Crunching The Numbers, Am I Missing Something?? (newb)

I’m day time driver and he is night time driver. We eat together we share snacks together we have plenty of time with each other. Like I said if you get a system down you can even stop the truck 4 to 6 hrs a night and sleep together if you want too. We sleep different bunks because of our dog and because the Pete’s ac system doesn’t keep up with our body heat so it’s way more comfortable to sleep separate otherwise it’s too hot and you will find out here on the road everyone needs good rest, without rest you might as well hang it up.

 

Lol. I don’t use truck stop bathrooms. We have a small trash can that we use in the truck. Fortunately we have a cabinet in our truck we can close off but we go through a ton of baby wipes and paper towels. We stuff that trash can with paper towels and always have spray with us to mask the smell. Then we we go to truck stops we dump our trash can into a trash bag and throw it away in their dumpsters. That’s the only thing about not having potty in truck but if you buy a decent trash can it really works out perfect. I’ve known others to use a 5 gallon bucket but we like to dump ours the quicker the better.

 

Easiest way to make a million dollars in trucking is to start with $4 million, why don’t you apply at Plycar MOST of their trucks are the condo sleeper you are looking for but they pay for e everything and you get to haul some pretty awesome cars around the country uh read LUXURY Jacinda Lady Trucker on yt and socials use to drive for them and loved it
Just a thought
Good luck and be safe

 

well that’s great! Another stream of income then. In this case, after some experience I’d suggest hauling as a mover with atlas or a similar company. I’ve seen them set up with the mega cabs. If you work how you suggested, I can see clearing 200k if you work your ideal schedule. Saw an interview of a guy hauling that and worked year round, netted 250-300k I think. Provided pay stubs and tax form.

if you’re stir crazy and want to go beyond trucking, commercial fishing boats is where I’d go. Just an idea.

maybe you make it, maybe you don’t…regardless trucking is something I’ll always be grateful I did. Not too much beats the coolness is running our great American roads to supply our towns/cities. GL on it! Keep us updated on your progress!

 

Camp bucket cadet here! I will disintegrate the day I have to touch skin to a truck stop toilet. Truck stop bathrooms are where pandemics are made.

 

I’m sorry, I misread the original post. I thought you’d both be driving. My wife’s been with me now for about 6 yrs. We enjoy it. I’m surprised she enjoys it as much as she does. We also have 2 Chihuahuas with us. It can get cramped easily. Sometimes things get crazy with deadlines to meet. Other times we just relax, and take a breather. I’d like to have a bigger sleeper. Ours is an 84” Freightliner Condo. One of the largest factory sleepers available. Kenworth makes an 86” studio, with a convertible couch and upper bunk. Volvo has some really nice sized sleepers. Right now rates are down and still possibly falling more. Fuels up and possibly going higher. Used Truck sales are down, and supposedly high prices are still holding up. None of this can last very long. Truck prices will come down, I suspect they already have, followed by Trailer prices, eventually, once the factories get caught up. Your husband doesn’t have a CDL yet? That’s the first thing on the list. Insurance will very high without previous experience, if it’s obtainable at all. 6 mos minimum, 1 yr. preferably driving for someone with a ryder and pet policy seems reasonable. With no house, you can save up money while fine tuning future plans.

 

This pretty much sums it up ... the reality is you’re walking into something completely new with zero experience. There’s a huge probability you can’t handle otr and I doubt you’ll even like it. The job isn’t hard but the learning curve starting out is very high.

 

When I started out, I had a 1985 Ford LTL 9000 with a 36” flat top sleeper

Im a handy guy and managed to design a shower and a chemical toilet in the 36 inch sleeper

the 60 and 72 inch stand up sleepers now are HUGE !

I installed a laundry sink in the center of the sleeper floor , dropped in between the frame rails right above the drive shaft , and gave enough step down so you could now stand up in a flat top sleeper if you were standing in the sink .

made a shower curtain that pulled up and velcrow’ed to the ceiling

I had two 8 gallon water tanks , one cold and one heated by the engine coolant by dropping a heater core in it

each tank has a 12 volt pump

Had a nice mattress made that was in three sections and the plywood it layed on was hinged to flip up

chemical potty was under the bunk off to the side

fridge was in the passenger seat .

To me that’s the main reason to get your own truck is so you can have your own shower and potty.

I had no knowledge of trucking and just got my CDL and Signed up for one of the famous dangerous lease purchase plans .

i was lucky.
And I was desperate and dead broke and a pretty good shade tree mechanic so I could fix the small stuff

and back then the trucks didn’t have a zillion computers .my rig didn’t have any computers .

I did the lease purchase through North American van lines Triple Crown Service division which was not household moving , it was normal cargo with the trailers hauled on Norfolk southern railroad . The railroad bought North American van lines to get access to their dispatchers and owner operators , they hauled the trailer along distance on the rails and the owner operators delivered the cargo within a 200 mile radius of the rail heads.

At that time they were growing and there was plenty of work ,
6 or 8 years later they were losing only and shrinking and closing terminals , and we were just starting a family so I sold my rig and got a normal job.

long story but anyway ..
I’d suggest getting some experience working as a company driver , and I’d suggest you get your CDL too so you can help out with the driver sometimes .
You need to learn the business
You wouldn’t buy a Restaraunt without ever working in one . That would be a really bad idea .


If you have lots of money to spend , I’d suggest looking into Lifestyles Unlimited real estate .
They do syndicated apartment investing
Where 8-10-12 people pool their money for the down payment and buy an apartment complex . Commercial real estate Takes 25% down payment , raising the profit 10% increases the value of the complex 30%. So you can see where this is headed . Once the value is increased 30%, they re fi the origional 30% back out and do it again, keeping the first complex . Or sell the complex and start over .

what general area are you in ?