There is money to be made with 9+ mpg trucks

Ok, so when we're talking about your 57mph truck, using your logic that means that you drive 57mph the absolute physical maximum amount of time? So, screw the red lights? You just blow through 'em? No, that's silly, you just floor it to get up to 57mph as fast as possible between the red lights even though you might be in a 25mph zone right? Come on, we're all talking about driving in a reasonable manner here.

I can drive 1600+ miles between fuel stops running 70mph, I stop a lot more often than that. How long does it take to put the nozzle into the tank when I'm stopping to use the bathroom anyways?

Lubes and maintenance get done when I'm at home relaxing.

I figure DH miles into my freight rate. You drive DH miles and don't charge for it? 4 hours of time to relax doesn't seem like work to me.

Now that you've changed the #'s to be below the "tipping point", yes, at the rates you just showed it'd make more sense to slow down. Using your figures from earlier it wouldn't. Although at the earlier shown 5.7 mpg at 70mph it was already really close with the difference being only $0.26 per hour. I've already said that driving faster isn't always the best option for everyone or every truck:

Now we've determined that the "tipping point" is somewhere between the figures you used earlier and the figures you're using now.

Personally I don't consider watching movies/playing PS3 on my 40" flatscreen while I'm getting loaded/unloaded to be "work".

It takes you 1/2 hr to put a nozzle in a tank "conservatively"?

You get that done on the road instead of at home while you're relaxing?

You don't figure DH into your freight rates?

Maybe it takes YOU that long to do those things.

Actually we both were including those figures earlier:
From post #108 page 11

As the miles traveled increases, so do the costs.

Not everyone drives 70mph the way you used to.

Actually the #'s you've posted above only prove that someone getting somewhere worse than 5.7mpg at 70mph would make more $/hr slowing down. I've shown that the better your fuel mileage over 5.7mpg at 70mph the more $/hr you'd make by speeding up.

 

Yes, it's smarter for a fleet owner that's not driving the truck to govern the truck slower. They don't care how many hours their drivers waste going slow. My point is that driving slower doesn't always mean more money if you're the owner and driver. I think it depends largely on the fuel efficiency of the truck at different mph's and also on the cost of fuel per gallon.

Using your #'s from post 108 page 11:
Driver pays himself $1.86 per mile for both trucks minus expenses.
Fixed cost per mile for both trucks = $0.29 per mile
Variable cost less fuel per mile = $0.26 per mile
That leaves $1.31 per mile before fuel costs.

Fuel cost per mile for 70 mph truck = $0.72 per mile
Fuel cost per mile for 57 mph truck = $0.59 per mile

70mph truck=$1.31-$0.72=$0.59 per mile to the driver/owner
57mph truck=$1.31-$0.59=$0.72 per mile to the driver/owner

70mph truck=$0.59 X 70=$41.30 per hour to the driver/owner
57mph truck=$0.72 X 57=$41.04 per hour to the driver/owner

When you're using the figure of $0.50 as driver pay it is the equivalent of getting worse fuel mileage. As I've said 5.7mpg at 70 mph is very close to the "tipping point" already. Of course when you change the #'s and say that at 70mph the pay is $0.50 instead of the $0.59 it was in your original #'s, you end up with being on the "slower is better" side of the "tipping point".

Why not run the #'s using your truck as a baseline? I ran those #'s in post 134 page 14 and showed that you'd make $5.93 more per hour by speeding up to 70mph (when it's reasonable/legal to do so of course).

Dice's truck at 57 mph saves $0.075 per mile in fuel savings compared to 70 mph.

Dice's pay @ 70 mph = $54.95 per hour
Dice's pay @ 57 mph incl. fuel savings = $49.02 per hour

Miles and Hours needed for equal revenue of $75,600
87894 miles=1542 hours w/ 57 mph truck @ $49.02 = $75,600
96320 miles=1376 hours w/ 70 mph truck @ $54.95 = $75,600

Difference in hours driven=166 hours more driving 57mph to get same revenue.

Difference in miles driven=8426 miles more driving 70mph to get same revenue.

Personally I hate driving slower than the speed limit, it makes the miles seem to go by waaaay slower. But I'd do it anyways if I could figure out how to make more $ doing so. I'm just not seeing that as the case for my truck getting 6.75mpg at 70mph.

 

????
So now you're throwing all your mpg improvements into the mix? And you're calling this being realistic? We're talking about the effect slowing down has on revenue. NOT the effect of making fuel efficiency improvements other than slowing down.

Realistic would be slowing down to 57mph from 70mph and gaining around 1.3mpg. For your truck the difference would be 9.2mpg to 7.9mpg.
Now you're trying to change the #'s again comparing 6.3mpg to 9.2mpg?

Why are you trying so hard to skew the #'s? Please at least try to be realistic. There are people here who are trying to learn (like me) and when you start changing all the rules to make your argument sound better it just confuses things.

 

I think the ROI is good on these things (not sure about the boat tails yet). I'm just not seeing the ROI being there with slowing down if I drive a truck thats mpg is well above the "tipping point".

Then please do the math using realistic #'s. E.G. the truck you drive now at 57mph getting 9.2mpg hauling non-O/S compared to the same truck at 70mph getting 7.9mpg. Comparing the truck you drive now (with all the mechanical improvements) to the truck you used to drive (same truck but before all the improvements) doesn't in any way show that driving slower saves money.

 

yop, engineers and studies don't know #### compared to the super truckers on the road.

http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/ChEHeXOTnf3dHH5qjYRXMA/10_Browand_10_11_trans.pdf

whether or not you have a headwind, tailwind, quartering or side wind.

All will make a difference on the mileage your truck gets.

A 20 MPH head wind will play entirely different to you than a 20 mph quartering tailwind.

A quartering tailwind is actually best for mileage even over a direct tailwind.

Having your truck properly maintained, tuned up and servicing the fuel/air filters along with the exhaust will make a huge difference as well.

NOT getting into stop and go traffic and if you do, being gentle with the vehicle will be a greater impact than 62mph vs 66 mph.

 

The trouble with a mega-carrier like MVT do they really make more money at 9mpg or are they just more willing to be a cutthroat carrier because their fuel cost is less than most. Hopefully not but who knows.