The journey begins - purchased a truck.

Trailer update

Well, let me first begin by saying this - if you happen to be reading this and using some of the info as a guide to buying a truck and leasing on, let alone getting your own numbers - this bit is pretty important. If you reference DY's thread, you'll see he crunched the numbers, and went into it with some fairly hefty capital - $60k+ if I remember rightly.

We jumped the gun here, and began a year early, and therefore didn't have the reserves that we would have liked to bridge gaps and go in with. The truck was bought with a mix of cash and available equity, and most other costs I've listed have been absorbed with company wages. Mopped up, I should say.

The spanner in the works was the trailer - and this is where the bank stepped in. If you don't have a working relationship with a bank - start one now . We've been with this one for 10 years now, financed and paid for 5 houses and a vehicle over that time. I started the business accounts with them, and they once again came to bat with the trailer financing. When I say "working relationship", I mean, know the key figures by name, get their direct phone numbers, get to know the tellers (they answer the phones, remember), drop in and say HI if you're there making a deposit - do business with them, they get credit for opening cards, accounts, closing loans etc.

Either that, or have a stack of cash in reserve. I understand when people say they don't trust banks and would rather do cash - that's fine too. I'm just saying, they're a great bank and they've been very helpful.

So . . . we couldn't go the 4-5% business route without the bank manager sticking her neck out too far - the regional manager would have wanted to see 2 years business tax returns - so we went for the unsecured $25k loan (4 years at 8.7%), (this also means no lien on the trailer title), and faxed a 'letter of credit/loan acceptance' to the dealer in order to secure the trailer for the end of February.

Working on 100k/year (miles), the trailer payment will account for 7.44 cpm. Paying ourselves back for the tractor over one year represents 12.5 cpm - for total equipment cost of 19.94 cpm in the first year, and 7.44cpm for the following 3 years.

Loads - lots of 'em

A little birdie sent me lots of loads in my area, showing the high and low range. Spent a good bit of time perusing them. It became quickly apparent that the strategy of revenue/time needs to be the priority, the mentality of cpm, and miles/day, ingrained over the time as a company driver - needs to be amended.

Aaargh! More costs!

The tractor inspection, $55 - only valid for 30 days. The drug screen, $15 - valid for 30 days. I must begin within 14 days of orientation. Must attend orientation and load securement - 5 days total. Wife off for surgery Feb 12th and will need a hand servant for 3 days. Trailer tags to buy - luckily this time I can tax exempt the purchase using LS's DOT#.

Oh, and - 30 minute break is up, back out to California we go.

I polished a wheel the other day, and marvelled at it. It's the first time I've looked at a truck in years and actually felt a tinge of pride.

Now . . . back to work.

 

Set up 'Profit guages' and 'Fuel guages' to track expenses and fuel.

Ordered a 'scan guage' to monitor fuel mileage and driving habits.

Met with the local Schaeffer representative. He took the time to come out to the house and visit, happily demonstrated the products, and took an order. 30 gallons of oil to begin with, a case of grease, a case of fuel additive and 3 sample kits. Ships on a common carrier, so I asked the machine shop if they would recieve it for me. When it arrives I'll drop the oil and change filters at the machine shop (he will teach me how to change oil and lube, but has no interest in doing this for me on a regular basis!), and send off the oil sample to see where we're at.

Contacted a graphics place locally and lined up lettering for the truck.

Contacted Tri-City Canvas about the LS discount, and shipping. Again, the machine shop will recieve a pallet (they have a forklift) for me. Will call them back in a week to place the order.

LS is waiting for termination from employment - and they want to ring and verify this - before they'll even let me go to orientation. Have to wait on the foot surgery before that happens - after Feb 12th. Also found out that I'll be on training wheels for a year because I don't have recent flat bed experience. Never mind, I'll make it work. Still, another in a long list of things that the recruiter failed to inform me of.

No, I don't have to take the tractor to orientation, but then I have to jerk around getting the Qualcomm installed on my own time - and there isn't a location convenient to me. So, it may be easier in the long run just to drive the truck down there.

Ordered locks for the headache rack - and a cruise control switch, located the problem with the windshield washer pump, and repaired, repaired reverse light wiring, polished the other wheels . . . . that's it so far.

OD ran low on freight this week and sent us home after 1 run - allowing me to get the above done.

 

Thanks - I'm pretty sure I've got a 1-1/2" out there. I'll let the machine shop show me the fuel filter procedure, and yes - that You Tube is handy for tutorials too!

 

Well, as you can see, we're all sign-written. More photos in my albums if you're otherwise bored or distracted.

Schaeffer Oil rang back and needed more credit references - I rang around the lumber yard, propane place, bank, local bank and roofer (his wife works at the bank - small towns) - and scratched together fax numbers and phone numbers for them.

Lettering cost $125 for both sides, pretty reasonable I thought. Watched the whole process - fascinating. The guy normally does race car graphics.

Friend down the road works at a company in upper management that ships a lot of dry product, asked him to find out about rates . . . always thinking.