Some numbers for new O/O

I don’t like being under 40k unless I’m volumed out, but LTL still pays pallet/pound,

favorite was a guy #####ing about a truck load rate when they first started tanking, I usually only give ball parks, but apparently I made almost 3x what he did to where I was and as as I’m beating around the bush of telling him nicely there’s no fcking way I’m giving him the barn info he stops as I open the doors and says “what the #### is that”?

that there Clark, is a pallet jack. It’s 34 pallets over 8 stops.

immediately Goes into F that I don’t do multi stops, I’m not loading or unloading myself especially if I have to stack pallets blah blah blah, perfect, go back to running your truck for 1/3 of what I do because you don’t want to do anything to set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd

 

You can't make this crap up. People will work for pennies booking easy no touch freight than pulling stuff you have to touch.

 

Having someone load/unload is such a foreign concept to me. Most of my experience is in flatbed/machinery hauling though. I've had guys thinking they're being helpful and try to chain things down, but I'd always redo it anyway. I would think that it would register with people that if you get off your ### and do it themselves, they would be done faster and back to making money sooner. But, that's the way the world works, I guess.

 

Don’t send him my way!

 

I would love having a gig like yours. It is something most people would not like doing but I enjoy working. I would rather run my clock out every day or do lots of stops that wear me down a little bit. I just need to be busy and have a purpose day to day to enjoy it.

 

I head my tractor leased to a big company that had their own trailers and their own direct freight contracts , mostly with the big three auto makers .

they moved the trailers long distance on the railroad and the leased owner ops delivered and picked up loads within a 250 mile radius of their terminals .

was good money at the time .
Home every night .

they started losing money and losing contracts and I bailed , sold all four of my trucks , and got a job as the maintenance supervisor at a local hospital .
Company used to have 14 terminals and now they have 2 .

I bailed at the right time .

 

Like Kenny Rogers said... Know when to walk away, know when to run. Another big thing that I'm taking into account with this plan of mine is when the right time to get into it is and having an exit strategy.

I know right now is not a great time for the industry and being an election year has everything in limbo. A large part of my plan will probably hinge on what happens in November. I hear everybody constantly say "if you can make it through the bad times, you can make it through the good times". While there is truth to that, it's still not a reason to put undue stress on yourself. I'll bide my time until things are right.

I have a good, steady job right now that I've been at for almost 12 years. It's stressful, complicated, irritating, and all sorts of other things. However, the benefits are excellent, and pay is decent, and my check always clears. There are a number of other perks with my job, too. Most of my flatbed experience comes from this job. One or two bad days are no reason to jump ship....although, they are starting to add up over the years...

However, if things can be better with my own gig, that would be the direction I want to go. I could potentially make double (or more...) the money I make now. Most importantly is if I can get this to get off the ground, I'll have something that I can pass onto my kids if they so choose, and use it to help raise them and instill a work ethic. That would be worth much, much more than mere money, in my opinion...

 

The only reason I'm in this business is because "my freedom" and pay my bills, period. I know that trucking is not going to make me rich, not matter how hard I drive, at less I borrow money to buy more trucks and I lie , cheat and exploit my fellow drivers and I'm not going to do that. this industry gave me the opportunity to be free. I live a simple life , I drive enough (3k -4k miles per month) to make my payments on time and I spend beautiful time with my love ones . that is all I want.

 

I went through that

the company I was leased with was always looking for more trucks and I made so
Much money with one truck that I bought more .

that was a huge mistake ,
But I didn’t know any better

I foolishly thought that hired drivers would work as hard as Me so I based all
My business model off of my numbers .

paid my drivers 33% of the gross to the truck. Which I thought was very generous, but it was local and short haul work , home every night .

my wife is an accountant and the hired drivers all worked almost exactly 65% as hard as I did .

it took them five days to do three days worth of work .

and the maintenance costs went to the moon

I’d get 6 or 8 years from a clutch , they’d get 9 or 10 months before it was fried and slipping .

brakes tires batteries , everything ,
Whatever lasted me five years would need replacing in one year with a hired driver .

I actually made less money with four trucks than I did with one .
Plus the stress and headaches

dispatchers calling because my driver didn’t show up at the yard this morning .

or the drivers calling at 2 am because they were in Knoxville with a dead battery because they left the Lights on etc


drivers baby momma carving messages in the side of my truck he was driving when she caught him with another side chick etc etc

I just had it up to my eyeballs with the BS and sold em all and got a regular job working at a hospital.