think a lot of people enter this industry thinking it's their last, best resort and they'll believe what they want to hear no matter where it's coming from. Just look at half the threads that come up in this section. The minute someone makes a negative post, half a dozen more jump in trying to soothe the hurt feelings or the OP gets mad and leaves.

Clearly your friend didn't listen to you either. That's not yours or anyones fault. There's some that just can't be helped.

 

You know why every post you make somehow leads to emissions trucks??? Because the EGR valve on my ISX has you in a Cummins mind lock.

 

Your dreaming if you think u can make 5500 a week and only work 5 days week. Unless your 100 percent drop and hook and no elogs is that possible

 

That was certainly the case for me. I was going to become a school teacher but the dang state-approved master's program wanted me to wait another full
year before even starting because of Connecticut's budget crisis. I said the heck with it, looked at other options, and went into trucking.

I make around what I would have made as a high school Spanish teacher... although Trucking certainly has its long hours and the stress of trying to race against the eld all the time... no teenagers to deal with either.

It's all what you make of it really. My company has a decent l/o program but I keep running the numbers and while my projections aren't as high as OP they're high enough to dissuade me from being anything but a company man. Work smarter, not harder.

If you work for a large enough company they can tap into economies of scale that brings their costs down significantly in a way you never could! Leaving more room to pay you!

Definitely run your numbers it's all about the numbers it seems. Be conservative in your estimates!

 

We'd like to think that in order to enter the trucking business there should be a certain skill set and prerequisites required. There are very few. 1st is insurance, 2nd is cost of equipment. They are rather technical and can be overcome relatively easily. If you can't afford insurance, you can lease on. As far as the tradesmanship goes, it is hardly ever recognized, it is often believed not to exist at all... almost on par with cab driving or house cleaning. For example, for whatever reason, no that many would dare to enter plumbing or bricklaying business the same ways e.i. "I'll buy myself a bunch of tools and a van, I'll be another Joe Plumber tomorrow" There is, of course, a license for that too...good luck getting that.

 

Yes, but the down side of lease is you have someone else determining your value,Right now the load board is booming,but that can change fast,im currently looking at mag and wmg ,im waiting to find out if i can broker my own freight ,from what im understanding you can,wmg charges 10 percent to run under their authority,6%for trailer rental,2%for dispatch,2 %.for same day settlements ,and a fuel card ,mag charges12 percent of load ,this includes dispatch,and 270 per week trailer rental with maintanence included,The only reason I would lease to these guys is if I'm allowed broker and price my own freight,there is no way to beat this deal having office support, a dispatcher,deep fuel and insurance discounts,out weighs the headaches of your own authority,but if the economy slows down,you'll want a company that has dedicated contracts ,keep in mind your truck has wheels get the money while its here,You can work for cheap layer

 

I have an EGR Valve living rent free in my head... Can't help it, if you knew my story you would understand. And spending 3 months in and out of Mr Haggs down in GA.... Not pretty. One of those deals that you need a shower, a long HOT SHOWER.

 

Why not?

 

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. If you have your own authority and not making at least a grand a day in the current market, you're doing something wrong. You don't need to drive 11 hours a day coast to coast and drop and hook only to do it. I know some doing twice that working 5 days a week. Work smarter, not harder.

 

I beg to differ, I have 3 trucks that do it most every week running flatbed. The weeks they don’t turn @least 5k is because they didn’t work a full 5 days for whatever reason. Break down or time off. Occasionally getting held up by a shipper/receiver will interfere but we still get some detention. Those weeks are made up by the weeks where they may make 6k or 7k to the truck.
1 of those trucks is on a dedicated run, 2000 miles per week. Leave Sunday night at 7pm home and reloaded by 1pm on Thursday. $5848 for the run. No pre loaded trailers and all on E-logs.

While there are many that may exaggerate their rate, there are many more naysayers who say it can’t be done. These are the ones who brokers and shippers have convinced that better rates are not out there so this $1.50 a mile is a great rate or $3 mile on short runs is great. They (shippers and brokers) are thriving on people like this.
You run for what makes you happy but don’t think for a second that these kinds of rates are not out there. We have repeated this year after year for several years.