From the Office to Trucking

I suppose it's time for an update. To conclude the oil temperature issue, we put a new oil cooler thermostat in, and that seemed to do the trick. In addition, we went ahead and installed a manual fan switch as well. The combination of the two seem to have resolved that issue. Will be interesting to see if that remains to be the case come the summer time.

Outside of the oil temperature issue and a water pump, very little has been needed in terms of repair work on the truck. The trailer has not needed any repair work at all outside of a new emergency glad hand due to my ignorance. We tried to pick the airlines off of the catwalk, made a sharp turn and was apparently enough to disconnect the glad hand connection. That in turn ended up damaging the emergency glad hand on the trailer and was causing an air leak.

Concluding 2018, my numbers are as follows. $79,321.01 in billed revenue on 27,025 miles (inclusive of 6 months). I have ended up running more local/regional stuff. If I could run more miles and maintain that revenue rate that would be ideal. As expected, Q1 has been difficult as most folks have seen who run the spot market. I have survived by staying local and trying to get overhead in check. I have landed a sort of dedicated local run that can sometimes turn twice in a day which generates ~$1,050 of revenue per day. Unfortunately, the two turns are not common at this point, but there is a chance that the business grows. I was initially hesitant at first with putting all of my eggs in mainly one basket. The broker is fairly established, and the paying customer isn't going anywhere in my opinion, so I feel fairly safe. The product is also fairly durable so do not expect any claims.

Average fuel mileage since starting is now at 7.002 mpg. The dedicated run I have been doing is extremely light freight which helps which has allowed me to realize fuel mileage of 8+ mpg for February.

After doing this, I really do not know how folks with big truck/trailer payments can make it in these times as a new authority with the cost of insurance and everything else. With that being said, I have also learned that there is definitely more than one way to skin a cat in this business. It still fascinates me the niches that exist in this industry.

I have been focusing on trying to pay off all outstanding business credit card debt, saving for insurance and IRP renewal due in June, and paying off the trailer. I am hoping to accomplish all of this while building a solid maintenance fund by years end.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. I am happy to share anything that I can.

 

Just the dry van. Did one oversized/overweight "run" which consisted me pulling out a 85,000# chiller, I believe, on a RGN a total of 500 feet probably.


On a separate note, in 2019 I have only stayed out in the truck 1 night thus far. I just feel the rates are crap all around, so figured I would at least be home every night if I can make this local stuff work.

2019 so far I am at $19,671.15 invoiced revenue on 6,691 miles.

Lastly, I am still glad I have made the change. My wife has told me she thinks I have improved my mood overall. This is definitely not a cakewalk by any means, but the stress is much different than what I have been accustomed to in the past.