A BIG THANK YOU TO YOU TRUCKERS. MY JOURNEY

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Peyton2Marvin, Oct 18, 2017.

  1. Peyton2Marvin

    Peyton2Marvin Light Load Member

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    Hello all

    Long time reader first time poster. I have followed this site religiously for few years and have used it as a cheat sheet in a sense.

    I have learned so much from quite frankly all of you. So for that thank you.

    I live in Jacksonville FL and am in my late 20s (holy Crap where did the time go).
    Hold your breath but I have been and currently am a Broker for a company for last 6 years.

    I wanted to start my own small trucking company but have ran into Several issues over the last few years. One of them has been not having a CDL and being a new venture most insurance companies I reached out continue to turn me away.

    I have been using some money saved up to flip homes in spare time but now home prices are through the roof and everyone is listing their home far to pricey for me to make a decent ROI on a flip.

    My dad have moved back from Canada to partner up with me as he has had his CDL for 18 years. On Monday because of this I received a ball park figure for insurance since my dad will be technically the driver a price of $1300-1500. Only reason price was not set is because we have not decided on the exact truck. We gave them three VINS.

    I am ready to start the business but am waiting for end of year to see how ELogs affect the market. Seems like a #### show for a newbie to come in one month before hand.



    Issues that I anticipate running into is finding a good driver for a second truck (my dad will run locals with truck 1).
    I want to offer minimum 1000 a week to the driver to attract better talent. I have been told that can either be a great deal or handicap the business.

    As far as freight goes I have contacts that will keep me busy year round through a large paper customer. (Georgia Pacific). They do 30000 loads a day so I have no problem sharing name. I also have tons of business in Midwest paying average around 3.25 a mile.


    Last thing is I am nervous as ####. I hope to build this business to support my parents as they have left Canada and their amazing health plans to move here to help me with getting around the No-CDL problem. So this business has to succeed as I have a lot riding on it.

    I am a lot more condifent because of everyone on here who continues to post and share thoughts and ideas and for that I thank you all. I know the brokers are not well liked around here but I hope to join the other side.

    Please share any thoughts or questions you all may have as I start my journey.

    @BoyWander you hauled a load for my company and I gave you a call after seeing your post. Not sure if you remember me but You had issues with detention and I called you. Thought how cool Boywander did a load from my office. Not sure if you remember me. Took place about 4 weeks ago.
     
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  3. BoyWander

    BoyWander Road Train Member

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    Yes I remember. The load to Billings.

    Couple things.

    You're going to have a hard time finding a good driver. And a good driver will cost you about $1500/week. But then you have workman's comp, add 6-7%. Then employment taxes, 6.2%. Unemployment insurance. Insurance on the driver. All in all could cost $2000/week to hire. Then they want health insurance. Lol.

    Good rule of thumb is IF you keep the truck running you can expect to make between $10,000-30,000 profit per truck, and that's if you do well. You could more easily lose money or worse.

    Your best bet is to get your CDL and go team with your dad. You could make a ton more. Tons more. Teams are almost impossible to find. So you'd have a hard time finding one.

    It's just not really feasible to get a truck and hire a driver and make good money. Margins are thin, risk is huge, imagine if your driver killed someone, and you have to learn the game. If you think you can keep the truck moving at $2.25/loaded mile 100,000 miles+ you might have a chance.

    Local in Florida, meh.

    You will be the one screaming about other brokers not offering enough.
     
  4. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    Dec 9, 2011
    South west Missouri
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    One of my small joys in life is helping others, why, I don’t know.

    This forum serves that purpose.
     
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  5. Peyton2Marvin

    Peyton2Marvin Light Load Member

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    My dad is in his 50s so the local Jax to Savannah run is what he will do.

    He also needs to be home daily.

    I’ll be honest bud if I said I will jump in and nothing will go wrong. I have spoken to quite a few drivers (huge driver town in Jax FL. All forgeiners) as well as few recruiters who find drivers and they said the top companies in town were offering .48 cents. Figure 2200-2500 miles a week comes out to 1000-1200 a week. But yes I agree that I am worried about finding good drivers. Seems like there are hundreds of ads daily in town for drivers.

    Flipping has dryed up and I don’t really have anything to invest in. I will continue to work at the Brokerage as I grow. I have option to work in office or from home.
     
  6. Peyton2Marvin

    Peyton2Marvin Light Load Member

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    Can’t thank you enough
     
    Lepton1 and blairandgretchen Thank this.
  7. Peyton2Marvin

    Peyton2Marvin Light Load Member

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    Another thing I just saw your 2.25 rate year round. One of the customers I run for as a broker he has nearly 4 plants within 3 mile that ship over 500 loads a week. Competition for trucks has been there for years and he always has had to fork out close to 3. Hoping it continues.

    I hope it works out. No guarantees. Nothing in life is I guess.
     
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  8. BoyWander

    BoyWander Road Train Member

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    Jul 22, 2011
    Michigan
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    Well I'm talking $2.25 on 3000 miles average. Not easy to do. One load per day is all you'll have time to do. None of these 300 mile $900 runs that isn't enough. Need to gross 6-7k per week on the truck.

    The driver isn't gonna wanna drive 52 weeks of the year. Base it on 40 weeks.

    If you're good with numbers, crunch what it will cost per year. That's the key number. Cost per year. Should be around
    $150,000 - $170,000/year with a driver.
     
    Lepton1 Thanks this.
  9. BoyWander

    BoyWander Road Train Member

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    Jul 22, 2011
    Michigan
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    If you can keep them brokerage accounts, you could be onto something. Being able to keep that extra could really help stay above water. Not sure what kind of area and loads those are though.
     
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  10. Peyton2Marvin

    Peyton2Marvin Light Load Member

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    May I ask why 40? With e logs. I assume the average weekly run will be 2100-2400 miles. That would barely put me at 90k on miles if we ran 40 weeks out of the year.

    Are you throwing 40 to make up for last few weeks in December?
     
  11. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    Mar 5, 2016
    White County, Arkansas
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    Elogs will provide a damper on running. Particularly if there is a problem or conflict as time runs out on that last day with 8 hours remaining etc. Then you have to think about time lost on sitting for reset etc. I suppose the industry must fall on it's sword running three paper logs for decades and here we are. Shrugs.

    1000 will get you a driver. But good drivers are very expensive. 1500 a week would be better to hold them. By the time you factor in the taxes etc you are already at 2 grand for the week.

    Now I don't know what miles you will turn on that 3.25 run but I hope it is alot more than 2000 a week plus fuel plus plus plus. I suggest you get your own CDL and pay yourself that money. Then when it comes time to hire a driver you will really know what the situation will be having driven it yourself. It would better to go with a salary as a fixed cost to pay that driver. That way miles and it's problems with ELD dont become a problem. Appointments will. Everyone wants it yesteday, never mind that some of it has spent three months across the pacific or two from Europe. With the eld's taking charge, that truck is just going to have to be there when it gets there legally.

    Which should focus you on to husband and wife teams, you can pay them 2 grand to 2500 to the truck and the rest will take care of itself because they will have twice the hours to move with the ELD not a restraint or a liability.

    One other thing, the moment you start looking for a driver, you are going to have a stack of applications about 2 feet high in paper form or 3 days worth of computer time online. You will never be able to get through them all unless you have a staff to do it for you.

    One final thought, good drivers we have. Drivers that can go to canada? That's even better because there are not so many compared to the pool of availible hires.
     
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