Start up or Wait it out

Thats where I'm sitting with no weekly guarantee. Someone is trying to talk me into buying another truck and running again... and I'm close to it.

MedicineMan... I'ma blame you if I go belly up this time!

 

hey don't blame me.... You asked!

 

Definatly wait it out like everybody says.....its tough times right now compared to 2-4yrs ago...owner operators that dont have any payments on their trucks and trailers can afford to sit and wait when freight picks up....however if u buy a truck and a trailer you wont be able to afford to sit out and wait for better freight because of the payments.....i personally know 4 O/O that already put their 06 volvos for sale because they were just breaking even after paying their payments.....but what about house payment and other bills...its tough right now....believe me i would've bought 2 trucks by now if it wasnt this slow...10-4

 

yeah hey brick.....thanks for imparting some wiseness unto me pal.....lol

yeah frieght sucks right now....and i think it will last well past summer

hold off on those big payments and little home time

hey brick....hows that w9 treatin you with fuel at $3.50+ a gallon???

thank god i bought a truck with decent mileage.....ok ok your prolly gettin the same mileage....mine has been sucking with idleing and all

 

I get why all are saying to wait, but I would suggest that now is the time to buy in. I would say to use this "slow" time to find customers in your local area. You need to do this anyways and now is the best time to do it. One customer that can load you out once or twice a week should be more than enough to cover your expenses. Get two customers and your golden.

After you find a good source of loads out of your town, then work twice as hard to find a customer in the areas you are loaded to.

For example, I have a customer here in central Ohio that loads me to PA 2-3 times a week. This is my bread and butter. I am also searching for a customer in PA to load me back to central Ohio. I usually find a decent load to come back, but even if I don't, I charge enough to make $1.50 a mile over AND back.

When I do find a load back, It is at least $1.40. I refuse to take a load for anything less. The beauty is I take loads that are between 10K-25K lbs. I will take heavy loads through the mountains. It's not cost effective when you consider maintenance.

I think if you can find a customer in you area, that will decide whether you wait it out or get into it. Brokers are your friend if you treat them with respect. Establish a good working relationship with a few and you'll find that you will stay busier than you imagined! It won't always be the "perfect" loads, but if you help out the brokers when they need you, they will return the favor by saving the good for you.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is...without working relationships with a couple brokers AND your own customers, you should wait reagrdless of the "season." Truthfully, there is ALWAYS freight out there and even some products that pick up during the "slow" season. I don't have a "slow" season since I always adjust my hauling capacity to whatever is readily available.

 

hey big red,
i know this doesn't follow the post here, but i've grown sick and tired of living in arizona while it turns itself into california. i've been thinking about texas, and seeing your flag thought i'd ask you what you thought, i'd like to drive O/O and be home most nights, tankers are like that here, i've heard good things about texas and am thinking about san antonio or corpus christi. also i heard grass actually grows in your yards there?

 

lots of oil drilling in south east TX and Lousiana right now. Owner ops are hauling allot of oil field supplies. Pipe, etc. and can be home very often if not ever nite. There is a co I have talked to about doing it that runs houston to LA all day.
I hear there is allot of drilling in San antone area as well but have no first hand knowledge.
There is also a ton of chip trucks around, and loging is big here but it's hurting pretty bad right now.
You won't get rich doing any of this but you can do alright. it's a trade off for home time.

 

Where are you going to "pick up" these extra customers? There is an over capacity issue in the trucking industry today. Many fleets pre-ordered trucks to avoid the new epa regs and more expensive engines. Now they have scores of trucks sitting along fences with no drivers for them.

The drivers that are on the road are not running as many miles as they did last year. Take a look at all the trucks parked in the truckstops in the middle of the day and listen to the guys grousing on the cb about no freight and being layed over for days at a time with smaller and smaller paychecks.

The recession is hurting us all in 1 way or another. Unfortunately it is the o/o's that have been operating without a safety (a decent profit margin for their business and a benefits package) net that have been the first to fall. The small 5 to 10 truck operations are next, and the carriers with 100 trucks or more will either fail outright or sell out unless they have a solid business plan and are working in specialized area where there is little to no competition.

The sad truth is for every o/o that closes up shop there are a dozen companies just waiting in the wings to swoop in and haul the freight he was hauling. Hunker down and try to ride it out for as long as you can and hope the economy starts cycling up before you too run out of money and loads to haul.