Is part-time trucking possible/feasible for me?

Sometimes it's easier to deal with the devil you know than to try to wrestle the one on the other side of the state line. I would strongly suggest sticking to what works in your and your Pa's business. People will always need rock. In fact I think we closed a quarry or two back home not too long ago that had been dug since we were America and new ones opened which will probably ship rock out after our grandchildren are gone. It's good to have a business for them to run if at all possible provided the replacement of worn out trucks is not too expensive.

OTR is a difficult beast to tame. I see it as feast and famine. I worked for a small paving outfit for a while and it was probably the best work Ive have ever. You could count on the boss hollaring where you at *&^% at sunrise if not quite there yet each day working until we cannot see past sunset. The money takes care of itself.

Bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

 

You could always see about contracting on with a road crew if you ran out of your own work, but I have no idea how that would work out just an idea.

 

That is a hard one for outside people to answer yall need to sit down and look at how many loads you will haul what you will be getting paid per load and what the normal year looks like and how much you want to spend on your rig to how much you want to put in your pocket how often you will want a new truck and so on

 

The problem with slow downs is they are unexpected and everyone is trying to haul loads so everyone else wants the loads you do so you might get a few but will they be a decent price without a contract before hand what will make your truck stand out

 

Have you considered local propane, butane, or anhydrous ammonia hauling? That may be an option. I haul Lp with a lot of guys that do asphalt hauling in the summer and Lp in the fall/winter. We have a lot of guys too that only haul ammonia during the busy season and do other work the rest of the year.

 

I assume you also have an mc# almond with dot#. No reason you can’t run the load boards when needed. All you need to do is add cargo and make sure current liability policy is going to cover the expanded areas. Log book or eld if currently exempt. Drug program a must have if not already.