Average 3500 week for 45 weeks flatbed

How long have you been an OO?

3500 a gross a week should be easy. Unless it's mid October till end of February. Then runs don't always pay , but it depends on the year.

I know Mercer and land star LO will haul UPS for a month to make ends meet, i did. Some of the teams do real well for six weeks.

Flat to me was 8 months of the year. 3 years ago rates were poor, imo.

 

I make my money by staying out and rolling 6 days a week. The only time off is for a 34.

I'll run like that until I am tired and ready for home. That could be 4 weeks,.. or 8 - 9 weeks. This last run,.. I left home April 30th,.. and just got home on the 14th. Only reason I stayed out like that is because the money was insane. I was afraid to miss out on the boom. Its finally slowing so I took some much needed time off. I'll probably head out next week and my plan is to head home end of Nov,.. maybe first week in Dec. Then taking off and not coming back out till mid March. I've got more than enough banked away to be very comfortable.

The way your running,.. your missing out on what I call my weekend loads. The 850 - 1500 mi pay days I pick up on Friday and deliver on Monday. Depending on the lane I am running or the schedule of the customer who has freight for me to move,.. I'll do 2 - 3 runs Monday - Friday,.. and then the weekend run. I dont want to brag on my numbers,.. but they are double what yours are for the most part. Not always,.. but more than not.

My main stay is over size crane parts, over size/length steel, and a few other shippers that I know pay well and do my best to operate within reach of them.

My lanes and customer base shifts based on the market and time of year. I try to milk a good lane for as long as I can,.. but like anything else,.. others come in and things dry up. Time to call around and see whats paying and where I need to be.

I cant make the money I like getting home weekends. It just doesnt work that way for me,.. not in Florida anyway. I have to go where the money is and follow when and where I need to be next.

I'm guessing your in the Carolina's or North Ga area? I can see getting home weekends there. Maybe even daily if you could score some local gigs. I've read posts from guys who live in that area and thats how they like to run. Again,.. just doesnt work for me living in Fla.

Good luck out there.

Hurst

 

The numbers definitely seem low to me. We're doing better than that runnin van and Im doing Tx regional which isnt a great market.

 

Home on weekends. I think 10 days out 4 days back would be more. Extra 3k a month.

 

I remember two weeks back in 2013 that i grossed only $3500 each week with my dry van; I was shaking in my boots, felt like i was backed into a corner, wondering whether I should hang it up.

 

You could pull dry van and lease on for more then that. Maybe start calling on more loads or brokers before settling. Or get in a habit for asking for what probably seems like crazy high rates and see where it takes you.

 

Just O/S is really very simple,.. anything under 10ft can be great money. 10 - 11.5 ft will need to pay a little more. I dont do anything over 12 wide. Money is good,.. but there is more to it and I prefer to keep it simple.

OW pays really good,.. but the novice can get really screwed here because certain states the permits are pretty reasonable,.. while other states permits for over weight is stupid and almost not worth doing.

To make OS/OW work,.. I mean really work,.. find a few steady customers or shippers with brokers that wont rip you off and see how things work out.

I had a long trial and error period where I was pulling good loads but going to bad areas. Once I pieced together how to work a loop and stay inside of the good lanes,.. thats when I started to make some really good money.

If you pay attention on the loadboards,.. all the good loads and good lanes,.. dont have many good paying loads coming back into them,.. if any at all. The trick is to find where the good paying freight back to those hot areas are coming from. Often you wont find them on the load boards. This is something your going to have to figure out on your own.

Hurst

 

Another way to make better money is LTL. Which takes a lot more time lining up loads. But you can double, or more, your pay per mile.
Good luck.