How to make money in trucking....????

I agree, when driving team with my brother he was a "hammer down" kind of guy. My fascination with efficient driving irked him. During his shifts he would set cruise control at 70-73 mph and let 'er rip. I'd dial it back to 61-63 mph and wouldn't use cruise control at all in hilly terrain, since cruise control is very stupid about applying boost... it just opens up to maximum boost (worst mpg) in a hurry every time. Bottom line is on our 23-38 hour transits we would arrive anywhere from 4 to 30 hours ahead of schedule. Then what? What did we really save? Time? For what? We just burned an extra $200+ on that run because of his driving habits.... jeesh!... the funny thing is he was paying me a fixed amount per mile, he was burning the money in his own pocket.

In another thread I discussed the run between Oklahoma City and St. Louis on I-44. When I first ran it using my brother's method I got 4.0 mpg. By the time I felt like I was really learning how to "featherfoot" the hills I made the same run at 6.895 mpg. The run took about 90 minutes longer. I figure if you divide that 90 minutes about the amount of fuel I saved during that run that results in a pretty good $/hour scenario... and we still arrived with hours to spare at our destination.

 

so if time is of no consideration, then one can go 40 mph and REALLY save fuel.

Especially since your truck is running so poorly that you can only climb it realistically at like 20 mph because it's just not CAPABLE of pulling it faster.

 

During my best run from OKC to St. Louis I topped out on some of the hills as low as 40 mph. My target speed for topping out was about 50-55 mph for most of them. I found that by letting speed bleed off and not letting boost go above 50%, downshifting as necessary, I could climb all the hills but five of them without getting above 50% boost (which was 4.0 mpg). Some of the lesser grades I could climb by shifting down a couple of gears and hold boost at about 30-40% (5.0 to 5.5 mpg).

So, in essence, if 40 mph is the most efficient speed for climbing a grade and you have plenty of time to get to your appointment, what is the purpose of going faster... especially if you can't deliver the load any earlier?

 

Guess it sucks to have someone else dictating to you WHEN you get to deliver.

I don't have the luxury of an extra 12-24 or 36 hours built into a load to sit in a truck stop and wait to deliver.

I am at home doing my "honey-do" list for the week. Tomorrow I leave for Atlanta with a 3 AM Friday delivery. In that time I have to have two 10-hour brakes. I wish I had your luxury to drive a good portion of that trip at 40 mph.

Cost analysis of my time and fuel STILL shows that my most efficient speed is 64-66 mph.

 

then one can go 40 mph Honestly when was the last time you saw a truck at 40 MPH to save fuel get realistic.

Guess it sucks to have someone else dictating to you WHEN you get to deliver. Who are you " BJ & THE BEAR " no one tells you when your loads need to picked up and when to deliver them ?

 

Seems just as foolish then what the others are saying....

And yes, I do have input on WHEN I deliver and pick up. My truck, my schedule. If it doesn't work with the shipper/receiver, then I go elsewhere.

 

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my earlier posts. The point I'm making is with an example where you have accepted a load with a set appointment that leaves you X number of driving hours to get there on time. Often there is "fudge factor" built into that appointment that gives you the ability to run at an average of about 55-60 mph plus have more hours built into the schedule for fuel stops, rest stops, etc.

Now, once you have accepted the load you already know how much your revenue is going to be. The issue is how much your cost is going to be. Driving faster to arrive hours or even days ahead of schedule won't help you deliver the load any faster because they won't accept the load early. In this scenario why not slow down and drive at your most efficient speed to minimize cost? There isn't any additional revenue opportunity to drive faster, the only "opportunity" you gain by going faster is to reduce your 11/14/70 usage... or spending more time in a truck stop.

 

Speakin of BJ and the Bear, I know this has nothing to do with the thread, but what the hell... You know all the old silly trucker movies of the 70s I guess. In those movies the truckers were always rescuing some damsel in distress, fighting tire thumper duals, helping some share cropper bring in his crop, all the while, making his runs and having his fun. That's what we need today, more silly assed trucker movies. "East bound and down,,,,,,,,,,,breaker ten four, scchhh ..."

 

Hey. What about "Movin On" with Sonny Pruit and what's his name. I remember a bad guy trucker who ran over something radioactive and the guvment impounded his truck for about a 100 years.

Saving fuel is a good idea. And I drive a 379 with a CAT. I was recently running NC to CA and back grossing about 75k and getting about 6.5 mpg. I ran about 60-63. On a few weeks I ran more miles than some teams. Driving fast is more tiring and costs a lot. I don't care to drive dangerously slow either. Like some drivers running 52mph.

 

I've been thinking of MNdriver's comments. There certainly are times when going fast is necessary to deliver a load on time or to deliver an open ended load faster in order to pick up another load and get dollars turning faster or to get home to loved ones, etc. The thing is that once a load is on my truck I already know what revenue I'll make for that load. Generally it doesn't get bigger if I deliver faster, and often the case is that delivering early is impossible due to appointment or if going flat out will only get you there at 5:15 pm and their receiving department closed at 05:00 pm. In situations like that it only makes sense to dial back the speed to whatever your truck's "sweet spot" is for best mpg and either deliver on time or first thing the next morning.