Running with JCT

I have a relay after this delivery. Going to El Monte, CA from Casa Grande for a Wednesday delivery. There's always a chance that I could drop it at Colton, but I'm fine with making the delivery and getting home for Thanksgiving.

 

I got some good news today. After delivering this load in the morning, I'm picking up a load nearby and going to Las Vegas with it. There's a driver there who's delivering tomorrow, and I'll swap that load for his empty and take the rest of the week off. Sweet! That's going to save me over 200 miles deadheading home (unpaid). It's nice when things work out.

November is going to be a poor month for me. I'll end up with just over 10,000 miles. It's a relief though, after September's 13,500 and October's 13,000. I'll plan on being out most of December and shoot for 11-12k miles, weather permitting.

Some of my Scangauge drivers are seeing the effects that winter winds have on mileage. I had a nasty headwind in Oklahoma that was pushing me down to 4.4 mpg on level ground! My advice is to just persevere. If it makes sense to shut down early and avoid pushing into the wind, then do it and hope for better luck in the morning. Last winter (pre-Scangauge) I ran about 6.6 to 6.8 mpg every week. By contrast, in the summer, my weekly goal is 3,000 miles and 7.0 mpg . I had a lot of weeks where I exceeded that. The difference between 3,000 and 7 mpg versus 3,000 and 6.5 mpg is about $125. That's going from about $1200/week to $1075/week on my settlement using my basic expenses.

So, is it worth fighting for every mpg? Here's an insidious little tidbit: a half mile per gallon changes value depending on your total mpg. For example, the difference between 7.0 mpg and 6.5 mpg is about $125 for the week. However, the half mpg between 6.5 and 6.0 mpg is $150! Drop down to 5.5 and lose another $177. At 5.0 miles per gallon, that half mpg is worth $213! It drops all the way down to about 4.1 mpg where you'll break even for the week. The closer you are to break-even mpg, the more valuable every tenth is. So when you're slugging it out and seeing 5 mpg, experiment with rpms and see if you can find a sweet spot to get 5.5. That's worth a lot more money than working on getting 8.0 instead of 7.5, which, by the way, is worth $98/week.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that all of you who wanted to be home this week make it there. A big, "Thank You!" to those of you who have chosen to stay out during this holiday. I'll return the favor at Christmas, lol.