Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Reading back through some of your older posts... its interesting how perspectives change as a carrier. I used to hate burning up 2 days on a "stinker" 350 mile dispatch (sit all day waiting for a load, get critical overnight load, sit all day after delivery). Company driver might get $200 for his trouble.

But now I love those loads: gross $1200, take out $200 for fuel, $100 for maintenance, & $100 for 2 days' fixed costs, & I get $800 for maybe 10 total hours of work.

Actually drive slower too -- almost always 55. Loads usually planned at 45, so that gives some cushion. Truck will do 93 if called to action, but rarely need to do more than 62 to "make up time."

Relaxing being the slowest on the road. Can go through a decent sized city at 1630 without ever slowing down due to traffic. Harder to be cut off when you're going 10mph slower than everyone else too. Went an entire month without passing anyone and felt strange when I finally did -- "wtf is this blue-haired lady's problem?!"

Couldn't drive slow as a company driver. Inconsequential mpg bonus and always needed to "manage my hours." Sure I still might have 45 hours left, but if I lolly gagged that would only be 43 hours remaining and what if a 2,000 mile load became available?! Of course I could do 2,000 miles in 43 on duty hours, but their computer said that run needed 45 hours so it would go to the next guy instead...

This also encourages qualcomm shenanigans like killing the ignition 2 miles from your exit (automatically switching to on duty). PTI's always stopped 2 miles away from where they started. Checked in at shipper 2 miles before getting there & switched to sleeper before even pulling into the lot... Watch a company driver come to a stoplight or traffic jam - he'll probably be fiddling with the qc to save 3 minutes. Can spot the real pros because they don't even look at the screen -- fingers know by rote...

The funny thing is you rarely used all 70 hours, you just needed to shave 3 minutes here, 5 minutes there to pad an extra couple hours at the end of the week in order to qualify for dispatch on a load you could have done with the legitimate hours if your company didn't rely on an inflexible algorithm.

Now I rarely use much more than 50 hours/week. 2500 miles at 55mph plus 5 or so hours on duty. No need or desire to fudge

 

What an awesome post. It certainly does put things into perspective; this kind of control over my life is one reason I'm seriously considering leasing.

 

I have been to St.Louis twice this week.

Tomorrow I am going to run the Kentucky load Vic has been running. After I unload in Kentucky I am going to pick up a back haul in Shelbyville, Tn. This is a new pickup. I have been wanting to try this run.

 

It's about the $/day to the truck. Double Yellow gave a great example of this.

Vic tells us GTI had an average daily revenue goal. The problem is that does not translate well to a drivers average pay per day when they are paid by the mile......

I had to explain to the office folks why I like the 7 pick 3 drop loads.
7 picks = $300 in extra pay. only takes 1 calendar day and only burns 6 to 8 hours off the 70. Miles run between picks is pure profit.
the extra $100 bucks on the other end covers the truck cost for the day with the mileage pay covering the driver for the day. And again a light day on the 70.

When looking at a driver contract you got to look @ accessory pay not just the pennies per mile.

 

The smart O/O's understand how much money is sailing up into the wind out the straight pipes on those long nose beasts as they blow by you. Like DY said, it's there when it's needed, but only then.

So Blu and Double Yellow: What are your thoughts on percentage v mileage pay for owners?

 

There definitely is more control, although I think the amount may be oversold by many.

One of the things I hated about being a company driver was the uncertainty when boarding after delivering a load. Do I have time to take shower? Go for a walk? Sit down for a meal? Might be 10 minutes before dispatch sends that next load, might be 10 hours... And it may need to be picked up right now, or it may be for tomorrow.

Covenant at least sent you a text message when you had a load so you could get out of the truck and go for a walk or something. With Con-Way, you'd never know you were assigned a load unless you were babysitting the qualcomm.

Anyway, as an O/O that uncertainty isn't much better. I'll still deliver a load in the morning, post my truck on the load board when empty, and search for available loads for a while. But usually brokers aren't willing to open their wallets until it starts getting near a) the pickup time or b) their quitting time. So I often still wind up doing a morning delivery, sitting all day, then getting a load in the late afternoon...

I also love long coast to coast runs. Apparently lots of folks do, because they don't pay all that well compared to the shorter hauls...

That's my long-winded way of saying that many of the things I hated about being a company driver (shorter length of hauls, waiting all day for a load, etc) I still run into as an o/o. Technically I do have control, but the reality is I operate much the way the companies did since that's where the bigger rewards lie.

I think it depends on your frame of reference. I'm only going to do 2500, maybe 3000 miles a week so I'm not going to be in danger of running out of hours. Why go faster than I need to?

But if you are running out of hours, then you need to sit down and compare the cost of fuel with the rate and what your optimal speed will be. At $1.60/mile revenue and $4/gal fuel cost -- 62mph is probably about optimal. Make $2/mile? More like 68mph.

The thing is, the Saudis are flooding the market with oil to punish Russia & Iran so we're seeing what is likely a temporary drop in fuel prices (I just paid $2.40/gal). At these prices, focusing on & investing in mpg improvements won't have the same returns they normally would. Fleets are actually turning up their governors.

Percentage, even for company drivers, makes the most sense to me. With mileage pay you unnecessarily cap your upside so you don't get to enjoy the spoils from great paying loads. And your downside is the same -- no company is going to continually run you at a loss, so if they can't find loads that pay enough you sit.

With percentage, the company's interests and yours are more fully aligned.