Cargo Van Owners with Authority subject to DOT driving limits?

First off you don't want to overload the van, the wear to the driveline is a simple thing to see. Once you get to the point that the rear axle fails while on the road, you will understand why you don't want to exceed the weight.

Second most of what you find out there in the way of freight can be and is regularly hauled by straights, most of the work I did was single pallet stuff, but there was a need to be dock high or in some cases the managers didn't want to use a cargo van. I didn't argue with the single pallet thing,

Many times it may not appear worth it but understand that it isn't about the single load for the truck but a bunch of them. I know how to load my truck to make the most out of space, making sometimes $4 or $5 a mile average on a few loads sitting in the box, it wasn't easy sometimes but on the other hand I could not do that with a van because of the lack of floor space.

Don't think I don't know about vans and all the other stuff, I do and for what its worth, I made really good money doing it.

 

I am doing courier work with my own authority. I get to choose what I do and where I go - entirely. I pick stuff off the load board the courier company operates and do it.

 

That's good. Are you making decent money? By "decent" I mean at least $300 a day gross. The work it'self wasn't bad (except for lifting the heavy boxes of office paper) but there just wasn't enough money in it to justify me spending $300+ a week in fuel and tolls. In case you don't know living in Chicago toll roads are unavoidable unless you want to add hours to a commute anywhere. If the company didn't take their 50% cut it would have been ok. It's funny, I put wear and tear on my vehicle, pay for all expenses, not to mention do the actual work and they take half the money.

 

Nope, not. The holidays really cut into things, as well.

I'll do better when I learn the region better.

I should note that I only have 300K liability and 10K cargo, which is MUCH less cost than the higher limits. My cargo is 30/mo and the liability is about 200 / mo.

I should also add that I'm NOT doing this in a truck, which helps a lot on fuel and vehicle costs. I've been watching what's out there and I may seriously consider a Promaster in a year. The fuel costs will be very close to what I'm spending, as will insurance. the question is whether the work is available to justify buying.

 

It has been a few months and I just wanted to check in and see how TeamGreen's venture is working out?

 

its the "free time" you spend at a DOT inspection that you dont get paid for, but you have to log it as "on duty, not driving" as it eats up your 70