Good company to lease onto?

I'm kinda jacking the thread again but the op seems happy with his decisions so I'm going to let it ride a bit here.
BBB I have a business plan in place with set goals and budget parameters that I want to achieve. I have a cost per mile spreadsheet that I use to track my trucks profitability.
I do a revised plan versus actual ( I'm sure there's a fancy name for it) on costs each month to make sure I am keeping on top of what's actually costing me more or making me more than I anticipated.
I set goals that I want to achieve before buying the truck and ran the budget in all different ways and figures before getting started.
So far it's working out as I hoped and I'm banking some reasonable money after all expenses and escrows are taken care of.
I , like everyone, would allways like to see more bottom line profit and I see the way to do that is by going 100% independant.
The industry standard in my area is to pay on a per mile system. I'm interested in what you guys do but in my area I think the best way to be is totally independant or on with the better companies around here as a leased operator.
85 to 88 % of a poor rate is still poor pay regardless of who's finding it for the operator. And sad but true rates out of my area are not very good as far as I can tell.
I would like to put my plan and budget on here for you to see but don't really see the need to as its what I am happy with and am not trying to prove anything. Plus it's a pain in the butt to do it all of my phone.

 

mileage is better than percentage, percentage is better than mileage. Absolutely meaningless statements. If it's percentage it depends what the load pays, if it's mileage it depends what the rate is. Rollin and BBB seem to think the only two options in the world is running short high dollar loads are running $1/mile Shneider lease style.

Ask yourself this, would you quit your percentage deal to run a dedicated account drop and hook for $3/mile, 400 mile run, turn it as many days as you want. No, I guess you wouldn't because "percentage is better, right ?" get real man, not all per mile is $1/mile, and everyone who isn't doing what you are doing isn't trying to run 5000 miles a week on cheap freight.

 

Who pays flat rate $3 a mile on 400 miles. Ironic you use that for example I actually am dedicated and do a 399 mile load paying $1200 now 2 or 3 times a week among other loads. Point about mileage pay is that none of them out there pay anywhere near $2 a mile. Everyone I have seen pays barely break even $1.50 rates that will break most who try to make it work. Show me an example of a. Company paying flat rate 1200 on dedicated400 miles.... ***crickets chirping in the background***

 

Sorry for this long post that you may or may not just skim through

I am thinking that the mindset of most owner operators, is that they start out as a company driver, save up a little money, then decide they want to drive a truck that is theirs - and so they do that, and accept a little bump in pay for that - so instead of making $900-$1000 a week as a company driver, they make $1300-$1400 and plus they get to drive their own truck and have the same dispatcher.

So I guess there is a large market of people willing to make $1300-$1400 a week as an O/O so that is what it pays - the run I have been doing profits my boss about $1700 after everything except for my pay, but it is 3,600 miles a week - and that is a lot of driving. And there are plenty of people willing to do this.

The company my boss leases onto had a run open from Detroit area to Douglas, AZ - and it paid $.90/mi plus midwest FSC which is about 31-32cpm right now. So you do the math on that - 3706 paid miles, 3900 actual - and gross $4,521. They had the one day open, picks up Monday in AZ, and by the time I found out what the rate was from the recruiter, the next day it was off their website - someone had taken it. And not to be racist, or anything like that, but the company has a good bit of foreigners signed up as O/Os. Eastern Europeans - and they are willing and happy to take it.

After I figured out the numbers, I would have needed to gross $5,700 on that to be happy - and I could hire someone to drive it every other week, and still make a good bit more than I'm making now - and so yes, it became apparent to me that one man's idea of good pay differs from another man's idea of good pay.

I guess it all depends on the situations we're in - if you're desperate, you'll take the lower paying gigs - and that has to do with choices you've made in the past that affect your situation now.

I am 30yo, no wife no kids, very good with my money, live cheaply, and want to make a lot of money - and I'm not going to settle for $1800 a week in my pocket, when I could do more with what I have in my brain and make more money. Please note my signature. It says it all.

But there are plenty of people out there who are happy making $1400 a week owning their own truck. But not me - I have the means and opportunity to wait and look for the best opportunity I can find. And it's not about making a lot of money - that is incidental - the point is achieving and doing the best you can with what you have - putting yourself into your work and succeeding - we all should have been taught in school to take pride in your work - and that is what I think is the point of it all - I guess it's hard to put into words, something like achieving for the sake of achieving, in all parts of life, because other than that, there is no meaning.

Anyways I went off on a tangent, but the point is most peoples' desired level of achievement is lower than what I and a lot of other members here want for ourselves, and that is why mileage rates leasing on to 95% of carriers is what it is - designed for the "company driver turned O/O" mindset that I explained earlier, and not for those who are business minded and want to achieve more.

Anyways, sorry again for the long post.

 

I can think of quite a few, I used to run on accounts paying those kind of rates or better to the truck as a company driver hauling livestock, at times you can do those kind of rates with grain, but only in certain seasons and you also run into long waiting lines on short hauls which is a killer. I can get rates in that neighborhood hauling 28% fertilizer with a tanker in the spring, and liquid lime in the fall. I also know some guys who are in that neighborhood on multi-drop runs where they get that sort of mileage rate plus stop pay. One of them does milk delivery, and one pulls conestoga delivering building materials. These are all not jobs you will find on craigslist, but they're out there. There's also guys with contracted rates much higher than that doing hotshot work, pipe, and mud delivery for the oil industry. got to be on call 24/7 though and know the right people to get into that mess.

 

FFE ? YOUR KIDDING RIGHT?

 

very true u get paid miles u run ur ### off and buy lots of fuel

 

Danny, you're talking about specialized with expensive trailers etc, I'm talking about getting those rates with a typical flat or van. No-one pays those kind of flat rates to vans and flats and you have to bust it to get those numbers. There's plenty of small outfits around me doing that specialized stuff, none of them lease trucks on. Cracking into that business would be difficult without connections not to mention expensive. I could probably buy 4 or 5 good dry vans for one decent used milk tanker or whatever . Or buy 1 or 2 vans then bank the rest that would get sunk into special equipment, why go to the trouble when it costs less to operate hauling regular freight and the rates are not much different

 

Most of the better paying specialty freight is very inside. You have to know someone or have been doing it for ever to make it work.

Or it is very seasonal. Great money for a short period of time then fuel money.

OR something very wrong with the work (anyone want to be in MD Oil Fields right now?)

Or,or,or.

Not saying there aren't guys out doing some good paying milk runs. Just a little harder to just dig up.

 

A man can make lots of money, or a little money: it depends a lot on the amount of risk he is willing to take.
Mileage means minimal risk. You know you will be paid x amount for every mile you drive. So long as your cost is lower than x you make money.
% from a carrier has more risk. If their freight pays well and is consistent you will make money so long as you keep your avg rate for all miles higher than your cost per mile.
All depends on the size of the picture you are looking at in my opinion.
If you purchase an expensive asset, take a contract that pays you a straight rate, and work hard at it: you can live. No denying that.
More money can be made on % and making good business decisions. Work less/make more. That's my objective.