For an O/O of one and only one tractor, what are the annual net profits?

TallJoe · Sep 7, 2019

Ehh...

TomCougar · Sep 7, 2019

ZVar said: ↑

Define net.
Click to expand...

Money, personal money, cash, in the bank, I KEEP, to buy a new house, a new car, a new shotgun for pheasants, etc. and nobody dares take away! In short, take-home pay as I smile to the bank.

TomCougar · Sep 7, 2019

Midwest Trucker said: ↑

That trailer is not legal in CA. You need side skirts. Better upgrade!

Honestly the game sounds really cool and pretty #### in depth. 5k load in Barstow going where? I’d say the purchase prices are about right, maybe a little high. Rates are very inflated.

I’d say it’s for sure a great insight into trucking though which is what a simulator should be.
Click to expand...

Going from Barstow to Sacramento. That's not my unmarked dry-van trailer but a customer's. I just own and operate the tractor only. Load customers provide the trailers. The tractor is being financed. The bank still owns the pink slip.

I like round chrome horn trumpets on the cab top, not square ones as shown in game images. Those bullet cab top amber lights are the classic split five formation. Having too many on the cab top looks too pimped-out for my tastes. The hot chartreuse is pimpish enough for me!! Inspired by CW McCall's "chartreuse micro bus".

Here is a Photoshop of my sim truck images: can't make these particular mods in the game's paint shed so I had to do it in MS paint:

Largecar359 · Sep 7, 2019

I like this kid. He hasn’t turned a single mile, yet his truck is so much nicer then 90% of what’s out there. Go get em’ billy big rig.

Opendeckin · Sep 7, 2019

TomCougar said: ↑

I've been playing a new game for the past couple days: American Truck Simulator.

I have my own small garage in Sacramento as my home base.

I took a couple loads as a company driver as a greenhorn then the bank gave me $130K in credit. I bought a new Kenworth W900 day-cab tractor, my first and only truck, and it was about $120K OTD. Now at Level 5, I take jobs from Freight Market and Contracts. Higher game levels open up more markets and provide opportunities for more equipment. One can eventually own and manage a fleet. I operate in the states of California, Arizona and Nevada only. This is the map scope of the game version I have. The job pay varies from about $2K to $7K a load. The customers provide trailers and they're no touch. I always try to take the highest paying loads available and $5K is common for me. I ran out of fuel a couple times. Emergency services brought me only 15 gallons of diesel and charged me a whopping $335 around Fresno! My Kenworth is averaging about 5-6 miles/gallon. Fuel prices in the game are about $2.75 a gallon. Upgrade equipment for the truck can be expensive. A new engine for $40K!!!!! A new transmission for $13K!!!!

One of the strategies I'm trying to develop is minimize bobtailing. The truck only pays with loads in tow. Ideally if I go from Fresno to Elko with a load I would like to come back into CA from NV with a load as well. Bobtailing is non-revenue for an O/O.

Is my PC sim game using realistic money figures in this game? Is it simming the truck business well?

In the real 18-wheel world, what is a single-tractor O/O really going to net for ONE typical load even in opulent California?

Here I am in my chartreuse KW picking up a $5K load in Barstow (this game doesn't allow me to put business signage on my truck doors yet):

Click to expand...

Somewhere between -150k and +150k

Opus · Sep 7, 2019

Answer to a legitimate question......
About 50% all in

Petty Cash · Sep 7, 2019

Normally I sit back and keep my mouth (erm, keyboard?) quiet, and certainly don't try to be confrontational, but I can't keep quiet here. Is this question and thread for real? Especially after this thread?:

TomCougar said: ↑

I knew a man a couple years ago who made the remark that truck driving is for "lazy people" He was living at a rescue mission and working for some painting contractor who would pick him up from the bum barn in the mornings in his pickup truck. I asked him what he thought about driving a truck and that $40-$80k a year was common these days.

How should we respond to people who say truckers are lazy?

While in Boise, Idaho in the summer of 2017 I saw a driver get out of a Swift truck while making a delivery to an Albertson's market there. He was clean-cut, clean-shaven, wore a nice clean white company uniform with a button-down shirt yet before he got back into his rig he spat a big wad of chew on the parking lot!

I thought to myself, "Are truck drivers really that ungentlemanly and unladylike as people?"

Back in 1993, I was in the army as a solider, SPC4, stationed at Fort Ord, CA. I had some experience driving a 4,000 pound Hyster forklift while working at a newspaper in the late '80s. A civilian carrier with a semi was picking up some pallets from my motor pool. I volunteered to drive the unit forklift, olive drab color. I was a bit rusty on my forklift skills and had a little trouble getting the pallets in the back of the trailer from ground level. The driver was a bit short, impatient and condescending toward me. It made me feel embarrassed in front of my fellow unit troops. I was a motor pool mechanic and the quartermaster personnel, supply, operated forklifts on a regular basis.

I thought to myself, "Truck drivers are really an arrogant and authoritative sort."

In 1992, I was driving over a grade on 101 northbound from Prunedale, California toward San Jose via Gilroy. it was late at night. I was driving my 1988 Firebird Formula 5.0 from Fort Ord in Monterrey where I was stationed then. There was a dry-van semi ahead of me and I had tried to pass him on the left. I flashed my brights as I was about to pass then he pulled suddenly into my lane with no signal. I had to brake hard to fall back. I think I got angry and laid on the horn. I had read a Stephen King novel about a chauffeur who habitually flashed to pass as a professional courtesy. I thought flashing my brights was for my safety so the truck driver would know I was present. I never thought to take down his number and make a police report. Did the trucker get offended? Reminds me of the road rage in the film "Duel".

I thought to myself, "Are truck drivers crazy homicidal maniacs?"
Click to expand...

That said, are you sure you want to be one of us?

uncleal13 · Sep 7, 2019

When I ran Canada and USA 80,000 lbs averaged $40-60,000 a year.
When I stayed Canada only up to 102,000 lbs averaged $60-80,000 a year. Now regional Canadian Prairies only, home every weekend, 140,000 lbs average $80-90,000 a year.
Best every for a whole year $105,000. Worse for a whole year $34,000 (Lots of break downs)

TomCougar · Sep 7, 2019

Petty Cash said: ↑

Normally I sit back and keep my mouth (erm, keyboard?) quiet, and certainly don't try to be confrontational, but I can't keep quiet here. Is this question and thread for real? Especially after this thread?:

That said, are you sure you want to be one of us?
Click to expand...

Yes, I want to professionally drive trucks with pride, mostly likely for a big box carrier, and pursue the best money. No, I don't want to be "that guy" who spits in front of a supermarket, never showers, cusses like a sailor, drives like an idiot and looks like a pig. No, I'll never be rich enough to own a real-world sweet chartreuse KW and no mega will put me in such a cool-looking truck. But since I'm playing my game, might as well pick a classic fake rig and enjoy the fantasy. The real truck of my dream is a new Toyota Tundra SR5 4x4 and my own house to garage her.

Petty Cash · Sep 7, 2019

TomCougar said: ↑

Yes, I want to professionally drive trucks with pride, mostly likely for a big box carrier, and pursue the best money. No, I don't want to be "that guy" who spits in front of a supermarket, never showers, cusses like a sailor, drives like an idiot and looks like a pig. No, I'll never be rich enough to own a real-world sweet chartreuse KW and no mega will put me in such a cool-looking truck. But since I'm playing my game, might as well pick a classic fake rig and enjoy the fantasy. The real truck of my dream is a new Toyota Tundra SR5 4x4 and my own house to garage her.
Click to expand...

I certainly appreciate the honest reply, but you still seemed to have more than a slightly condescending attitude toward those of us that are professional drivers in your other thread. I'd hazard a guess that most of us on this site take the professional aspect serious, I know I do and have since before I began on this career path. I also won't argue that there are more than a few unprofessional steering wheel holders out there. I just hope that you sincerely want to do this and aren't just getting ideas from a computer game.

Log in or Sign up

Forums

Find Trucking Jobs

For an O/O of one and only one tractor, what are the annual net profits?

TallJoe Road Train Member

Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

Wait, employers can't reach you!

TomCougar Light Load Member

TomCougar Light Load Member

Largecar359 Road Train Member

Opendeckin Medium Load Member

Opus Road Train Member

Petty Cash Light Load Member

uncleal13 Road Train Member

TomCougar Light Load Member

Petty Cash Light Load Member

Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

Wait, employers can't reach you!

Log in or Sign up

Useful Searches

Find Trucking Jobs

For an O/O of one and only one tractor, what are the annual net profits?

TallJoe Road Train Member

Wait, employers can't reach you!

TomCougar Light Load Member

TomCougar Light Load Member

Largecar359 Road Train Member

Opendeckin Medium Load Member

Opus Road Train Member

Petty Cash Light Load Member

uncleal13 Road Train Member

TomCougar Light Load Member

Petty Cash Light Load Member

Wait, employers can't reach you!