Some numbers for new O/O

BackwoodsGA · Oct 27, 2021

Rubber duck kw said: ↑

Paying for number 1 fuel is going to be a real blast this year.
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Gonna get worse.

leviant0107 · Nov 13, 2021

DUNE-T said: ↑

There have been a lot of threads lately here and in Facebook groups from people wanting to start their own business. Here are some rough numbers to show how much does it really cost to run a truck.
Lets take a single O/O with new authority and a dry van trailer, who will run 100% brokered loadboard freight (thats how majority of people start out, right?). Lets say this guy (John) has a family and wants to be home every weekend to have somewhat normal life, so he will work Mon-Fr.
1. Truck payment of $1500 per month
2.Average truck/trailer yearly maintenance/repair bill is $25000, so lets say $2000 per month
3. Trailer payment $600 per month. Yes, you should get a brand new trailer. Running a used one will cost you the same or most likely more, when you calculate the repairs and downtime
3.Insurance for the first year will be $12-16k, so lets say $1200 per month
4. Driver salary (pretend you are an experienced company driver and you make $72k per year, so $6000 per month.
5. Fuel $5000 per month
6. Ifta, plates,parking, misc expenses $1000 per month
So we have $17300 in expenses. Now for being a business owner and all the headaches, you deserve another $1000 per week, which makes it $21300 per month, I will round it up to $22000.
$22000 per month, means you need to gross at least $5500 per week, or $1100 per day. You have to figure out lanes/rates and how to make that amount every 5 working days and be home for the weekend.
If everything goes smooth as planned, John will make $120000 per year and be a happy camper.

Of course things never go as planned. John takes time off to spend time with his kids, some repair downtime adds up and now gross revenue starts shrinking. John is lucky if he does all repairs at home, thats usually cheaper. Because if his 500k Cascadia starts having DEF problems on the road and a gangsta dealer charges him $6000 to fix it, on top of the $1000k towing bill, his maintenance/repairs budget starts having problems. Its not uncommon for a new O/O to dump $40k into his truck during each of the first couple years of ownership. The worst I have seen is complete engine failure and a few months of downtime. (happened to me too haha).

Now think if you have a tough enough skin to deal with shark brokers every day, make your revenue goals and deal with all the headaches of owning this business. Remember, in busy months you have to gross much more, than $5500, because in the slow season you might be working only couple of days per week and only do $2-$3k. It means you have to play constant poker games on spot market. You have to be ready to talk to 50 people per day, constantly hear "NO" for an answer, be very resistible to stress and be very efficient with time management. The first year you will be spending time learning lanes,you will make many mistakes, like taking 1500 miles load to Miami for $3500 and thinking its a great rate, or taking already late loads to grocery warehouses and sitting there for 3 days waiting to get unloaded, while getting paid $150 per day broker layover fee. Some of those mistakes can have you make a great big $0 profit at the end of the week.

Oh, also, if you are one of those people who just want to buy a truck and put a driver in it, think about all that and about your truck going down for a month and how you will be paying your driver to seat and wait while your truck is getting fixed. Also think about your driver not checking oil level, ####ing up the engine 1000 miles away from home, getting put out of service for some stupid reason, damaging the load, e.t.c and another 100 mistakes crappy drivers do, because being a new business, you will not be able to hire great experienced drivers, they usually already have good places to work at.

Some people will be lucky and have less expenses and some will be lucky to make more money, but you still will be around numbers posted above. Good luck
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Kind of lost as to where the 21.3k came from versus the 17.3k of expenses or is that just what we want to gross monthly to make 4K profit.
And if that’s the case that’s 48k profit so where does the 120k come from

DUNE-T · Nov 13, 2021

leviant0107 said: ↑

Kind of lost as to where the 21.3k came from versus the 17.3k of expenses or is that just what we want to gross monthly to make 4K profit.
And if that’s the case that’s 48k profit so where does the 120k come from
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Here is a rough easier breakdown.
$1500 truck payment
$1000 trailer payment
$1500 insurance
$7000 fuel, tolls, plates
$2000 repairs and maintenance
Add all that plus let's say $8000 drivers salary and another $1000 for business profit. Since you are owning a business, you want to have some extra money for all the headaches vs just having a drivers salary.
$22000 per month or $5500 per week.
Nowadays this is easy to do, but back then, when I wrote this thread, things were way different

leviant0107 · Nov 13, 2021

DUNE-T said: ↑

Here is a rough easier breakdown.
$1500 truck payment
$1000 trailer payment
$1500 insurance
$7000 fuel, tolls, plates
$2000 repairs and maintenance
Add all that plus let's say $8000 drivers salary and another $1000 for business profit. Since you are owning a business, you want to have some extra money for all the headaches vs just having a drivers salary.
$22000 per month or $5500 per week.
Nowadays this is easy to do, but back then, when I wrote this thread, things were way different
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So 1k a week makes 52k profit as an O/O

vs

120k as just a driver

DUNE-T · Nov 13, 2021

leviant0107 said: ↑

So 1k a week makes 52k profit as an O/O

vs

120k as just a driver
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Pretend you are a good experienced driver and your gross weekly pay is $2000 working for a good company.
Now you start your own business, so you want to keep making that $2000, plus to have extra $1000 per week as a profit from your business.
So total clear profit would be $3000 per week, or $12000 per month, or $144000 per year. That's assuming everything goes as planned. In real life it's usually less because of the downtime due to repairs, family time or something else.
Again, that is all pre Covid. Post Covid profit numbers are different

Tonytruck98 · Nov 30, 2021

I’m just starting out. Pretty much sold the farm and have the semi and flatbed bought and paid for in full so those payments are done and over with. I have enough saved for any repairs I might need including an overhaul. I will be ready to haul under my own authority by late February. Flatbed loads only. My question is wether or not it will be better to go with a broker right away or take my chances on the load boards. Common sense tells me that I should go with a broker and learn the ropes before getting burned by my own rookie mistakes. I have a family to take care of so this is a huge step for me. Not my choice to sell the farm but was forced out after 15 years. I’m not working for someone else again. I’m all in.

Thanks in advance for the reply’s fellas.

Oscar the KW · Nov 30, 2021

Tonytruck98 said: ↑

I’m just starting out. Pretty much sold the farm and have the semi and flatbed bought and paid for in full so those payments are done and over with. I have enough saved for any repairs I might need including an overhaul. I will be ready to haul under my own authority by late February. Flatbed loads only. My question is wether or not it will be better to go with a broker right away or take my chances on the load boards. Common sense tells me that I should go with a broker and learn the ropes before getting burned by my own rookie mistakes. I have a family to take care of so this is a huge step for me. Not my choice to sell the farm but was forced out after 15 years. I’m not working for someone else again. I’m all in.

Thanks in advance for the reply’s fellas.
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Brokers are who primarily post loads on load boards.

Tonytruck98 · Nov 30, 2021

Ya, I should have worded that differently. I’ll keep reading on this forum before I post anymore less than stellar questions. Ha.

cgilliland · Dec 1, 2021

leviant0107 said: ↑

So 1k a week makes 52k profit as an O/O

vs

120k as just a driver
Click to expand...

plus the 8k/MO in wages 8x12=96 plus 52=148 vs 120 wherever you can make that

cgilliland · Dec 1, 2021

Tonytruck98 said: ↑

I’m just starting out. Pretty much sold the farm and have the semi and flatbed bought and paid for in full so those payments are done and over with. I have enough saved for any repairs I might need including an overhaul. I will be ready to haul under my own authority by late February. Flatbed loads only. My question is wether or not it will be better to go with a broker right away or take my chances on the load boards. Common sense tells me that I should go with a broker and learn the ropes before getting burned by my own rookie mistakes. I have a family to take care of so this is a huge step for me. Not my choice to sell the farm but was forced out after 15 years. I’m not working for someone else again. I’m all in.

Thanks in advance for the reply’s fellas.
Click to expand...

you have to figure the tractor and trailer costs of 1500 and 1000 even if you dont have a payment. regardless if the cost comes as a payment or as funding an account to replace or major your equipment it is still a cost. not doing this is called going out of business

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