Can you give me an idea of the annual expenses of being an owner/operator?

way back in 97 my COST of operation was .68/mile and fuel was about .20 of that. A new flatbed was $18,000 in 97. My 08 MAC was $43,000. Now that tires/fuel/insurance/parts/toilet paper is much higher I do not move my flatbed for less than 2.25/mile My lowboy starts at 4.50/mile I personally can't move the truck for 1.25. and I only have a payment on one out of 4 pieces of equipment. If all O/O would figure out their costs for an entire year based on mileage you would probably see a lot more phone calls on your loads because nobody would haul them for less than it costs them. I realize that I am not the normal type of businessman, but if I can't make money at it I will sit at home and go broke rather than run my wheels off doing it. We are not here to make friends, just make money! good luck and H A N D (have a nice day)

 

I want to buy your specialty lumber: but I want to know what it costs you to produce it, so that I can strip all the profit out and get the best possible deal. Don't worry tho, I'll give you enough work so that you can have weekends off on your way to the poorhouse.

 

We've been paying significantly more than 1.25 per mile up until now, but 4.50 would definitely not be an improvement from what we're doing right now (using brokers and company drivers). I don't want to rip anyone off here, just trying to find what a fair price would be and if it could work for both parties. So are you essentially saying that you think $2.25 per mile would be a fair wage?

Like I say I'm not trying to put anyone in the poorhouse, we thought we could save money using an O/O rather than going through brokers. Maybe we were wrong, maybe not. It's worth looking into at least, and all I'm trying to determine right now is what a fair wage would be to do what we're asking. How much would you charge for something like this?

 

You can start doing what you want to do right now. Just lookup load boards on Google. Than call them and find out who will let you post your own freight, and post. You will get all the feedback you need from the CARRIERS that call about your loads. You can start at 2.50 if you want. Have at it!

 

so would it be safe to say that you could do a 1/3 of your weekly pay to cover costs? 1/3 for the truck(gas,tolls, maintance etc) 1/3 for taxes and 1/3 for your pocket?

 

The problem here is you said "Dedicated" and that means 1/2 the time you run empty unless you can get lucky to get something to fit the drivers schedule that would not interfere with your deliveries.

So at 2.25 per mile on say 1200 miles it would cost you roughly $2700 Now take out 1k for fuel for the round trip and you are now at $1700 then you take out .13 per mile for maintenance for the round trip at $312 and you are now at $1388 for the trip and I have not even gotten to the licensing or insurance and what you put away for equipment replacement. Then you still have to have driver wages paid (even if you are the owner) and now you are at a loss for that trip because you have all the taxes to pay etc. The company has to make a profit just like your company does.

If you want one of our trucks dedicated like that then you are paying both directions. So you would pay $4.50 per loaded mile. Some of our trucks are getting $5.00 per loaded mile for a flatbed or stepdeck and if we get a load coming back then that is gravy but if we don't, there is enough there to deadhead back.

Oh and at $1388 per week you are below what a lot of drivers make hauling for others.

How is 150k, it is a good start in my opinion.