Stepping Out With My Own Numbers

PGT has some decent rates. The problem is that he has to run so many empty miles. He’s deadheading over 20% over there. If you look at loaded miles only, it’s good rates, but after 20-25% DH, not so much. Then they’ll put him on short runs on Friday that deliver Monday for little revenue. They have a terminal not far from his house. I figured they’d have freight inbound and outbound to get him home. Leaving the house isn’t a problem but getting home is stupid. They’ve been sending him 250-300 miles empty just to go home. So, lots of empty miles for no pay. I also rent their trailer for 200.00 a week, it’s not provided. He had a strap break the other day and broke a valve stem on the tire. He has the receipt that says it cost 240.00 to fix it, road call. They charged me 1000.00 their damage deductible. Even though they have the receipt, they’re still charging me 1000.00. Only averaging 1600-1800 loaded miles per week.
Cargill is doing similar stuff with my other guy. They have the plant in Arkansas. They sent me an email recently that they’re going to be reducing the volume out of that plant. When they send him him, it’s also 250-300 miles deadhead to go home. When he leaves out, the Arkansas plant is slowing down, so they’ll deadhead him 400+ to the next Cargill facility, at 1.00 a mile. He’ll run for a week pretty good, but the next week when he goes home for every other weekend he might do 2 loads and they send him home early and don’t load him until Tuesday or Wednesday. Since the Arkansas plant reduced volume, it’s been really bad.
I mainly did it this way to be conservative and not have to buy trailers and put them under my authority. I’ve realized that was a bad decision. I’m already working on having them under my authority by the end of the month and rolling the first week of August.
If these carriers don’t have options to get you home and load you out of the house, they shouldn’t be hiring in that area. I can do much better than that on my own. I can bring in 5-6k per week, gross, and get them home when they need to be without running empty 300 miles to do it. I should’ve put them under my authority to begin with.
I’m more disappointed in Cargill than anything. They have good potential. If you live in TX, KS, GA, IL, you’d be fine, AR is only good for Cargill during peak season when Turkeys are moving, otherwise, it’s dead. Again, don’t hire drivers from an area you can’t keep them moving.

 

This week is crazy. Things came together nicely. 8550.00 Monday-Monday. I just booked the last one for Monday delivery.

 

The guy I was going to hire seems to be flaking on me, the guy in the 2016 Freightliner is quitting to go local live haul. So, if anybody knows someone that wants a salaried driving job, maximum PerDiem, starting 72k a year, send me a message. I can hire anywhere Along or East of 29 and 35 and along or North of 40, I can get someone home every other weekend.

 

I think I may have found a guy. He lives in NC, which isn’t bad, considering I’m out East so much. 18 years of experience, no tickets or accidents. I’m setting up with TenStreet to handle the application, verification, and qualification. If there’s anything out there on a driver they’ll find it. They have a pay as go service for small guys. To do the process plus PSP is about 180.00 a month, they also retain your driver qualification file for you, and will list your job on their board, plus many others. If you don’t use the service during a month, you don’t get charged, even though they still retain driver files for you. Their service makes this really simple, fast, and takes a lot of stress off me to verify employment.

 

Finally home now. Ended the month 12264 total miles, 27698 revenue, 2.25 all miles, 14% empty miles. Got my Q2 IFTA back, 9.04 mpg. I owed the state of NY almost 400.00 thanks to their stupid HUT.
Still working on a driver for my Freightliner for the salaried position. Apps have been trickling in. I’ve got two I feel good about, the others either didn’t have class A experience or had too many accidents. One guy, has 6 years with a paving company, local, pulling a short low boy, medium duty type truck work. He has a class A. Cool guy, If I were a decent sized fleet I’d hire him, but I can’t with my resources right now. He really wants to drive OTR. One I really like is a young guy, 28, 2.5 years experience, I can tell he’s really motivated to get the job.
If anyone ever wants to hire a driver, I highly recommend TenStreet. I’m really satisfied with how it’s working. It’s super easy and the platform stores your DQ files, and I can upload a PSP into the file.
Moving forward with my plan. I was a little bummed out, but things really picked up yesterday and several more apps came in today. This is new to me, learning something new.

 

Went to look at the trailers in person today. They’re really nice. I had the engine compartments steam cleaned and condensers cleaned, the units look brand new. Not even a scratch on the exterior. One trailer has one very small patch repair inside, not bad at all, the other has two small welds on the scuff, also not bad. One has 6800 hours on it, the other 7100.

 

I leased them on because I was trying to be conservative. PGT has a yard near the guy’s house and they talked a big game, Cargill has a plant here in Springdale, pulling for them is basically like a private fleet. I thought it would be a good deal. It wasn’t. Both carriers were the same, very high empty miles, and high deadhead to get them home. It was killing my revenue. Both trucks were only bringing in 14500-14900 max per month. It’s just not enough. Even at the height of shutdowns during COVID19, I can do much better than that. PGT made it worse by charging me 1k bucks for a valve stem that only cost 240.00. That really got under my skin.
Leasing on to a carrier can work. If it’s just you, go for it. If you have drivers, I think it’s a bad idea. You’re giving up too much control and employees lack the motivation to make it profitable.
I paid them both the same. The guy at PGT has been with me awhile so he makes more than the guy at Cargill did. My Cargill quit because he doesn’t want to go to PA, NJ, and such; sissy, so he took a job for half the pay with a carrier here on AR that has a certain reputation, but whatever. The new guy I’m hiring will start at 72k a year plus 1500 sign on and 3k at 1 year retention bonus.
Total of 3 drivers. The problem with leasing on somewhere is that these carriers lack any creative ability. I do very well under my authority and it’s because I get creative. Time of day, day of week, revenue per day. These big guys seem to lack that focus. The only reason I’m still in business is the money I generate revenue n my truck. Without my authority, I would have been out of business two years ago with that nightmare KW that cost me around 25k in maintenance in less than a year.
If you’re pulling general freight, flatbed, van, reefer, getting your own numbers is the way to go. If you move into more specialized freight, leasing on is a good idea in the beginning, to build contacts and leave some cards with people. I was pessimistic about running my own my own authority, not so much now. So many carriers, large and small, are so full of it. As I’ve exposed myself to more aspects of being a carrier, especially the recruiting part, I see so many problems with trucking. It motivates me to keep doing what Im doing. I know I can generate numbers that would make these big shot CEOs crap a gold brick. I’m not a nice person, but I care about doing the right thing. Trucking is very predatory. The guy that quit for half the pay, only quit because he didn’t want to go to northeast, stupid, and this other company buys 389s stupid. Yet drivers take those jobs. I’m doing it all wrong, I should buy 389s with crap specs, pay .38cpm, and I’d have no problem getting drivers. It’s crazy. I like to think I’m making a difference in my own small way. Super efficient equipment and great salary pay. Of the applications I received, only two were decent, one guy, the 28 yr old, is actually working out.
I generated a lot of applications from young drivers. I’m not sure why that is. I had older drivers apply, but when I talked to them, not interested at all. The younger guys were all about it. This guy I’m hiring has an E restriction on his license, only automated transmissions for him.