Net monthly income

You and or your friend may have gross income and net income confused.

I’d be very surprised if he’s netting $20k per month pure profit. But it’s possible under the right circumstances I suppose. I suspect that’s his gross earnings before fuel and insurance and truck payment etc.

ask your friend if he will sit down and show walk you through the actual numbers

althoigh I will say that $6k a month seems a little low for an owner operator , I know company drivers that earn that,

I also earned about $5-6k a month when I was an owner operator, but I was home every night off every weekend and I didn’t work that hard and paid $15k cash for the tractor that I leased onto a company that had plenty of freight and trailers. And I got a combo of daily pay, mileage pay, stop pay, fuel surcharge.

I’ve also leased onto places that paid a percentage of the gross load cost for preloaded outbound loads in someone else’s tiny reefer trailer from the same place and was on my own for finding a back haul. Which I usually didn’t bother with since the outbound tropical fruit loads paid so good, and the trailer was so small, I just came back empty and grabbed another high paying load. This was before the internet , so there were no load boards available to owner ops

but trucking has so many different variables that no on can form an opinion and offer any advice without a lot more info.

but without seeing your actual numbers we can’t really comment on your situation.

Don’t need your personal info , nor the company name, but posting up the numbers for say, three months , would make it possible for us to form an opinion.

need to know ;
Do you have your own authority and MC number or are leased onto a carrier ?
How you’re compensated
Is it per mile ?
Per mile with a fuel surcharge ?

Or do you get paid a percentage of the gross of the load ?
Detention pay?

How much time do you spend sitting and waiting to get loaded /unloaded ?

How do you get the loads?

found them yourself on load boards ?
Dispatcher from the carrier you’re leased on to?

Do you own the trailer or use someone else’s ?
Do they charge you for using their trailers ?

what type of cargo are you hauling ?

what lanes do you normally run?
What’s part of the country ?
Or just randomly all over ?

how many hours do you normally work on a week / month?

Also need to know about three months worth of Miles traveled, both dead head and loaded.
Cost of fuel used ?

cost of insurance ?
General liability? Bobtail? Cargo ? Trailer insurance ?
What did you spend to purchase the tractor ?
How long ago?
Pay cash or financed ?
If financed , what’s the monthly payment ?

how much have you spent on maintenance and repairs since you bought it ?

how much are you setting aside for maintenance and repairs ?
and truck replacement ?

 

If you're out West, van doesn't pay very well. Especially if your leased onto someone. You still should be making more than that though, Id suggest calling other carriers. What is the rate they are giving you

 

Were is he doing this ? If hat's his net hauling dry van I'm applying tomorrow

 

I might lower my standards to pull a box if thats after truck and taxes too notwithstanding the fact i just bought 2 flats, 15-20k profit after everything a month would more than make up the payment

 

Right, but each breakdown adds up to thousands, so you gotta keep saving that awesome income for the shop boys and towing.

 

You speak truth brother

 

What?
Maintenance, which includes truck payment, pm, tires, and breakdowns is a *roughly* fixed expense that i already assume doesnt hit my net...

THATS why the guy is probably saying he nets 15-20k, hes not accounting for things that are inevitable expenses

 

There isn't much left over now a days, How many owner operators are 1 major break down from being broke ?

 

Never mind that, how many people are 1 missed paycheque away from going broke?