Team starting out with US Xpress

be careful what you wish for... i know what some of the team runs they have right now are

the solo run thing is normal for this time of year

 

I'd take running hard any day over sitting!

 

When the term "solo run" is stated, are we referring to less than 500 mpd and than sit for say 10 hours or are we just talking about the short miles? When I say "solo run" I am referring to the short miles but, in all honesty I don't care how many miles the load is, as long as I/we keep moving. Granted, the shorter miles for teams are not as good as the long miles for teams.

 

when i say solo runs i'm talking about runs a solo could do back to back ie less than 10hr's with a 10hr break between (1 under 600 mile load per day)

the harderst part about going on % is the change in mind set... as a company driver on milage if the wheels aren't turning your not making money and on % that is also true to a point BUT you can sit for a day or a 34 and the next run can pay better than if you had been running hard

the thing to remember is on % it's not about how long the run is it's about what the load pays...... as a solo (wife was home) i did 2 back to back 500 miles runs (out 500 miles took a 14hr break 500 miles back) and my net not gross was over 2K for 2 days work...

we have had loads that we had to sit at the dock for 6hr's to get loaded (would drive most driver nuts) and the run was under 300 miles (killed most of the day for a 300 miles run) BUT we were paid more for that 1 run than a company team would make driving a 6000 mile week.....!! it doesn't happen like that all the time but it does happen....

right now things are slow for us (should pickup in the next 2-3 weeks) so far this year we have been off for 6 weeks between hometime/breakdown/truck getting hit. ran team for 2 weeks and solo for 2.5 weeks and we are on a par with what a company millage team would have made not going home..

when things are going right we can and did (most of last year) run hard for 6 days a week and made (in our pocket) more a week than a company milage team makes a month

this from the stand point of a O/O so your numbers will not be the same because my % is not the same but i also have a truck to take care of that you don't.... company drivers don't have to worry about things like $4,000 repairs, tires, fuel and the like that i do

 

Roger that Flood,,,,I know exactly what you are saying and agree 100% I am so focused on getting our own truck but,,it not about the money,,,its about the freedom.

 

10 4 on the freedom....

thats the real upside, when the wife want's to stay home she can... when we want to take 3 weeks off for birthdays WE CAN... she was off the truck 3 1/2 months last year that i ran solo. most of our home time is 10 days but we did take 3 weeks a few times last year and right now i will be home for about 2 weeks before we go back out..... and the money does help.... nice to go home with 20-30k in the bank....

you need to remember that the 1st quarter is realy slow for us and plan for it... most of our O/O take all of JAN off and some even take part of FEB too also the 1st 2 weeks of JULY will be dead as well so plan on it...... save so when the dead times hit your ready..... you can run standered loads (not ours) but the pay is less

been with them for 22 months...

 

Come on over to Abilene motor express. Teams are getting brand new 2014 Volvo vnl 780s running coast to coast. Very little sitting and plenty of freight.

 

they don't pay enough for me to even think about it

 

Do you even know what they pay our teams? Most teams here average 6000 to 7000 miles. We have the freight that keeps teams moving. So my point is a team could be splitting .60 a mile but if your not getting consistent miles what difference does it make? As a solo I averaged 3200 to 3500 every week. Now back to your regular scheduled programming.