Can I make a living with this haul?

Dat is all I've used. I've heard ITS is better for flatbed

 

For you to make money and to survive, you need to have a flat rate per load and not mileage for local. In my opinion your not going to survive on mileage pay. As an example, I haul reefer and in the beginning of 2019 the reefer rates took a dive and were paying van rate pay. So I parked my reefer and brought a flatbed. I ran local hauling building materials daily out of the same shipper every day for flat rate, and was home every night. I did very well for the season until the weather started getting cold and the loads stopped like shutting off a faucet. By then the reefer rates came back up and I started back on reefer and sold the flatbed. But I can tell you, if I was running mileage I couldn't afford to do it, I was running a 150 mile radius.

 

If your only grossing $2800 in this market that kinda sucks

Do those lumber loads need tarps ? That’s a lot of time/work for local loads…..

The others have offered pretty good advice. I think you can do better than both those places……

 

$1.77 a mile, sounds like a terrible deal.
At $7 a loaded mile, its not as bad, that is $3.50 a mile.
If you take it, hopefully your wife can get a $50/hour job to support your family, and help with the fuel bills, and repairs.

 

That cheap lumber yard can be firm because he's got people running for him that apparently can't do math well. Sorry, but you'd be better off as a company driver than running that trash for garbage rates. These lumber places act like they're doing you some sort of favor. He needs trucks and knows how expensive it is to run one. Let his material decompose back to earth and look for something better or even get your own authority and start running the boards.

 

Sounds like NC local rates lol