Expenses/ Salary

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by AriGab, Feb 19, 2023.

  1. AriGab

    AriGab Light Load Member

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    Hey I'm new so excuse the ignorance. Just looking down the road as I'm about to get my CDL but eventually want my own truck. Here is what I have come up with. Please let me know if I'm close or miles away. After a lot of math I have figured that yearly expenses that include fuel, maintenance, insurance (both business and truck) IFTA, Salary ($78,000), tires etc. That my total expenses would be around $250k. Is that close? Also I hoped I could drive 150k miles per year. Is that reasonable? With this said I would have to average $1.67 per mile just to break even. So if I want to make a profit is $2.00 per mile average out of the question? I look forward to your responses.
     
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  3. Allow Me.

    Allow Me. Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    A lot of variables to discuss. 3000 mi/week for 50 weeks does equal 150,000 mi/yr. But, can you find loads consistantly every week ? Also consider breakdowns, truck is down, driver is sitting, right ? For 2 days or 10 days ? Stuck in Wyoming for a couple days in bad weather, well, that's a short week. And you really can't make it up this week. $1.67 mi ? Well, would you, just this one time, to get out of a dead area, run a load for $1.40 mi ? You'll at least pay your fuel (you hope) Lots of things play into trucking, some you can control, some you can't. :biggrin_2552:
     
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  4. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    There's a couple websites for owner-operators in your situation.
    Someone will post the best for you.
    OOIDA is one of them, but there's another that someone will post. I can't remember the name of it.
     
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  5. Judge

    Judge Road Train Member

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    As an owner/operator it’s not about the miles, but revenue per mile.
     
  6. gokiddogo

    gokiddogo Road Train Member

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    Run it again on 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 135 miles a year and see what you come up with.

    You have 3 types of expenses
    1. Time based. Insurance, equipment payments, cell phone, etc.
    2. Running based. Fuel, maintenance and repairs.
    3. Load based. Tolls, permits

    Do you want to make $78,000 a year or do you want to make 0.52 per mile?
     
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  7. AriGab

    AriGab Light Load Member

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    I just figured that $78k per year starting out was a fair salary. Anything over that is a bonus. So the $78k is more important than .52c per mile. Probably makes no sense lol. I've heard that over $100k is pretty reasonable if you own your own truck.
     
  8. AriGab

    AriGab Light Load Member

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    I also have AAOO. Which seems like a really good company.
     
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  9. AriGab

    AriGab Light Load Member

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    I was hoping more loads were around $2 per load or more and once in a while taking a load for $1.40 hense the $1.67 average. Not sure how many loads you guys run over $2. I'm curious to learn about your personal experiences.
     
  10. ‘Olhand

    ‘Olhand Cantankerous Crusty

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    Depends what kind of work you do and if you really boil your expenses down you’d be surprised truck and trailer fuel insurance maintenance etc. two bucks may be just barely breaking even
    But to give you an example and I doubt it’s the kind of work you wanna do we only do refrigerated LTL in the Northeast I only 67,000 miles last year
    the truck made $353,000 do the math
    And remember like stated before it’s the revenue per mile not the miles per revenue
    Good luck
     
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  11. Judge

    Judge Road Train Member

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    my expenses last year with everything, fuel, def, repairs, insurance, trailer payments, 2290, yada yada everything was $2.22/mile.
    So $2/mile you’d go broke.
    That’s nothing home, truck expenses only.
     
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