Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

You get paid the same for the dh...?

 

Same base pay, but no FSC. I clearly would rather avoid deadhead miles, but they help to pay the bills.

 

Dead heading is part of the game. My dead head averaged 10%-15% quite often and I got paid percentage.

 

Heck I’m almost %34 this year. The last 4 yeas have been consistent %20 right on the button. This is a very strange year.

 

Aye, but I am spoiled about deadhead miles. The account I technically drive for normally has very few deadhead miles. A lot of our loads are drop then hook at the same customer, moving product from MFG to DC and DC to DC.

I think last year my deadhead miles were less than 10%, but I can't remember the exact number off the top of my head.

 

I don't strive to keep my deadhead miles down.

I'm interested in whether or not the all miles rate is profitable, based on the expectations I set for myself, where I operate, etc.

 

I've found many times it's better for the running mile to bounce 200+ miles for a good load than take the cheap load of lumber 10 miles away.

 

How much money did the dealer charge you between the two days?

 

I'm at 30.51% deadhead miles for the month of July.

 

Total cost for two hours inspection and four hours on the battery test unit, plus 4 new batteries was $1300.00

One of my more annoying expenses, for certain, considering that replacing the batteries last time only cost about $800 parts & labor.

On the plus side, my fuel economy is up noticeably with the new batteries, as the truck does not start as often overnight due to battery charge level. Went from 6.4 to 6.6 MPG. The real number is a little higher than that since I have not adjusted my tire size in the computer. The truck runs about 1.5 miles per hour faster than the computer thinks it's running due to new tires. Somewhere around 6.7 MPG overall at this point, I believe.