How much can an INTELLIGENT owner-operator make?

I worked M-F this week and logged 53 Hours...After L/S take,toll's and fuel,i brought home $4,200 on 2700 miles ran...Not the ''best'' but wonderful for myself.

I am off another 8 days.....Work smarter not harder...

 

What type of freight are you hauling for L/S?

 

I cleared $3,300 last week on 530 miles. One load, 50% deadhead. I should have nice 750 detention check to go along with that, but I don't count it until I see it.

 

I grossed right at 170K/year with Landstar. Didn't bust my ### for that either. At all. For me that equals pretax earnings of 77-90K. Dry van (mine) hauling mostly logistics freight (pays much better).

 

last week was an extra good week for me $8625 on 2795 miles (2312 loaded /483 deadhead). I don't know if it can be attributed to intelligence or just being in the right place at the right time. you do have to be perceptive though, a couple of those loads I was able to determine the broker was desperate enough to pay stupid money. Frankly, there was one load in there I hauled for the broker's price, which was a decent rate, but in hindsight I probably could have gotten a lot more.

 

In my case, YES...

 

Well, I did pretty well with Dart Transit. I was on the national board and went pretty much the direction I wanted to. It depends on your Fleet Mgr on how well you do. I was knocking down between 100,000 to 150,000 a year gross. I just did my job and kept the wheels rolling making my pickups and deliveries just like I was working for someone else. I ran out of Dallas and had the best FM in the world named DJ. She is a winner and rewards hard workers with the best she can find. I compared pay with a couple of guys trying to get me to go to Land Star and I couldn't figgure out why they were so excited. I am retired now. I hope this helped you out a little. Take care out there and be safe.

 

1) why run 120,000 miles a year
2) why avoid shorter loads that will pay much more on a per mile basis
3) good
4) Why??
5) not a problem
6) one might could debate the trucking intelligence from the answers you gave


you seem to have a mileage mentality, which is normal for many company drivers who have always been paid mileage. you need to transition to different mode, which is the most revenue for the least amount of miles traveled. which would you take a 300 mile load paying 1500 dollars or a 1000 miles load paying 2.00 a mile? when I pull a multi stop load I get 100 bucks for extra drops.

as someone else posted intelligence and trucking sense are two totally different things.

 

"you seem to have a mileage mentality, which is normal for many company drivers who have always been paid mileage."

True. Running as an owner is a different ballgame. Freight might be 'broken down' by the mile - as a reference - but it is really for reference only. All things being equal the $1500/300 mile load would be better than the 1000-mile/$2 load. Often it's a no-brainer. But often all things aren't equal. One must look at each load and evaluate the merits of each - and relate those merits to one's personal and business preferences. For example, the $1500 load might deliver in Manhattan at 5pm on a Friday. For me - and speaking only for myself - that wouldn't work. Might work for someone else though. The $2/mile load might be delivering to, say, some little town in eastern Montana. Not my kind of load either - but someone else might feel differently (maybe he gets good money out of that area - I don't; maybe there is time on the load and he can run by the house on the way, etc.).

Conversely, maybe the $1500 load delivers in L.A. I'd jump on it. Another guy might hate going to L.A. for whatever reason and he's take the other.

It all depends on you, your situation, your contacts in given areas, the likelihood of being able to get then stay on a roll, your preferences, etc. It is definitely important to get out of the company driver mentality.

 

Surprisingly, or not so maybe, I'd wager a bet the majority of o/o out here would pick the 1,000 mile run paying $2 a mile. Because the gross revenue is higher which means "more money".

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