The Good, The Bad, The Honest Truth of a New Roehl Lease Operator

I don't think we are suppose to know yet but yea its cool I guess. Free roller dog coupon for every driver! Lol jk I heard we gonna get nice jackets in lieu of driva appreciation week. I hope o/os get one too

 

Well they did send out a voicemail telling us the company was up for it, and when it was going to be announced. So anyone who knows how to follow the contest would know immediately. That's cool about the jackets, if that's what they're doing. I'll settle for my truck fixed in a timely fashion!

 

Your point about location makes sense Bob, I live in Fort Wayne, IN so it's pretty easy to get me home with a load.

 

I've been out for 32 days so far this time out. I'm out of the Mogadore, OH yard. But even if I was out of Timbuktu, I'm out for 36 days at a time! I understand sometimes it's right place / right time, but is that and the economy enough of an excuse to justify a ~2200 mile/week average over the last month?

Oh one more thing then rant over, lol. Never got word from my FM, who was apparently told around noon today, but a mechanic told me that the truck would have to go in for body work tomorrow from damage caused by a driver backing into me 3 months ago. He says it should take 3-4 days and I'll have to get a loaner. I said "I'm due home Monday." Obviously not a conversation to have with him, but my FM is getting a call first thing tomorrow.

 

Good luck with the truck repairs. Sometimes they take what they can when it comes to bodywork. If you are there and they have the time, the truck gets fixed and you get a loaner. Your FM may or may not have known, so that is why they may not have warned you. Just grab some of your stuff and head for home, they will get you back to get your truck in a few days.

 

Yeah I guess we'll see Eric. I also talked to Jeff yesterday, and it looks like he's got 9 potential l/o he's working on right now, and apparently Roehl has a severe shortage of trucks. He told me it may be around 4 weeks before mine is ready, so I'm probably looking at the end of October.

 

Just heard the prediction that it is inevitable, we are heading into a new recession. The idea of a business not owning you is keep your break even low enough that a bad month or two doesn't put you under. If you don't need to go home, you should feel that you have the money and time to rent a car and take a couple of days off wherever you are. My truck is $480 a week which is $130 more than I had in my business plan and it raised my break even miles by about 400 a week. How anyone can afford a new truck with payments over $1000 a week is beyond me.

By the way I know some don't believe drivers need to do restarts if you are out ten days, but do the math. The only way to avoid a restart is to average 8.75 hours a day of on duty. That is a lot of sitting and also means less than a four hundred mile a day average. Myself, I prefer to work hard, take a day off then work hard again. This is trucking, twelve hour days are the norm. If you work everyday, without ever taking a day off you better really enjoy driving because that is all you will ever be doing. A good book that illustrates this balance between work and a personal life is Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy. Regardless what you feel about his faith, he shows how to succeed while still having a life.

 

Preacher, I agree you do need a day off here and there, if for nothing else do some laundry and get out of the truck. I usually run 4-6 weeks out at a time, and I like to reset when I don't have a student with me. I like to run the 35 days out and then go home for 7 days. It gives a nice break at home with enough time to really get something done. I am thankful that I can run like that.

The only people making $1000 a week payments are people that are doing a lease purchase of a new truck. If you start out with a used truck, pay it off, trade up on something alittle newer, and keep it up after about 3 trucks you work your way into a new truck, with a payment around $1600-$1800 per month. I do not understand how these guys think they are making money with a payment of $1000 per week. I never had debt payments more than $525 per week when I had my truck and trailer. That kept my breakeven point low. I was running an 89% lease, and I paid all of my own insurance. We ran alot of short 300-400 mile trips, but they were $2-$2.80 per mile, plus fuel surcharge. ( which was much lower then...)

I hope things do not get as bad this time around. The end of 2008 thru 2009 is as bad as I have seen it in a long time. The good thing is that Roehl seems to be positioned well to weather the storm again, I just hope that freight levels or rates don't drop off to where it hurts. The only good thing when the economy goes down is that fuel prices seem to drop some too...

 

Trucking in general is well positioned this time around. Companies haven't made the mistake of expanding since we supposedly came out of the last recession. The new equipment purchases have been to replace old worn out stuff that was overdue for replacement. New drivers have been hired to replace the ones who have left the industry. Capacity is really tight right now with about six loads for every truck posted. What is really struggling is container loads out of the ports.

You know for the price of a new truck, why not get three good used trucks. You could put drivers in at least two of them and make money off of all three instead of struggling with a truck that is costing you money instead of adding to your bottom line. I was once advised that any successful business owner has a goal of working himself out of a job.