Another Company to IC Choice Thread

Something I will say to everyone reading that is thinking of being an owner/operator, make sure you are willing to do some work yourself. The fridge to replace, according to the KW dealer near me was in the ballpark of $600. By pulling the fridge out on my own and putting it on the bench and testing it I was able to save the $600 and will only be out of pocket about $20. Huge difference in allowing the dealer to troubleshoot something that you can do yourself.

 

Will be paying for minor maintenance out of pocket. PM's etc. The money that is going into the MMA is going to be used towards the balloon at the end of the contract. I was aware that there are loads out of Kathleen, but they were gone when I booked the load down there. Also, the load out of Fairburn also was a load to get me home, so it worked out fine for me. I tend to stay booked about 2.5 days out, but sometimes, you know how it goes, the loads don't look like what you want. I am still teaching my wife to work the load board, once she is working it I will not be booking anything from the road...

 

I left the house on Thursday morning and was surprised to find an empty at the charlotte OC, a company driver was unhooking it in the TBO line and said it needed a tire. Just so happened that one of my friends from the shop was driving by and I had him look at the tire in question and he confirmed what I thought...run with it. He cleared the tbo out of the computer and I was off to my live load in south charlotte.

Arrived there to find that they had another trailer there and had preloaded my load on it, so after a 45 minute wait for a modified dispatch, I was on my way to Chesapeake, Va. Managed to drop that load and pick up an empty. Headed out and met my dad down the street for dinner and then deadheaded over to Suffolk for a live load the next day.

Arrived at my customer in Suffolk at 1245 for a 1300 live load and did not leave there until after 1700. I managed to make my way down around Fayetteville, NC and dropped my loaded trailer at a spot for the night and bobtailed to my best friends house for the night. Pretty sweet to stop and hang with him. It had been almost a year since we hung out.

Left out around lunchtime today and made my way down to Augusta, where one of my other friends was going to be passing through. We met up at the pilot at exit 200 and had lunch together and went on our own way. I made my delivery in Union City and grabbed an empty from the same location.

Drove down to Kimberly Clark in McDonough not expecting my load to be ready, (ready time in the computer was 0600 tomorrow) to my surprise the load was ready. Snatched it up and made my way to the Atlanta OC. Caught up on DFO's thread and must say, I am glad I have not had to deal with anything like that. I am not as patient as DFO and would most likely lost my temper. Parked here for the night then an easy drive tomorrow to Browns Summit for a live unload monday morning 0700.

My wife booked her first load today unassisted and I must say she did a great job. She got me loaded again Monday for 380 miles to deliver Monday night before 2100 (my ICA's cut off time for loads to pay out). Her attention on the load board turned a break even week into a profit. Not being able to find a decent load out of Charlotte for Wednesday was going to kill my revenue for the week. Glad that will not be the case.

Anyhow, until next time...

Stay Tuned.

 

Having a good week so far, hope you all are, made my delivery for the final load of the pay week. My wife has been all over the load board and managed to book me two loads that pay well. Average pay of 2.055 a mile for both of them and around 700 miles, nothing weighs more than 13k.

I was very blessed tonight, when I delivered I got the only empty at the customer and there is a fuel stop directly across the street, I got the very last parking spot in the whole place. 18 miles to my live load tomorrow morning. Bet it will be months before I get lucky like that again.

A little about living on the road. I have been gone from the house for 5 days now and have managed to spend only 5 dollars. I do not have a microwave and I am not eating peanut butter sandwiches. I have a lunchbox stove to cook on. Last night I had a cobb salad and stouffers yankee pot roast. It took about an hour and a half to cook the roast. You can manage to live and eat well on the road without breaking the bank.

Until next time....

 

Indeed. Tonight its sweet and sour chicken. Roasted red and green peppers, onion, carrots, rice and chicken. Beats a fat burger anyday.