Any O/O who just use their truck as an excuse to travel?

Depends on who you talk to. Some do well others do not. I've gone my rounds with landstar in the past. Nope I wasn't leased to them I was a what do they call it "approved carrier". I know for a fact I can load up a reefer with frozen to CA. 100 mile d/h, 1764 loaded miles, 11 stops, gross pay on the run is $6600. Now if you could find something like that you'd be alright. That right there is a 2 day turn. 2 days out, off 2 days, 2 day turn back. If you could find a gig like that and live with it, you'd be alright. But the week on week off thing isn't going to work.

 

When I was a company driver there was this very old man who only wanted to occasionally drive a truck again. Every now and again, the boss would have him drive his show truck from home to California and back. It was a good situation for both. He only did a few trips a year, and that show truck rarely moved. Maybe you should take a closer look as possibly a casual company driver instead. For the amount you actually want to truck, you would be pulling your hair out with all the time spent on doing your taxes, keeping up IFTA/OR/NY/NM/KY, insurance, all the DOT stuff, and on top of all that, a truck which could eat all of its profit for the year with one major repair. IF that were to happen, do you really want to decide either to take a loss on it, or do you decide to put it to work say 45-50 weeks a year instead of 20-25? You could also look into having someone else drive it when you are not driving it ... but then you have the headache of keeping a driver happy. Also, the time spent doing the book work of your own authority would likely eat into the time you are now using for your already successful passive-income business.

You have a situation now that is earning you money. Sure, it is boring, BUT IT IS WORKING. Just how long do you think before trucking also becomes boring? Do you want to own equipment when you realize there is not a huge amount of profit in it, especially only working it part time, and decide to exit the business?

 

Landstar does pay good on some of their loads, but there's a lot of loads that aren't worth hauling. But, since you book all of your loads from their load board, you can "weed" out the bad ones. For instance, right now there are 19,806 loads on the board nationwide to chose from. Of course, that number changes throughout the day.
The main reason I suggested them is because they will handle all of the insurance, licensing and tax issues for you, except for your 2290, and that's a five minute chore online to pay that. If you want, they will also put the plate on your truck, and deduct the cost weekly from your settlement. So, you just have to concentrate on getting your loads when you want them.
I'll give you an example. My three boys are now grown. My oldest, 33, and my youngest, 25, are both drivers. I lost my wife to Cancer in 2007, and so now it's just me and my dog. I live in central Florida, and my sons and their families live in Lancaster, Pa. I am at a point in my life and career where I don't want to work for someone elses dreams. I put my truck on with Landstar because it affords me the chance to do what I want to, when I want to. I also have other income other than driving, like you do.
Last September I was sitting here at home, and I wanted to go on a trip. So, I looked on the load board, and found a really nice paying load in Charleston, SC going to Nogales, AZ. It paid well over $3/mi and was listed at 5,000 lbs. It was good enough to deadhead to get it. Turns out it was a type of infared radar system that they put un a tower such as a cell tower to keep an eye on the border. I had to go almost 15 miles along the dirt border road to the site to deliver it. It was a really cool load.
After that, I went to Tuscon and picked up the Halloween attraction for Six Flags America in Landover, MD. It was lighter than the load I took out there. I delivered that at around 2 a.m., then I went to PA to spend a few days with my kids and their families.
When I was ready to come home, I just booked a load to Lakeland, FL and came home, on my schedule.
I decided in June to take some time off for medical reasons to correct some problems I'm having, so my oldest son qualified for LandStar, and now he's running the truck from his home in PA, and doing really good. In fact, I think the only way I'm going to get back to work again in March will be to buy another truck for myself.
So, if working part time is what you want, this may be a good choice for you.
Good luck.

 

I may be wrong but sounds like you are a truck enthusiast like many of us here and your looking for an excuse to own a truck which there's nothing wrong with. If you have good income coming in else where maybe you can consider buying a 20 year or older truck and maybe some type of flatbed trailer and register it historical. You cant haul for anyone other than your own property but it cost a fraction of what it would to legally operate one for revenue. I know a few who do this. Then you can have an excuse to buy some kind of piece of machinery or another old truck or something to carry around on it to shows. Just my 2 cents.

 

I second that... Great Post and spot on Danny.

 

we got a few guys at mercer that do about what you are suggesting, they have other income and just take it as it comes, if you have other income and aren't solely depending on driving for income, and have the money to buy a truck and not put yourself in a bind, I see no reason you cant do what you describe.

 

if he has other income of 3000 a week, he probably doesn't give a rats behind about any of that .

 

Not until the 3000 per week from his "other income" begins to supplement the truck going down the road ...

 

the first words out of his mouth. He also mentioned a figure of $2000.00 per week net on the truck for operating 2 weeks/month. I supplied a very basic business plan suggested a realistic goal of $1400/mo net. If he is happy with that, he can follow the plan I suggested just realizing it's a huge time commitment for non-driving tasks and it won't be consistent income, any repair could take months or years to recoup. If he's not happy with the numbers I proposed, then by all means he can come up with a plan to secure higher paying loads, run more miles, or reduce the expenses I suggested. I'm sure if he is operating a 3k/week business he can understand a business plan.