Finally got my own truck

Yeah there are 3 air tanks. I do occasionally drain the air tank but nothing ever comes out of it.

My driver and I have been on this little dedicated round trip thing this week and last week. It's kind of a beach load and tight backing but they been just throwing the rate con at me with what I wanted. Not getting into details but I consider myself lucky.

My co driver is expensive. What with employment taxes (7.65%), workers comp at 10.89% of payroll, and unemployment tax every month, it's expensive. Very. But I pay him well. We get along and he does fine. He impressed me the other night bavkinb into a tightish spot in the rain.

The operation is costing me $875/week plus 75cpm plus my driver's pay.

If we gross $10,000/week on 5,000 miles over 40 working weeks, I'll make the same I made by myself. But I'm going for at least double that. Which means I need to average $12,000 gross per week to make an extra $1750 net. I'd like to be at $13-14k per week.

It's not easy to get team freight on the board. Many times a team load pays at or slightly above solo rates unless they really need you.
Other times you have to take a solo load and ask for next day delivery instead of two days.
There might be 1100 loads within 100 miles and there might be 0-15 team loads in a hot area but just like solo runs, you have to sift through the BS, and with posted team runs, there is a lot less to.choose from.


First week we did $4700 on 2050 loaded, short week. Last week we did $12,000 on 3800 loaded. This week we'll do $10,000 on 3450 loaded. Next week who knows, probably won't do this round trip stuff and we're both aching to get to AZ. Especially while the getting is good out there. But nobody will pay $5000 on the 1800-1900 miles.from Atlanta. Cheapskates.

Hoping to cherry pick next week during DOT week. Then we'll go home.

Driver doesn't like me smoking. We went out this weekend to walmart, home Depot, a nice Mexican restaurant, and I stopped at a vape shop and spent $130 worth of BS. He seems happy about it but he doesnt complain about things. He picks on me, I pick on him, make each other laugh, respect each other's personal space, and keep clean.

It's just not easy sleeping with truck moving but getting better at it.

He needs to go to bed BEFORE sun comes up or he has a hard time falling asleep. I'm NOT a morning person, much less 4-5am. But it is what it is.

 

Yeah it's not really feasible. If you want to make anything worth making, you need to drive it yourself, otherwise you're gonna end up getting desperate to keep your truck moving and taking any rate that works and that ends up in a downward spiral into bankruptcy.

Rates on loadboards aren't the greatest.

You will come across my postings bragging of getting this rate or that rate. But those don't just happen. Money like that doesn't just get thrown around. Luck has a lot to do with it, and knowing your market, and also being willing to risk sitting there on friday afternoon quoting high and maybe pulling in a nice catch, or going home empty handed. You gotta be willing to take that risk. I can do that because I have no bills at home and no real reason to be home.

Things are a little different now that I've hired a co- driver because now I got to worry about paying him, and making enough to make it worth putting extra miles on the truck, and also team freight on boards is a bit of a different story than solo loads.

I pay him enough to keep him from (hopefully) quitting on me, are you willing to do the same? Or are you gonna put some schlepp in the truck who is always gonna have a problem or issue or complain about this and that? And end up quitting on you like every driver does at some point.

It would sure be a great idea to do what you're suggesting if you're willing to lose some of that money you came into. I didn't come out here because I had money to blow. I came out here to make myself good money because I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

And I'll add in that "deep pockets" to handle down time - prime example of losing money. If you're already suggesting that you'll be taking a loss to handle those situations, then maybe you'll now have that epiphany, you know the point is to make a profit, not to buy a truck so you can spend money out of your deep pockets fixing it. It don't matter if the truck is paid off or not. Truck cost is less than fuel for a new truck. Fixing a used truck will cost you money AND lost revenue due to down time.