owner operator wage questions

percentage is the only way to go. forget the per mile ####.

 

If you haven't figured all of this out, You need to drive a while longer before you buy a truck!

Do you have any idea what it costs to run the truck per mile?

Do you have any idea about what to look for in a truck?

There are many more questions that you need to ask yourself before you buy a truck!
You can do very well with your own truck but you can also lose everything you have very quickly with one too.

If you don't have a basic understanding about these things that I asked you...You're not ready to own a truck!


By the way....85 cents per mile is a sure way to lose your ###...95 cents a mile will do the same thing but a little slower!

 

IMO a buck a mile isn't going to cut it, and its a sure fire way to lose your ###. I also think the lease deals are a joke, I have yet to see one I would trust any further than I could throw the truck.

Hey, then again people are making millions selling "work from home" get rich quick schemes. So... that must mean there are still plenty of suckers out there to fill those voids.

 

Break even right now is $1.49 per mile according to my numbers and that takes into account paying myself a decent wage, putting a few cents a mile away for maintenance and repairs and equipment replacement.

So....How can a fleece operator make money at $.95 a mile?

The short answer is...He can't! But these theiving companies will convince these poor slobs that they're gonna be a "big time" O/O and " be an independent contractor" and "hey look! The truck isn't governed as bad as our company trucks" and BAMMO!

Another fool signs a fleece!

 

I have health insurance that I pay for so I guess I include that in my CPM....Pension? No. Not a lot of companies out there offering pensions anyway. I have a good IRA that has quite a bit of money in it and that'll have to do...

Quite a few reasons to become an O/O. One of those reasons for me was to be in control of my own destiny so to speak. I like being able to do it the way I want to without someone telling me how they want me to do it...

As long as you have some self discipline you can do well at it. You do have to have a little bit of sense.

 

So, hypothetically speaking, if you were to put a driver in your truck and pay him the exact same wages that you pay yourself to drive the truck ( approx. 35-40 cpm ), you would not make a cent by way of ROI ? In such a scenario, wouldn't it be the same as buying yourself a job ?

I do agree with your contention that owning your own truck affords you more independence. But, at the end of the day, it's a business, and the whole purpose of undertaking the risk by going into business for oneself, is to earn that risk premium, also known as return on investment, in addition to what you would pay yourself to drive the truck.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to give you a lesson in running a business. I'm simply trying to figure out for myself if being an owner op vis-a-vis a company driver, is worth the financial rewards, and also what a decent return on investment would be ( in addition to driver's wage ), assuming that the economy is on an even keel.