Instant O/O and Load boards

So, if you're going to start a trucking company, be prepared to come very close to losing your @s$ in the first month... I'll tell you I'm darn close.

I'm going to post a summary expense list some time later, for others to see and me to know the extent of it for the first time myself. I'm not looking forward to it.

Anyway if you've been following, I had that clutch adjustment and tow right before taking off. That was thursday last week. On tuesday this week I was on the side of the road again for another clutch adjustment, and the guy put about 5 or 6 inches of travel in there.

By yesterday my clutch was perfect again, 2 inches of travel. NOT good under the circumstances, I was losing 2-3 inches every 4 to 5 days. I took it up to my shop today to have it looked at again. They adjusted it up again and weren't going to charge me so I had them replace that step and fix what they could of the body work. $200 for the step and a bill of $318 after doing the work.

So the guy goes to pull it out of the shop and it wouldn't come out of reverse, he had to shut it off. Clutch adjustment gone wrong? Well he got under and sorted it out, but now it had NO adjustment left and I had the exact same amount of travel as I did going in, after adjusting twice in the same hour.

At this point it was my gamble to hit the road and hope for the best, or use a bit of common sense. Well common sense prevailed, but at more tremendous cost. Another $1450 for a re-man clutch. Also they are closed on the weekend but a couple guys agreed to come in tomorrow to do the work since I was in a bind and had to be in Ohio Monday at noon for my next load.

So now I'm sure I'm at around the 20k mark and I haven't received a penny yet. I have 3 jobs that I can bill for. Roughly $700, $600, and $500, but I will also have about $700 for fuel deducted from that and more by the time they get around to paying it since I'll have another $400 in fuel expense after this next run which will be a $1500 run.

SO, here I am now at a point where if ONE more semi-major thing goes wrong with my truck in the next month, I"m gonna be in some major poo. AMEX turned down the bill today because I haven't used the card in months, and apparently they use some kind of running average. So I had to use most of the rest of my cash and split up the rest between 2 more cards.

So now I have... oh... 11-15 days to NET $3600 to cover my payments and housing around the 1st.

Wish me luck and I wouldn't mind if you guys said one for me!

 

Thanks man! Wondering where you been.

There was actually only 2 parts damaged, the piece to the rear was just pushed back but didn't crack. It went back into place when the step was replaced. So now the only damaged piece is that hole in the front bezel there now.

 

Yeah I averaged $1.75 on those three trips, but no FSC. The deadheads for those were not bad, 60 - 90 miles a piece. Monday though I'm deadheading from Charlotte to Millis Ferry, OH, about 400+ miles, but because the east coast is waiting out high grain and fertilizer prices right now and that job to Sebring, FL is paying $63/ton plus 8.5% FSC. Next will be New Orleans area to MO for about the same. Should be an ok week.

I think you'll like them, but I did sit for the weekend after my first load and had a 3 day weekend this week due to no loads (at least where I was). Midwest is supposed to be full speed ahead though.