How do they do it?

they pay them nothing to drive. spend all the money on shiney truks and have none in reserve for when something happens. These are also the companies you see disappear as fast as they come.

My father lives in Griffin and used to drive dumps for Trice. They have some nice pete too. Don't know how you guys make a living with only tandems though

 

I agree with MM, some are just "Fly by Nights" out to make a buck until they're caught by DOT or an accident wipes out a family.

I had a guy who wanted to buy my 379 who owned 5 other rigs running bottoms. He had a brand new 2008 Cadillac Escalade but he complained that I wanted too much for the Pete. He offered me $20k and told me that was more than generous and told me that he would tell his friends about my 2007 Ranco but he thought it was worth $10k or less (I paid $39K). He told me he was in the biz for two years, yeah two years and he's going on #6. He's probably under-cutting because he said he hasn't missed a day in months or he's lying about that too.

You never know and it doesn't pay to worry about things like that either. One thing about the dump biz at least in SoCal, a lot of drug dealers use trucks to launder their money from their dealings too. So even if they're parked it "looks good" to the Feds.

 

Running clean and legal won't get you rich but when you park your rig at the end of the day, at least you can tell yourself you're doing the right thing by running clean.

 

As I was nearing discharge from the U.S. Army in Colorado Springs, I began to search for a job and gather information on prospective trucking employers. A small trucking company in Denver was featured in a trucking magazine. This company was extolled for their equipment specifications. They had recently taken delivery on twelve new tractors. I can not remember exactly what was different about their theories. They probably ordered trucks with bigger engines and then had them cut back for fuel mileage and longevity.

A few months after the magazine article, I was in Denver trying to find this trucking company. Their terminal was padlocked. I asked about them at the gas station on the corner. Of course, the gas station employees remembered the trucking company and their new fleet, but said they went belly-up.

 

when I had my asphalt company I was in direct competition with a guy who had cosed up and opened in a new name 8 times in 10 year and declared bankruptcy about 5 times over the years from what I hear. he's the main cause to me loosing the company trying to compete.

 

Ah, the joys of running a business and competing on a Level Playing Field. It's nation wide, the dishonesty, the under-cutting, and the Slow Pay. I worked with another O/O who's family had a repair shop and he decided to get his feet wet in the dump biz. Within 2 years of running, he received a contract from Los Angeles County for Flood Control and Road Maintenance to broker trucks of course being a MBE and DBE helped him get the contract.
These days it's tough to get ahead for everyone but some groups because they were victimized in the past, receive preferential treatment in regards to government contracts. I hope I don't see that sort of thing when I start going OTR. I am not a member of any special group except maybe the "Pinche Wetto" group, since I am but one of the last of the "Wettos" who are dump truck O/O's in SoCal.

 

Not unlike what is happening to many O/O's with others taking cheaper and cheaper ppm loads. It's not helping anyone but the shipper and brokers to run cheap frieght. Just looked up Heartland,they pay O/O's $.95 all dispatch miles plus $.33 FSC whooohoooo!!!! Figure in fuel, insurance, repairs, maintenance,truck and trailer payments and all the other things reqired as an OO and it works out to less than a first year co man at $.40ppm.