Stepping Out With My Own Numbers

Today was a huge bust. I had a shirt run from MO to IL and a long one to NC for Monday. They didn’t have the raw product to produce my load to IL. I waited yesterday afternoon until this morning and no luck. Broker says they’ll pay 250.00 layover, which sucks. I couldn’t find anything worth it. I was in Springfield, MO and just came home for the weekend. Get a few maintenance items done, deposited a bunch of checks, and relax and drink a few beers. While I was at the shipper, another driver took out my hood mirror. That place had more than enough room, he just wasn’t paying attention. I got my IFTA back for Q1 and it was 9.1 mpg.

 

he woke me up to tell me. Didn’t just drive off.
I buy a lot in IL and PA because I’m driving in those States a lot as well as other States that have tax rates of .38 cents and higher. Also, when you take out the tax to get the raw cost, IL is my best deal by far. PA after tax is cheaper than if I bought it in MO, TX, OK, or AR, even though those pump prices are lower. If I could buy fuel only in IL, that would be the best option. OH is also not a bad State for fuel. I don’t get it there often because I’m usually full after stopping at a spot not far from the IN border. Then, I usually get enough in PA to get me back to IL and fill it up again. Saving on tax is part of it. But, because of the lanes I run, minimizing tax and getting a cheap raw cost work together.

 

It’s been pretty bad. After getting hosed in Springfield, MO, I decided to spend the weekend at home. I’ll get back after it Monday. I think it will be better in May and back to mostly normal by June. After that, it will remain somewhat depressed until next Spring. I think, by next Spring, we’ll be back to 2017 and 2018 conditions; where you name your price and brokers will pay it.

 

I went ahead and am getting a lot of my preventative maintenance done. One of those items was a complete wheel end systems check. My passenger side steer had metal shavings in the oil. This is that same wheel end I had the cascade of BS out of a few months ago. They’re working on covering the part under warranty and will replace it tomorrow. It’s not so bad that it’s going to be more than expected, but needs to be resolved. The aluminum hub and bearings is several hundred bucks, so doing it under warranty will save me a lot. The shop wasn’t an International dealer that originally put it on. I drove about 28 miles on it before visiting an International dealer to fix it, a new hub and bearings. The guy that installed it did not adjust the bearings after install, completely loose. The International dealer tore it down, adjusted, and put it back together. It was a Sapp Bro’s that originally installed it.