There is money to be made with 9+ mpg trucks

yea .... I loves them light loads

so what are other guys numbers at different weights?

 

From post #108 on page 11:

From post #85 on page 9:

Ok Dice, you asked for it ...

The problem here is that you're figuring driver pay as a cost (taking money OUT of your pocket).
If someone else was driving your truck it would be a cost, but if you're the one driving the truck that's $0.50 per mile profit IN your pocket.
The way you're figuring it the "cost" of the driver pay is increasing as the speed increases, when in actuality the PROFIT of the driver pay increases as the speed rises.

I like to figure out how much $ I'm making per hour. It's easier for me to see what's really going on than by figuring by the year.

Using your example of a poor mpg truck:
Fuel cost per mile for 70 mph truck = $0.72 per mile
Fuel cost per mile for 57 mph truck = $0.59 per mile

Fixed cost per mile for both trucks = $0.29 per mile
Variable cost less fuel per mile = $0.26 per mile

So...
70mph truck: $1.86-$0.72-$0.29-$0.26=$0.59 to the driver per mile
57mph truck: $1.86-$0.59-$0.29-$0.26=$0.72 to the driver per mile

The driver of the 57mph truck makes $0.13 more per mile, BUT...

70mph truck: $0.59 per mile X 70miles= $41.30 to the driver per hour
57mph truck: $0.72 per mile X 57miles= $41.04 to the driver per hour

The driver of the 70mph truck makes $0.26 more per hour of driving (because they can drive more miles in an hour).

140,000/70=2000hrs
140,000/57=2456hrs

Yes someone can work an extra 456 hours a year (6.5 weeks) making less per hour, but it really doesn't make sense to me why someone would. There's 168hrs in a week, I only work for ~70 of those. That leaves 98 hours a week I could spend working odd jobs on the weekends when I'm home or polishing wheels and tanks in the truckstops! Do you think I'm losing money by not spending the maximum amount of time working? (FYI, I used to work 137 hours a week making minimum wage no O/T until I figured out I could make more per hour and work less hours).

Also, if the truck gets better fuel mileage than the one in your example the difference in pay per hour increases as the mpg does...

Using Dice's truck hauling non-O/S as an example:
We can assume Dice's truck at 70 mph gets 7.9 mpg and at 57 mph gets 9.2 mpg (1/10th mpg difference per mph).

Fuel cost per mile for Dice at 70 mph=$0.525
Fuel cost per mile for Dice at 57 mph=$0.45

Dice at 70mph: $1.86-$0.525-$0.29-$0.26=$0.785 per mile
Dice at 57mph: $1.86-$0.45-$0.29-$0.26=$0.86 per mile

Yes, Dice makes $0.075 more per mile driving slow, BUT...

Dice at 70mph makes: $0.785 per mile X 70miles= $54.95 per hour
Dice at 57mph makes: $0.86 per mile X 57miles= $49.02 per hour

Dice, you'd make $5.93 more per hour if you sped up to 70 (driving more miles in an hour). I don't know about you, but I'll take a $5.93 per hour raise any time it's available.

To make $100,000 at 70mph actually takes you 1820 hours of driving.
To make $100,000 at 57mph actually takes you 2040 hours of driving.

Personally, I'll choose to make more $ per hour and work the amount of hours I feel I need to rather than make less per hour and work the maximum amount of hours I possibly can.

Yes there's a "tipping point" where someone could make less per hour by speeding up, but they'd have to be doing worse than 5.7mpg at 70mph (someone else can figure out exactly what the mpg tipping point is if they feel like).

Indeed.

 

Some doing the calculations here can be glad they are driving trucks and not being paid for their grasp of economics.
I know actuarial science is not in the CDL curriculum but come on guys.

 

so your time is not worth anything to you,....

And you like to give your time away to someone for free?

 

Look , when there are opposing arguments about a topic I am always amazed at the what people use to back up their stand point.
One can not successfully twist maths which is a science to fit ones desired outcome.
Facts don't morph to prop up ones point of view.
There are individual factors that have to be factored in.

Now you get people posting calculations that ignore what they choose and try to pass the results as fact.

BS factored in = BS results out.
Theory and real life don't differ , contrary to what people often say.
Incomplete or erroneous theory and real life differ.

Opinion or desires don't make money and the thread is about making money not about doing what you want.

 

It's a no brainer that driving slower saves fuel. But like wimp said you spend more time in the truck.......no thanks. The famous line the fuel savers like to use is "laughing all the way to the bank" so I'll start using "I'm laughing all the way to the airport".

I have a friend that works in logistics for a large steel company. In a casual conversation she told me someone picked up a load that only had to go 320mi and it had been 13days and he hasn't delivered it yet.......Probably getting killer fuel mileage though.