Do flatbed guys make more?

.786/mi is still a heckuva lot better than the .30/mile other carriers are paying, yes?

And yes, Windows 8. Why did they have to make it harder to find stuff? And I'm betting Windows 10 won't be much better.

 

That's awesome for company driver pay. Is that factoring in empty miles though? Makes me wonder if I can get on percentage before I buy a truck.

A misguided and poorly planned attempt at revolutionizing and streamlining computers playing on the popularity of tablets and mobile operating systems. They tried to create a tablet/mobile OS hybrid with a pc and.....yeah...I would really prefer a dual boot with Windows 7 and Android.

 

Yes, that covers both loaded and empty miles figured by my elog. And it doesn't factor the last load I hauled for the week that paid $800 to haul 56 miles or the load I'm haulinf on Monday that pays over $1,000 to haul a load just over 170 miles. The only way I would consider being an O/O leased to a carrier would be on a percentage pay basis and my choice of loads.

 

####, those must be some crazy loads to pay that much for such short distances. Yeah the company I am going to offers percentage for o/o for people who actually buy their truck, not fleece. I don't think they have a percentage deal for company guys though, at least they never mentioned it.

 

Short haul stuff generally pays a bit better in my area than the long haul stuff. Which makes me a happy camper. Less work, better money!

There are downsides, of course. Crazy wait times to get loaded, off the map recievers (as in down the dirt goat path), and a lot of Pennsylvania driving.

 

Well sure, short haul does usually pay more but going by mileage pay that's off the charts in comparison. I'd get $75 for that 56 mile load ....and that's good for a normal company driver. Gotta look into this percentage thing.

Ah, yeah wait times can bring that hourly wage down quick. That's the fun stuff man, I started out in fracking which is the epitome of off the map locations lol. We drove off of our trip meters making turns at rough mileages in the middle of the desert driving down the roughest roads known to man(hitting your head on the roof was a common occurrence). That's if we had directions, at times it was trying to remember the route in the middle of the night(pitch black). I loved it though .

 

Like a few others have said, happiness is more important than money. Money is also extremely important and largely tied to happiness.

But I'd rather make $70k and be home every night than make $100k+ and be otr. I have two kids <2 and spending time with them is more valuable to me than $30k

edit: two other points I wanted to make

Flatbed freight is down now I think largely because of the oilfield trucks that are saturating the market and it might be a while before they return to the patch, so I can see an extended period of depressed open deck rates.

Another benefit of open deck is the option to have specialized freight that pays more. OD loads, wide, tall or high loads pay higher rates. Then you can also get into heavy haul.

 

It's different for everyone, that's how I fit into the regional gig. I'm single so I don't mind staying out but I also like to be home whether it's for myself or family. Time with your kids is definitely invaluable though.


As for the patch trucks going back, the bbl price is making it's way back up pretty steadily. Not sure about the other basins but here in Colorado they've been drilling a good bit and they are pumping plenty as evidenced by the abundance of crude hauling jobs. I would estimate that things will be back to normal within 6 months and in the meantime our market will be steadily improving.

 

Your 110% correct, money doesn't make the job but money does make spending 8 hours in the blazing Texas sun with Bertha a little easier to forgive.

My youngest just turned 18 and has graduated high school. My wife of 21 years has left to spend her life with an alcoholic bum in a section 8 apartment so for me being gone has no consequences. I have a plan so in 10 years max I will be anchored in Puerto de Ensenada on my boat and while flipping the bird to the rest of the world with my left hand I'll be tipping a dirty martini with the right under my ####tail flag. As soon as they survey comes back on this 1972 45' motor sail Columbia I found in Marina Del Rey it may happen a hell of a lot sooner.



If I'm going to be driving I'm going to make every penny I can. I've done local work and it's not for me. I went crazy after 3 months. I like money and being OTR and getting home every other week for 3 to 5 days off suits my lifestyle choices the best.

 

That catalina sure does look pretty! There was a time I seriously considered a sailer, myself. I may reconsider the idea, but I'm still looking at an RV first...