SO .. Where is the money - most OO going UNDER

My point was that if you are taking 6 months off in a year because rates were not good, I highly doubt that’s a good strategy, but if you can halt most of your expenses and call it a vacation, then okay. I personally wouldn’t just throw away 6 months of work. I would change my way of doing business.

Walmart makes a lot of money, not by selling high-priced items, but by selling a huge quantity. Target (store brand) also makes a decent profit, but their focus is not quantity. Their items are a bit more expensive and their store experience is certainly superior to Walmart. Both have different approaches, and are successful, especially Walmart. Another similar comparison would be Apple iPhones versus Samsung.

 

I think that's because many fake ELD users can successfully cover these loads. I see a lot of loads posted by Convoy and Uber that have the same time restrictions or that would make you work over 14 hour shift. Especially water or beer loads. That is in theory doable, if you show up at the receiver early (if any option at all) and then leave on PC but still this just shows how deep in their arse they (shippers/receivers/brokers) have the so called HOS.

 

I agree and some of these loads I noticed with water are really looking for drop trailers. So normal little owner operator gets kicked out of the picture.

 

The difference is they sell items and we sell our time. You can't get more time from a factory. I'd rather only give my time at $50 an hour net after tax profit than work all year for $25 an hour. Working 6 months at $50 you make the same money for the year, but you get 6 months off to enjoy. You can easily net 70k working 6 months as an owner op. No need for more money than that. Studies have shown that right around the 80k mark in big expensive cities more money can't give you more happiness. Out in the middle of nowhere I live luxuriously on my self imposed 40k salary. The rest gets saved.

 

I thought we were doing so good until I read this thread.

War of attrition.
Bad rates.
Bad brokers / agents.
Bad shippers.
$1.70 mile operating cost.
Dry van cannot succeed.

I just bought truck 3 and pretty much have a lock on some freight. What did we / are we doing wrong?

 

Wow, just what are they doing wrong? Hmmmmm.

 

Why are you running my lanes Joe? ,you gotta bid those Baltimore,Philadelphia,newark, through me first .....then I'll let it trickle over to the 3pls for you guys to comb through.....sorry joe,longevity and seniority first through these tough times.


Lol j/k

 

You can still grow in poor times it’s just slower going.

 

I’m not referring to time, but to business strategies. For example, instead of forcing local trucking, why not experiment with regional work, OTR, or shipper contracts? I’ve noticed people who complain a lot about the freight economy are forcing certain routes. There is only so much juice you can squeeze in certain markets. Being flexible with your business really does help increase your profits.

 

Gotta be careful what you say here. LOL. Back in January 2018, you said here that you were getting $4K for a run to Manchester, CT. I got kind of inspired and jealous, so thought I could get the same rate and demanded JB Hunt pay me the same money to Orange, CT...but settled for $3600, kind of disappointed with my negotiation efforts. Only later, I did realize you were getting that rate for an open deck. I still owe you a beer.
Not such good luck ever since going that direction.