How much money do you make? How green is your grass?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Renegade92, Jun 8, 2020.

  1. D.Tibbitt

    D.Tibbitt Road Train Member

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    Being an owner op for the money aint even worth it . They could pay me a million dollars a year and it still aint worth some of the bs u have to put up with.... U really got to love trucking if ya gonna run ur own truck...
     
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  3. gerardo1961

    gerardo1961 Road Train Member

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    I was buying a job with a little more freedom.when you think you rich in this buisness you have a big problem.i can pay my bills and living relax without to much headaches.i work 4 weeks and stay 2 weeks home
     
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  4. REO6205

    REO6205 Road Train Member

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    True, but you're the exception to the rule. I've read all your posts. You brought a larger than usual amount of common sense to this business when you started out.
    You asked the right questions and you followed up on good advice when it fit your plans. You didn't have unrealistic expectations about what this business really is. You realized it is a business and you weren't some dreamer just playing trucks.
    You made mistakes and you learned from them. And mostly, you just kept on trying. The success you've had is well deserved...and well earned.
     
  5. abyliks

    abyliks Road Train Member

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    People forget tax code is completely different for an owner opp then a company driver, 100k a year is going to be about 70 take home, that’s 30k of your hard earned money going to lazy jobless ####s and useless politician salary’s. I’ll spend a dollar on my company before sending $0.30 to the government, a truck is one of the greatest tax write offs you can have
     
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  6. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    South west Missouri
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    Thank you sir. I forgot to add it’s 170 odd pages, but 5-6 years of growth can’t be summed up into a few paragraphs.
     
  7. rbrtwbstr

    rbrtwbstr Road Train Member

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    in the bush somewhere
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    Yes, as a company puke it sickens me when I look at my paystubs and see 30% going to the gooberment. I do have some things going for me to soften the blow at tax time, but I'm essentially loaning the gooberment money all year long.

    Lately I've picked up a little side hustle helping a relative out, and it's been quite lucrative. But I'm running myself ragged doing my normal job and the side hustle. But this only goes through the summer months, then over winter I kick back and chill out for a while.

    Personally though, I have next to no desire to own a truck at this point in my life. It sure is nice when I get back to the yard in the morning, shut the truck off and forgetting about it for 12 hours.
     
  8. LtlAnonymous

    LtlAnonymous Road Train Member

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    I think that's the underrated part about having a good company job. Forgetting you have a job until it's time to show up again.
     
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  9. Renegade92

    Renegade92 Light Load Member

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    Oct 2, 2019
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    One thing I didn't mention, were the different ways I've considered working my truck. I could drive it myself 100% of the time of course, but I've also thought of driving it 50% of the time, and entrusting somebody else to run it for me the other 50%. I'm not talking about team driving. I'm talking about me being in the truck, on the road, 26 weeks out of the year, while making money all year. I don't know how profitable it would be for me as the owner to let somebody else drive it for me. That is something that I would like to look into more, but it is difficult to do without having accurate numbers such as an average gross CPM rate, along with an average operating cost per mile.

    If somebody would share how much cents per mile you keep for yourself as an owner operator, I could easily subtract a decent company driver rate of, lets just say, .60, and the difference would allow me to project the profit from having somebody else drive for me.

    For example, if an owner operator who drives his truck is keeping $1.20 per mile after all costs, then it would be fair to say that hiring a driver would still allow for that owner operator to make about .60 per mile. Just a rough estimate. Obviously, the success of the estimate would depend on the quality of the hired driver. Sigh.
     
  10. Midwest Trucker

    Midwest Trucker Road Train Member

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    That is one of the biggest mistakes people make is not paying themselves .60/mi and then figuring their profit after that. If there is no money left over then your business wasn’t profitable. You owned your own job. If you can’t hire a driver and still make money then your putting yourself at risk. What if you got sick? Hurt? Family tragedy? Your business goes under.
     
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  11. Renegade92

    Renegade92 Light Load Member

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    Texas
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    I was planning on buying a used square body Peterbilt 388 from this company that has a real pretty fleet. Clean with a shine. For a company to keep their equipment looking that way, I would assume they take care of their equipment. I used to work for UPS, and those trucks never got a wash, unless a driver came in early to do it off the clock. And those trucks seemingly never got preventative/routine maintenance. I don't think they even got regular oil changes; and if they did, I never saw it done. It was always about fixing something that had broken already. But getting back to that company with a pretty fleet, they sell their stuff at about 500,000 miles.

    Lastly, I appreciate the slack. No, I don't understand, but I can respect the difference in how we see it.
     
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