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

500 local is bad? ya i meant fire lolif u do 2 local 500 moves thats a good day tho

 

I guess we have different meanings of what a "good" day is.

Where I live, it would take the entire day to run 2 container loads locally. The tollway might save 30 min or even an hour on the day, but, you'd be out $125 in tolls. Subtract your fuel, maintenance, insurance, set something aside for future repairs and major breakdowns, something aside for your future truck, pay for your own benefits...taxes, your probably netting $2,500 a week if you are lucky, and likely, more like $2,200 or $2,300. And, for some, that might seem like a boat load, especially if you are in your own bed every night.

I can get out, run general freight, never see the inside of a rail yard, work the same, maybe a few more hours, be home every night and clear $3,500-$4K. I can pull a flatbed and be closer to $4,500 if not over $5K. Mind you, these are NET numbers, not gross.

If I wanted to sleep in the truck, eat on the road and be home just one day a week or maybe just on the weekends, right now, it is over $6k doing flatbed, and right around $5k, maybe more in a van. Again, net.

Granted, there is always a cost to staying local. It is what most drivers aspire to, not all, but many. So, the rates aren't as great and the cost of being home is long-term profits. But, one person thinks netting $X a year is excellent money, another might say it isn't worth it.

But, here is the thing, if time and experience has taught me anything.

Those high rates don't always stick around. You make money while the money is there to be made. Hopefully you can save a bit of it so that you can make it through to the next boom when they do eventually go down.

But, if all your ever doing is "just getting by" and, just like general freight rates getting tighter and thinner, so do container rates. So, when you are making average or less at best, what are you getting when times are low?

I am always preaching to make money while the money is there to be made because, it may not always be there to be made. And, in my own mind, it would piss me off to know that there is a better way to do what I am already doing that saves me time or effort, or, makes me more money in the same amount of time and effort. But, again, not everyone is wired the same.

 

im in illinois. 2 locals os what we do. i am no stranger to tolls lol trust me

 

I used to do the same. I got a big come-on from the recruiter at one company telling me you can do 3...but, that is impossible unless it is drop and hook nearby. We would typically run from Carol Stream or Bensenville to Elwood and then Elwood back to Carol Stream. They had drop and hook customers near Elwood, but, you never got paid for bobtailing around, and, it can take you 30 min easily to get from one side of Elwood to another, or G4 to BNSF. They LOVED to send you from Elwood to that complete POS IL Transport in Wilmington...you'd sit in that hell-hole for 3 or 4 hours...complete cluster ####, try finding a chassis and then getting a box. And, then the line to get out was insane. I one time nearly killed an operator in Bensenville who REFUSED to give me a hand signal to pull up. It had been a while since I was in that yard. Trying to remember the procedure. I found my container on a train. Waited patiently to get loaded. He sat next to me for what seemed like 5 minutes waiting for me to do SOMETHING...I was flashing hand signals at him. I finally got out of my truck and got my ### chewed out for doing so. The MFer drove off. I came unglued. I got the big boss over and gave him an ear full...we are not moron company drivers coming into these places, we are owner operators who spend a LOT of money to haul their crap! I asked the guy if he ever wonder why nearly every truck that came into his yard looked like its held together with duct tape and bailing wire yet, drive down the interstate and you will see huge flashy trucks. The reason for the disparity between them and rail yard rats has EVERYTHING to do with the $ earned and the way drivers get treated. The guys making huge $ would never put up with the BS that is nearly every rail yard around.

 

Those guys are mad and hate the world. Thus they try to make everyone's life suck like there's.

 

Your right!

 

Does anyone know a good company to haul dryvan in the dallas/Fort Worth TX area?

 

I'm trying to make money. Where can one get help to learn this business the way it is meant to be ran so you don't get taken advantage of

 

What are you doing now?

 

Hauling containers in the dfw, tx area