Closing up shop, or thinking about it?

Income has come down since March and fuel up. Still alive. Had to make changes where I run and for who. Service a high maintenance customer and spot market to fill in gaps. Run a new lane that pays well in and out. It gets mundane but I had to make the math work.

 

I have struggled with this my entire life. I’ll be 41 in September and I still haven’t learned to deal with it. I’m easily annoyed. It’s my biggest fault.

The drilling job is a do over. I was in an office position for 2.5 years and was fired. I finally decided to go drilling. naturally I was out of shape. The few days I was on the rig killed me. Instead of pushing through knowing I would get back in shape…..I ran like a biotch. I have regretted it ever since. I love drilling rigs. And I’m not old enough to be making all the excuses to avoid labor jobs. And the schedule is great. 2 weeks on/2 weeks off. Work half the year. Being away for that two weeks sucks but being home for two weeks I can give my full attention to my kids.

 

I’ll still be around. I may not be trucking, but I surely haven’t run out of opinions or bad/childish humor.

 

Let me guess you treat ALL your O/O's like family too ?

 

I'm not closing down, I am slowing down. Sat home for 5 weeks now, maybe another 2. In 08-10 I reduced business to just me. That made it a pleasure to work and answer the phone again. No more thinking what do I have to pay for, before I answered the phone. Solo driver, I made good money since then.

My equipment is paid for. I will probably run until Christmas. All my renewals happen in January. Right now, I say I'll keep running. But, If the trend continues with lower rates or them staying at the current level. I anticipate fuel expenses to rise. It could be time for me to retire.

Currently I plan to run until my truck motor quits. 99 fld120. Could be next week, could be ???.
I'm tired of all the paperwork required.

 

Nice ad, there is a classified section on this website. My truck burns diesel.

 

Read the title and seen your name. Was thinking you closed up shop. Good thing I read further.

So far I am hanging in pretty good. Not working nearly as hard as I probably should be right now. Still working 6-8 days and taking 3-7 days off until finding a good enough load to go back out on. Might start running a little harder next month to help offset some of that winner time.

 

I did shift work for the first 11 years of my working life and it was great. Having 7-14 days off at a time was awesome.

What I always found odd was companies paid a premium for shift workers, like it was hard to attract them. I actually turned down Mon-Fri jobs because I wanted to hammer out the fourteen 12-14 hour days then go home for 14 days lol.

 

It’s slower than it was, still staying busy, but now I work weekends some, last year was 2-3 times.
Already about 10 + weekends, like i’m leaving out in about an hour for a Monday morning drop.

Though i haul products that don’t slow down, animals gotta eat.

And just bought another new trailer last week.

 

I'm not really having issues finding decent loads in my small circle. You have to be on top of the boards they go quick. I've been able to stay loaded both ways most of the time

Edit: Most of what's keeping me busy is the same move we've done on and off for the last 2 years. The rate on that didn't come down much from when the rates were sky high. That and a few other moves that are semi steady. On those days I just have to find a load coming back. Knock on wood I've had good luck stringing them together