Going on my own

See if you wanted to have your own customers it could be done, I don't know who these people are, but you would need to find obviously someone in your area and I know this sounds like really simplified, but remeber your dealing with your own customers, you would need to find maybe like okay a local produce distributor the owner of the company has a brother who owns a food service business you know a small time straight truck delivery out fit somewhere and he buys produce from his brother in your town and they burn through 2 truck loads a week so you know you go from A-B and then maybe the brother with the food company has milk or something that's all cartoned and sells it to his brother where you just came from same kind of back and fourth run A-B and back to A. No broker or anything like that.

Here in Cleveland there is a local company that does tractor trailer work for a local Candy Whole-Sale company and also a local small time food distributor straight truck outfit that makes deliveries to restaurants and bars and delis. I think most of what they sell is Corned Beef. Anyhow you maybe able to get a run like that local candy company needs bulk loads moved from there warehouse A in Wherever to warehouse B in wherever and then bring product back to warehouse A. At any rate you did local refer you know how this all works.

When I was in business I would go to the day old bread store (Entiman's) and buy chocolate cakes and coffee cakes and whatever and put my business cards in them and go to places that I thought could use my services and drop off some cakes with my cards in them. It did work I did get a customer out of it.

I know that's not fancy, google key words algorithm fancy pants marketing, but chocolate cake also can be pretty effective.

 

Do it right and you can make more than 65 net with one truck. But do it wrong and you won't make 65 with 8 trks. I've been there, and never been happier than just me. I've got two kids and a wife who stays home. We're not rich, but we don't want either. Anyhow good luck! Chasing the American Dream .

 

What part of the country do you live in?
And where do you plan on running?

I know a small company that gets very good money for short haul reefer distribution here.

I hope you are Volvo savvy, and got two that have had the known issues done on them already.
You will need to get the DPF serviced just like a PM about every 18 months.

I wish you the very best, and I believe that you will take a few lumps, but if you just do a good job, you will get noticed by the person or persons, and you will be on your way.

Cost per mile is very subjective.
The guy I leased on with here in town, he doesn't pay that much per mile. But he has a lot of perks.
No trailer rental / fees.
Plates are like $200 / year.
Insurance is $2500 / year.
IFTA $200 / year.
No charges for paper work or any electronic BS.
He pays full rate for any dead head miles. ( I've been paid full rate for 1000 plus deadheads several times, but its the 100 to 150 mile ones that add up.)

Some guys will say you need to glean some generous amount per mile, but then how much does a company take back? There are guys paying a few hundred a week just for a trailer.

He has two very good direct customers and makes his money from that. He will basically take anything for a backhaul, even if he makes nothing, just to get the equipment back here, to the good customer rate. That's his business model.

I hope you get two good drivers out of the gate, and don't have unnecessary problems to complicate things.

I just do van. I was leased onto a small company that paid percentage, almost all broker loads, and pulled some excellent loads, even all through the winter when EVERYBODY cried poor.

In my opinion we have the best job there is. You pick it up here, you drop it off there. Rocket F science.
But there are so many people that F it up.
You do a good job, work hard. Somebody will start to go
" Hey call that guy," with loads that are important to him.

I do all, almost all, the P/U & deliveries for the guy I told you about at the moment.
Every trailer I make sure is clean & swept. I trip them for the line drivers thoroughly, and I'm incredibly courtesy to every shipper & receiver.
If your drivers are the same, and they can keep the shiny side up, you'll be ok.

 

Volvo freightliner peterbilt western star, it matters how they were driven and maintained more than the brand.

 

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

How the trucks were maintained, even more than how they were driven, before you get them is everything.
If there are no maintenance records for the vehicle you are interested in, WALK.

There are a zillion used trucks available, very reasonable.

If it were me, never in a million years would I purchase a used truck from Schneider, Swift, or especially Knight.

Consider Penske. They have a plethora of used trucks, and they are maintenance FREAKS, and keep all records.
You could walk away with two 670's from them, in very good condition for a song. They also offer a two year excellent warranty for a few thousand more.

What I like about maintenance records is you can read between the lines as well. Why are you selling this tractor for $40K with 340K miles on it, but you want the same price for the same tractor with 500K miles on it? You look at the records. You see what's been done, and get a feel for what might be coming.

Volvo's are pretty bullet proof as far as the drive train goes. They have two known issues. Your gonna do the DPFs in the Freighty's as well.

MPG about the same.

Idling will wreck your trucks. My Volvo had a " smart idle " system, and that kind of took care of itself, no issues with sensors, or after treatment.

**** Make sure you get one with a D13 Volvo engine, DO NOT get an ISX. ****

My Cascadia's had APU's so I didn't idle those, so no head aches, but I have noticed the guys that do idle theirs a lot, have problems.

Look at maintenance records until your eyes bleed. Their is some luck, and you make some of that, because some trucks just run and run, and some are just lemons. As long as you avoid the ever broken shop queen lemon truck, you'll be ok.

 

Our fleet is almost all Volvo and there not big on us idling, but I think it's a fuel savings more then anything else, but that makes sense that it's bad for the controls and other stuff.

 

DPF equipped trucks will develop problems with the DPF emissions components, failed regens etc when exposed to excessive idling,.. Over night for comfort,.. etc. The system may call for a regen while the engine is idling,.. the soot in the DPF needs to be exposed to over 1600f so it can be baked and cooked off. The igniter will not engage to burn off the soot while at idle. So no regen will happen until the ecm sees extended higher RPMs.

Meanwhile the when idling,.. for hours and hours over night,.. the soot thickens,.. and more often than not,.. drivers wake to a red light requiring a manual regen before being able to leave.

This is why I prefer pre DPF trucks. Until they develop a problem free emissions system I will never own one,.. or if I do,.. the first thing I will do is disable it. My truck is an 05 with a CAT engine. No DPF, no DEF, No EGR. Excessive idling is still not good,.. But if I do decide to idle,.. I can and I wont wake to a problematic emissions system.

This is my preference,.. I dont do California on a regular basis. I do sneak in and out from time to time. I do just fine not going there. Unfortunately for you,.. California has a very large need for reefer trucks. Big market there. I cant begin count how many loads of carrots and iced cabbage etc that I've hauled out of Bakersfield.

You would be better off with a late model emissions equipped truck. I disagree with Dave a bit about the ISX and Cummins. I think they are no more prone to problems than any of the others when it comes to emissions. I personally like Cummins over Detroit and especially despise the Paccar motors. I have no experience with Volvo engines,.. so I wont comment on them.

Freightliners are basically just work beasts. Cheap plastic interiors and rough ergonomics. Really strong where it counts. Ugly.. not much love for them at the shows. I have an old Columbia that was not my first choice. But the truck you need is not always the truck you want. I paid cash for this truck, it was affordable and the right truck at the right time. Its been good to me and has served me well. I've finally reached the stage where I will soon have the truck I want.

Hurst

 

Yep that's where we get into problems with the new trucks it's all emissions control related. I asked one of our veteran drivers if the old Ford L9000's they drove in 1988 had the same kinds of problems and he said they never had any of those problems.