Picking my own freight baby! My journey to & of being on Schneider choice, the Adventure & Numbers!

What they all said. I really don't have the energy to get into this. Been too busy workin.
If you think the road to success is speed and weight, you have a lot to learn.

 

LOL......

3000 mi on $1000 of fuel... LOL

Now that's funny right there

 

and frankly with this possible downturn in the economy coming again in freight slacking off... Only the wise and the strong are going to survive this economic downturn the rest will fall by the wayside

 

Okay I'm going to try to make this as painless as possible. As of the markets right now we are not looking at a recession. We are looking at a slight economic downturn because of 2015 quarter 3 numbers. If freight is like anything else they will use the previous quarter to determine production for the following quarter. Hence if the quarter 3 market is down 3% even though quarter for maybe up 2% the numbers would still be based off of last quarter. I can't imagine this being any different in freight. So because of quarter 3 is downturn there is a freight shortage. We also have much lower diesel prices, which shippers and brokers are using as leverage against profit. So basically you have the perfect storm. Now quarter 4 projections are up over 2% according to The Wall Street Journal this will affect us in the first quarter of 2016 which is forecast to be a good year. The other issue that we have which really affect commodities is the fact that the Senate and House can't get their crap together as far as the yearly budget... Again... This has a dramatic effect on your upper tier markets mainly business to business or corporation to corporation transactions which we do a lot with in this industry. This may have a slight effect on us now but we probably would not see any real effect from this until second quarter of 2016. I guess what I'm trying to say keep it smart, keep it cool, and truck on.

 

Wonder what kind of shape that soon to be re-leased truck will be in.

 

DFO has spoken!!!

 

Freightwhipper, you are exactly right, we are in a downturn. I agree, but, should be only temporary, and not go full on recession. I would be cery suprised if it does. While I was doing real estate aquisitions and short sales, you learned what to watch. If freight follows the same consumer markets (which most everything does) then we should be ok within a few months. But....it might get worse before it gets better because the global economy is utter #### right now.

 

I have accounted for everything you have mentioned.

I honestly don't care if SFI takes me or not. I have about $7,500 saved up right now, in the next 3 months when I'm eligible for Choice, I should have about $15,000 for a down payment, and will try to get financed elsewhere first. Our just put the entire $15,000 as a down payment with SFI and get a T680. Once I get closer to that time I can calculate my options better. Or $10,000 down, and prefund my maintenance $5,000. On top of that, I know all about how these "Mega" leases work. I actually like to read through my contracts before I sign.

I have been a lease operator with England for years, so I know the numbers. Only with Choice, the numbers are much higher and better, and I pick my own freight. Sure, there might be a slight learning curve the first few weeks, but I learn quick.

You think it's easy for me to make 3000 miles a week, every week in a slow truck, with planners give me crap loads always over 45,000lbs? I have been on both sides of the fence, and they are pretty much the same. Granted, IC's have some extra steps added, but at the end of the day, we're all pulling a trailer.

Also, $1100 in the hole is chump change. .. When I was with England I took the entire months of December and January off every year. When I stepped back in the truck, I was about $6500 in the hole, took me about 2.5 weeks to break even and start seeing a paycheck. With Schneider, I doubt I would ever do that, but I would't mind setting aside a $300-$500 every week just for that.

Trust me, nothing ever comes easy..

The hardest thing I see about being a Choice driver, is figuring out a way to not let all the stay at home wives or husband's cherry pick the best loads for their spouse, as freightwipper pointed out. A one man operation, against a tag team is not a fair fight.