Is it possible to make good money hauling containers (intermodal)?

Did you ever have any luck finding a decent company to take your truck to in Wilmington? Ive been researching for a while.

 

What do your numbers look like in 18?

 

Well you learn alot here on this forum . 4 years as OTR 2 as driver 2 as an o/o . i am now thinking about giving rail yard a chance. Picked up some good points here on this thread i am thinking about union pacific rail yard here in Lathrop, CA any one with information on how the wait and conditions are here and if there are any companies worth looking into would be appreciated .talked to one from craiglist and was told that we do 70% D/H and rest live loads and no Bay area but Reno ,NV and Sacramento area in short within 200 miles of lathrop the average is about 1.50 a mile .and 150 a week for insurance cargo,truck,eld log,and tablet included. Work starts 4:30 am to 6 am any advice ideas would be appreciated thank you .
my first post here .ya hoopoooooo

 

Well, congrats on your first post! Welcome to the forum. Yes, you can glean some GREAT info here!!!

Sorry it took me a bit to reply. Easter weekend.

I know nothing about rail yards in CA, their wait times, the wait times for live loads. But, if I were to guess, they are every bit as bad if not worse than those near me in Chicago!

I do know one thing. A rate of $1.50 a mi SUCKS! Is that for all miles, or just loaded miles? My guess is it is only loaded miles, and, then they have another rate for empty miles, probably around $1.20...can you verify?

Here is what they will have you do. You will go to the rail yard, hook to a container, take it to a customer, and either drop and hook or live load/unload. The process of getting the container will take minimum an hour (plus your time to drive to the rail yard). It is possible, you might run into 2 hours or more if the rail yard is busy. Since you are "bobtail", they will pay you NOTHING (or next to it) to get their. Hopefully, you park nearby. If it is a live load/unload on the other end, you'll be looking at at least 2 hours to load/unload. If it is truly drop and hook, maybe a half hour by the time they figure out what container you are taking back....hopefully there is no issue with it, lights work, tires are aired up.

If you are taking a loaded container out of the rail yard to a customer for live unloading, you will likely take the empty elsewhere, again, drop and hook or live load. This might be up to 40-50 mi away, depending on the area you are going.

So, in total, with your drive times, you are investing 6-8 hours of a day, if not more, to run that 1 load out, and, you haven't even made it back yet. If you have to drive an hour to get reloaded, and then 4 or 5 hours back, you've shot an entire day, and then some. You will go home, eat, immediately go to bed, wake up, do it all over again.

What you should be doing is ask to speak with other O/O who have been doing this job for at least a year at the company. THOSE are the guys who are going to tell you the truth and nothing but the truth. You need to prepare yourself, it may not be what you want to hear, and, whatever they are going to tell you, temper it with the fact that, the company is NOT going to give you pissed off operators to talk to. Only the ones that they think will say good things. Whenever I have talked with drivers in that situation, I always say "Look, tell me how it really is, don't sugar coat it. I am NOT going to tell the recruiter what you said, this is just between you and me, if I come here, chances are, we are going to get to know each other well, if the shoe was on the other foot, I'd want to tell you how things really are, so...I want to know the real truth." That is usually enough to get a guy to be honest with you.

As I said, $1.50 loaded and less unloaded, ESPECIALLY when you are only looking at shorter runs, 200 mi out and back is real low. So, that is $300 out and maybe $240 back? If all you can get done in 1 day is a run out and back, maybe pre-load for tomorrow, your looking at $600 a day gross?

Even if you can get back, pick your second load, head to the customer and sleep in their parking lot, your still not grossing much.

Maybe there are some guys out there who think $3K a week in gross is great. But, by the time you pay ALL your expenses, make your truck payment, save $ for the NEXT truck you will buy, what are you going to be left with, $1,200 a week? Out of that, you have to pay both sides of social security, and have some kind of health and disability insurance to be somewhat on par with the benefits you'd get from a driving for a company as a full time employee. I am sure you could drive a company truck and earn that much, get sick days, vacation pay. And, not be on the hook for repairs and maintenance, truck insurance, plates, highway taxes, etc.

As an owner operator, I run dry van freight out of Chicago, 200 mi out is typically as far as I go. Last week, I grossed over $6K on 1,775 mi, worked about 55 hours for it. Do the math. I netted well over $4k.

While some think $1,200 a week is GREAT money, what could another $3K a week do for you? I have always been of the mentality, make as much money as you can while it is there to be made, because, some day, it might not be.

Hence, as I have stated all along, rail container work SUCKS! It is cheap. I simply don't understand the attraction to want to run it.

 

...and, $150 a week for your truck insurance? If you are running under their authority, you only need to buy "bobtail" and "non-trucking" liability coverage.

I pay LESS than $150 a week for FULL coverage on my own company/authority! And, that includes physical damage, fire and theft on $100K worth of equipment!!!

Something isn't adding up here. Your insurance should be more like $60-$75 a week.

If you don't want to operate under your own authority, find a small "Mom and Pop" operation that either allows you to do "Power Only" runs or can rent you a van trailer cheap. Someone who gives you 80-85% of the line-haul revenue and 100% of the fuel surcharge.

Or, go rent/lease your own trailer. There are lots of big outfits, they will be the most expensive. Look around, find a small-time outfit who will do it cheap, probably less than half the price of the big guys. Someone who doesn't charge "by the mile" for maintenance.

They are out there, you just have to find them. There is just way too much regular dry van freight out there sitting on docks right now that you could be averaging $2.50-$3 mi in that 200 mi radius to be willing to operate for less than half.

If enough guys use their heads, say "No" to the cheap ######## taking advantage of you, they will eventually be forced to raise their rates to something decent.

These rail container outfits are taking advantage of guys like you and in the mean time, lining their bank accounts.

 

I've done both rail and ocean yard. That 2 hours at a rail yard is a dream compared to what you can expect at a port! Few of the 20 and 40 foot chassis are in as good condition as the 53' rail chassis. Then having the crane come to you because few containers are on wheels.

Containers? They can have it!

 

I run containers. Most of these points my brothers have made above me are very much true and valid. However, I am content with it, make good money and most of all - barring mother nature or break down, i'm home everyday and that's what matters. I think when running containers, you need to find a good company to pull for and who pay honestly with no B/S attached to ti. Unfortunatly, it's hard too find all that..

 

Good post!

I am in Chicago, trucking 23 years. Containers have never been what I'd call "good paying", and, have gotten way worse. But, "good pay" is a matter of perspective.

I am home every night too. The revenue I spoke of before that I made last week, I slept in my bed at home every night.

Although, you'd have a hard time convincing most truckers of this fact, it is possible to make great money and be home nightly!

But, hope to not offend anyone saying this, someone has to pick up the garbage!

However, it doesn't have to be that way. But, to change this requires organization, which, well, good luck getting anyone else to follow along!!! For every one that figures out a certain aspect is bad $, there are 20 more lining up at the door waiting to get a crack at it!

Hence, why I post what I posted here. And, look at the number of responses and for how long it has perpetuated!

 

Bean, you said it. I have been in ocean ports too...you get lucky if you are in and out in 2 hours....you have to almost get pushy...almost. I was going in and out with my own flatbed, grab up boxed up parts and components or whole machines.

I was lucky, I didn't have to go wait in line for a container at an ocean port. Our pieces were the stuff in big plywood boxes.

But, the scary part is, look inside those boxes.

The stuff inside the box are pieces of machines, or the whole machine. These dryage companies (I worked for one who was fabricating boxes) are basically taking a very heavy piece of equipment and building a box around it made of plywood and lumber, blocking and bracing what is inside. But, when you are trucking it, you are only holding on to the outside of the box with your straps. What is inside is being held with wood and nails. You hit something or roll over, that is now a multi-ton projectile. No headache rack in the world is going to keep that from crashing through your sleeper or day-cab. God-forbid it lands on top of some 4 wheeler.

Your right, they can keep them containers...rail and shipping both!

 

Agreed! My definition of good pay is - live comfortably, not extravagant. I dont plan to drop a brand new BMW or buy a half-million dollar house but I sure do live comfortable. Give me $2K-$3k net, I'm all gravy baby and this mentatily of mine has been the same way for 5 years. $2K cheap? Sure, maybe in some eyes, but I've been averaging with this company nearly $3 grand a week for the last four years. Am I satisfied? Totally and grateful for it. Slow week? 2K? Not the end of the world, Still happy. Apart of what I signed up for. Is containers a stress-free job? Absolutely ####ing not. Railyards, wait time, getting a flip... oh, and dealing with DOT - as we are a eye-magenet, there's perks to it and alot more bad to it. It works for some, doesnt work for most! Truth be told, I dont like change, I commend you guys for trying other things and finding much better options but I'll stick to pulling containers, lmfao!!