Am I completely 100% off my rocker?

exactly my point..thats one huge fuel bill, plus truck payment and all to have to worry about covering in this economy..company driver=less financial risk..Now if things continue to slowly rebound..a couple of years from now..even if fuel doesn't come down (which it won't) then buy a truck not lease, and lease it on to a company with a reaaaallly good fuel surcharge program but rght now..o/o just too risky JCT used to guaranteea fuel surcharge to a certain price per gallon way back when..probably still does..I wonder what the corrected (after fuel surcharge factored in) is now.

Petey

 

how do you figure O/O is too risky? Because you don't have a maintenance escrow account? Or because you don't plan for other things to happen.

company driver pays better than a leased purchase, but an independent pays a whole lot better.

Talked with too many Ind O/O lately who spend more time fishing than they do driving or so it would seem.

Almost worse than a bunch of farmers the way they complain about not being able to get a new piece of equipment.

 

Our guys average 2.75-3.00 per mile, I wont have a payment of more than $600 a month. Ill be doing work ive spent several years lining up for our trucks.

 

Mn..ever owned your own truck?

800 gallons fuel x 4 bucks a gallon..3200 bucks a week in fuel..if no fuel surcharge (and independents don't always get one) thats a huge hunk..

and did you maybe think they were spending all that time fishin cuz it cost em less to sit at home than run the truck at that time?..

i could do it too..if I set it up right...

Incorporate..then my company that I own pays me the driver a set wage or cpm figured for myself after my companies expenses are covered..then out of that my company does me, the driver's taxes just like a company driver including unemployment, workmans comp etc..so while times are good my company is banking its profit after expenses including me the driver's pay..then when times are bad (like now) me the company can lay me the driver off for a couple of weeks..then me the driver can draw unemployment while me the company makes the truck payment and insurance payment out of the banked company profits..all nice and legal like..during those two weeks no fuel, no maint costs..

You create a holding company that incorporates your trucking company

Thus making it cheaper at 4 bucks a gallon and slow freight to go fishing

Petey

 

petey, you make it seem like the end of the world for an independent.

It's not. I spent the last two weeks working with a couple of local independents, my banker AND an insurance agent.

I have estimated low income and high cost and I was still told I was too conservative trying to MAKE it fail. Even using 90's era rates and current era expense costs.

Jeez, a decent plan you will set yourself out for a lot better life than you make this out to be.

They sit at home fishing because they have a plan when the freight is good, they make the money so when they don't WANT to work, they can go fishing.

 

Being ex military..a plan only lasts as far as initial contact..Too many what ifs..

there is always the slim possibility that freight won't pick back up to previous levels until years from now..

Nothing that depends 100 percent on a piece of machinery as complex as a tractor trailer is ever 100 percent guaranteed not to fail..being as this hread was started by folks who have never driven but in the industry they know that as well as i do..#### happens and murphy's law is the only law that is always 100 percent guaranteed...

Here's the difference..I have been an owner op..with a plan..then I hurt my back and couldn't drive period..Murphy's law..now I'm all better..I could have hired a driver and put him in my truck..but I ran the figures...I would have just broke even..no profit..if I wanted a good experienced driver in the seat who was going to run like I did..so I sold the truck...my workmans comp insurance that I paid for out of my profit paid me while I was too hurt to work at all but it was only 60 percent of my net settlement after expenses...

All it takes is a wreck..or a fall down the stairs at home....to put you completely uut of action before you are in their position which is either their truck and trailer are paid off (usually 3 to 5 years) or they are doing what I outlined above..

In this economy with the type of people we share the road with..getting saddled with those expenses right now..No thank you.

To each their own...my advise t a new driver..even one from the management side of things is wait a year..drive and make sure you still like it before you take a bite of the owner op apple..run the expenses that you would incur as an owner op while driving for that year..use it as practice and to make any needed changes in your plan that you may or may not run across..if you are coming out ahead on paper during that year and its MORE than you are making driving that company truck..then by all means..take the bite of that owner operator apple and I will be the first one to pat you on the back and say congratulations and make your rich ### buy me a beer LOL

On the flip side if you realize that being cautions and waiting was a good idea..then I'll buy the beer and say..boy aren't you glad you avoided goin broke?

As I drive around my area which is/was rich with owner ops..(it is texas after alll) I see a lot more trucks up for sale than I did three years ago..there are two within a half mile of my house..one is a 2k10 T700...and, like you, he had a plan...

My best year of my two as an o/o was 165000 gross...net was 42 grand..rest was truck payments, maint, tires, fuel, permits, plates, insurance....

so I'll wait and see...run my numbers on paper for a year..then take my bite..or pass on it....

Petey

 

did your plan include long and short term disability? Health insurance?

 

yes..but even those don't cover a 4 year total recovery time from my back injury..

Torn ligaments and compressed disks don't heal fast..its taken a total of 6 for me to get back to where I can lift 50 lbs higher than my chest without having to take a painkiller afterwords..

Doc cleared me two weeks ago to return to duty..I worked 5 years in crap tech support jobs...

Believe me..giving up my beautiful 379 legacy was #### hard to do..I literally cried...I felt worse than I did after my divorce..Honestly..if there had been ANY way I could have worked through it to keep my gorgeous lady I would have..but there wasn't

Back then once I knew I had to sell her I knew who would jump to buy her..she was a legacy series after all..they didn't make many of em..

For those that don't know what a 379 legacy is/was..in 2006 peterbilt quit making 379s going instead to 389 model designation that had one ajor design change..much bigger (read wider) radiator/hood and slightly narrower fenders to make up the difference..

Since the 379 had been in existence as a design for god knows how long with only minor cosmetic differences they ran a limited run of the legacy series..76 inch sleepers..single bunk, owner op spec..lots of carbon fiber..polished aluminum fenders..factor 10 inch exhaust...Most were black..mine was two tone coppertone over pearl white...

sigh...

she hadn't cracked 150k on the odo when I had to let her go..

`sniff`

Petey

 

4 years is a hard thing for ANYONE to plan for. If not impossible.

 

exactly..all of that because of an injury...so there you go..and in 2005/6 freight was better, fuel was not quite as bad as now and the housing bubble hadn't burst

So..now that has happened..detroit for the longest time there were whole neighborhoods of houses that had been repo'd...at one time they were selling decent houses at 5 to 6 grand..houses like I have..

some areas of detroit are still empty...

San antonio didn't get hurt nearly as bad..but other areas were/are way worse..I see that on the news and I see people thinking o/o and I flinch...because I don't think think we've seen the worst of it..yet..I may be wrong..and I am no fortune teller nor can I read a crystal ball..but I do advise a lot of caution..Other world gov'ts ar still pushing to remove the US dollar as the world standard..and if that ever does come to pass..we'll see thins a lot worse than now.

Besides..if you believe the doomsday hype..no later than dec 21st of this year the world is gonna blow up lmao

Serious again..I am ever so cautious this day and age about financial gambles like new business ventures...But..if we are currently as bad as its gong to get..then now would be tme to do it so you could get in the black while the economy is on the upswing..if it does..but if it gets no worse than now you'll be ok..but thats some pretty big ifs..

The strength of the economy is after all based on faith..the faith in the value of the dollar..its all based on that..lots of speculation..if jo a public gets scared and dumps his stock then the stock market drops off in the toilet and the economy goes to hell util joe a public feels safe to buy stocks again..and only wa he's going to do that is if people feel financially safe enough to start buying things again..I'm just not seeing enough of that just yet to want to open my own business in the trucking industry..

Petey