Personal Conveyance

Rates are currently 3.40 to 3.80 a mile, some is pushing 4.00. When fuel was almost 5.00 the rates weren’t 5-6.00 a mile so someone is pulling your leg, unless it’s short haul stuff under 100 miles. Part of the reason I got out of livestock was I sat down with my friend who is leased to Long Haul, running an eld. He was totally legal and I was running 4-5000 a week, sometimes more. Our profit was similar. You don’t make as much as you think being a hard charger because all your variable costs go up.

 

No the guys I'm talking about are pretty well hooked up with the local feedlots and that was just rates I was hearing a year or so ago. I guarantee you your average freight hauler is nowhere even close to what they're making or you wouldn't see them driving freightliners and volvos. I know a guy who bought a truck, rebuilt the engine, and repainted it in a year. Short haul stuff 100 miles or so was about 6 to 7 a mile 3 months ago when I tried it, I quit because I can't stand not knowing what if anything you're doing tomorrow till 5 this afternoon.

 

Throwing out per mile rates on short haul stuff is useless. You could load at the old Winters yard in Dodge City and drive across the road and unload at Cargill and tell people you’re paid $250 a mile.

My statement was talking pure profit. Your costs go up, that’s a fact. The only thing that will stay the same is payment and insurance. Everything else will double or more if you’re running double the miles.

Edit: And if you look at rates now in other sectors it’s pretty easy to see how you could be running at a comparable per mile rate for all miles as you would be running livestock when you figure all miles. I tried to stay around 2.40 all miles back when I was doing it and you can dang near do that with a dry van now.

 

Yea right now about everything is paying that good all miles, other than hopper freight, that's in the crapper big time.

 

That's true, but it will affect your HOS when you want to get back to driving your truck as all the time worked at the second job must be properly logged On Duty which will shorten your available hours to legally drive professionally.

 

Holy quadruple post, Batman!

So you’re saying if I had a second job at McDonald’s, I’d have to log that as on duty?

 

Yes.

 

Yes, see 395.2 (9), last line in the definition of on-duty time.
On-duty time means all time from the time a driver begins to work or is required to be in readiness to work until the time the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work. On-duty time shall include:

(1) All time at a plant, terminal, facility, or other property of a motor carrier or shipper, or on any public property, waiting to be dispatched, unless the driver has been relieved from duty by the motor carrier;

(2) All time inspecting, servicing, or conditioning any commercial motor vehicle at any time;

(3) All driving time as defined in the term driving time;

(4) All time in or on a commercial motor vehicle, other than:

(i) Time spent resting in or on a parked vehicle, except as otherwise provided in §397.5 of this subchapter;

(ii) Time spent resting in a sleeper berth; or

(iii) Up to 2 hours riding in the passenger seat of a property-carrying vehicle moving on the highway immediately before or after a period of at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth;

(5) All time loading or unloading a commercial motor vehicle, supervising, or assisting in the loading or unloading, attending a commercial motor vehicle being loaded or unloaded, remaining in readiness to operate the commercial motor vehicle, or in giving or receiving receipts for shipments loaded or unloaded;

(6) All time repairing, obtaining assistance, or remaining in attendance upon a disabled commercial motor vehicle;

(7) All time spent providing a breath sample or urine specimen, including travel time to and from the collection site, to comply with the random, reasonable suspicion, post-crash, or follow-up testing required by part 382 of this subchapter when directed by a motor carrier;

(8) Performing any other work in the capacity, employ, or service of, a motor carrier; and

(9) Performing any compensated work for a person who is not a motor carrier.

 

I guess I am the true definition of an outlaw. There it is in black and white but I’m still not going to log what I do at home on my own time.

 

At least you are honest about it! As a former owner operator, then small fleet owner, if I logged all the time spent running my trucking companies I would have never had time to actually drive. Even now as a DOT consultant, I strive for substantially compliant with my clients. No one is going to be 100% compliant 100% of the time, it just never happens. Some are closer than others.