Advice Needed From 3 to 5 Truck Fleet Owners

You all believe all these figures you want. You will not be able to pay a driver a high wage, plus all the taxes, and make it work out as you are planning.:smt102
If there a good profit in using drivers only, these trucking companies would not be pushing their lease / purchase plans so hard. They realize selling the O/O dream makes them more profit than hiring only drivers to operate the company trucks.
It will not work as well as you think it will. Mr. Murphy [ of Murphy's Law ] will appear.

 

You see certain responses and without knowing anything about the person you can say “There is a person that if they had a fleet of trucks would fail”. You really have to ask yourself why is that a L/P driver (having all the cards stacked against them) can make it and then you talk to an O/O flatbed (some of the best paying freight) can’t make a living.

ATTITUDE
(told you I was going to beat this drum)

 

Thanks BigBadBill. I hope you will use it. I hope others will read it, if you think it is good. If you find value in it then maybe I have done my due diligence and research properly. If I have, then I would be going in informed. That is the best you can do. I believe my numbers are conservative and doable. I also believe there is a potential for more profit in rates and mileage.

I see so many posts from guys looking for rate advice. What is the lowest price I should move freight for? Is this rate too cheap for this load? I see guys thinking there costs are lower than I think they are! How can they expect to be successful if they don't understand their cost of operation?

Now this is just my opinion, but I don't think in reality, there is more than .25 CPM difference in anyone's operating cost if they really have a grasp on it. And I believe that as much as .15 CPM of that difference is fuel mileage. A new truck could add some to those differences. If you don't cover proper wages, ROI and replacement you missed the boat.

If you aren't making payments you should be saving the same amount to replace the equipment, expecting to buy something of at least similar age (as in 2005 in 2011 and 2010 in 2016) when it is worn out. If you save a few extra pennies, maybe you gain a year or two every 5 -6 years. If you have a newer truck your payments are higher, your maintenance is lower and replacement is further away. If you have an older truck your payments are lower, your maintenance is higher and replacement is closer. If you can't make a return on investment or at least recoup your investment and interest, you should of spent your money elsewhere. If you can't be compensated properly, trucking will grow old real fast. If you don't plan for all these things, you lessen your chances of surviving in an industry that is not so forgiving and an economic climate that is less than optimum. If push comes to shove, you need to know where you can trim your numbers.

You are right about more miles on the lease over authority. That makes it less favorable to me. Cutting expenses or running more miles are the only way to increase profit. Many are making it this way and some are getting reasonable rates. There are so many more ways to increase profits running your own authority. Obviously, there is more risk and more ways to put yourself out of business too. What I love most about our great American system is greater risk has the potential of greater reward and hard work pays dividends.

I think you are correct that your attitude and the way you deal with people will make a difference. They deal with rude, unhappy, entitled people all day. They will remember the polite appreciative driver who made their day a little brighter. I have gotten warnings or no tickets more than once this way.

 

I don't believe my numbers are all that optimistic. They are for running under your own authority. Anyone who looks at them and thinks they are overly optimistic obviously doesn't understand how much work it will take to make it work. If you look at the cost of operation you realize a lease/purchase can't hardly make break even. You also realize a fleece/purchase is doomed to fail, although some overly optimistic people manage to pull it off.

Now, just looking at the above paragraph what does that tell you about people and situations? This is what it tells you: Some will make it without a chance in hell and others will fail when it's handed to them complete with a silver spoon! And those that don't understand the costs and risks will fail regardless.

Just beating the drum. Where did you get that drum Bill?

 

Hi, everyone
I cant write much, but Im a owner of 3 trucks with team drivers on two and one is solo. Im here to say its hard work and you are on the phone 24/7. You have to deal with drivers, dispachers, brokers, and keep track of all the truck paperwork. Im getting my 4th truck this friday, Ill keep you posted this is an old truck, Im using for some local work.

 

This is very true it is very difficult for a one man show to go out and contract with a direct customer because lets say if you can only do one load per week for that customer but they have three loads per week they will find someone who can handle the three loads.

I do not typically take brokered freight I only use it to get a truck in position to pick up a direct customer load. Example I pick up 5-7 loads per week out of Indianapolis coming back into the Carolina's. I have three loads a week going to Cincinatti, OH. If need be I can run that guy empty from Cincinatti to Indianapolis and still make plenty of profit I bid the the Cincinatti loads with the intention of picking up the Indianapolis off of them but usually I can find a $300-400 load to cover that 168 miles which is gravy. Is what I am getting at you have to find you niche in the market and what lanes are good for you mine is a mix of local and regional. I could not tell you the last time we ran a trip that was 800 miles out it just does not work for me in what I do.

 

My dad was working as a company driver, without home time back in 2005, and I really got tired of seeing him like that, so we got our first truck I payed half and he payed the other half. After me hiring a driver to make it a team I saved up some cash to put a down payment on the second truck, which was the point of us failing because we had it sitting for over 4 months and found a driver, which was a hard worker and saved us. Now I'm buying my 4th truck. As for income I'm happy for now, my goal is to three more by the end of this year. I have great work at the moment and would not mind to help out someone out there.

 

The guy can't even figure out that we use diesel fuel... c'mon give me a break.

You are the big attitude guy... attitude without experience will only get you so far. If you could ask anyone who has worked with me I have about the best attitude of anyone in this biz... don't believe me?

Let's put it this way.... I have 39 years of experience. Well over 4,000,000 miles. I've hauled vans, flats, reefers, tankers, step decks, doubles and triples... and I still work.

I had to have a shoulder replaced after damaging it climbing in and out of those brown cabovers I drove in the 80's (I drove one armed with my right arm in a sling because I was only a seasonal driver and wanted a full time gig)...

Years later I injured, and wore out, the same shoulder and had a replacement done so I could keep working... I drove, again, with my right arm in a sling for almost two years before the surgery... no pissing and moaning... no bellyaching.

I have two knees with severe arthritis and I keep working...

I injured my back in 2001 in a slip and fall accident... and I kept working. I re-injured the back three times while doing flatbed work at Mercer (two falls from the top of my loads and one from the deck)... and I still work.

I took early retirement in January of this year so I can keep working... the extra income is handy when freight is slow.

My attitude is fine... if it wasn't no one would put up with this old man.

What I don't need to hear anymore is new guys coming into this biz with all the answers. They run their numbers on some spreadsheet and think they can make it when old hands, with millions of miles of experience, are parking their trucks by the droves because the business just won't allow someone to make a GOOD living.

A GOOD LIVING isn't $40,000.... I made that 25 years ago. We should be clearing $100,000 with the investment and commitment needed to prosper in this business.

I can understand that the noobs think this is some kinda glitzy get rich quick business... but most barely make it year before calling it quits... why is that? Because they don't have a realistic attitude... and no experience. I tell it like I see it...

BTW... is that $42K profit you mention in six months AFTER you paid yourself? Just wondering.

I'm NOT trying to bust your balls Bill... I'm just honest.

Rave on...