Truck Load Rates Halt 8 Week Slide 2.0

There must be a sweet spot. The very pay per mile won't do much good if there is not enough revenue. Revenue is the king to survive. Even if you run for significantly less per mile - which DH contributes to - high enough revenue should surpass all the increased wear and tear. There could be a driver fatigue or a mental burn out factor too to consider. Also, when you run solo there is a different perspective from say..when you hire a driver, as you must pay him for empty miles or even when lease on another o/o who may not share the idea of too many empty runs.

 

Certainly, I will not deadhead 750 miles to Jessup, MD to take a load to Uxbridge, MA that pays $2000. But I will deadhead and I did deadhead many times before to Green Bay, WI - 3.5. hours (200 miles) to get $500-600 more on the run to Jessup, MD than from where I park my truck. I don't see miles as much as I see the opportunity to get a load otherwise not available in my area that pays much better in exchange of time to get there and be back (6-7 hours). Fuel on empty is in 8 mpg.
From the perspective where function of time meets revenue, the deadhead is a lesser evil. I guess I am trying to come up with a theory that DH is a different animal to make myself feel better. LOL

 

Well I keep track of empty miles and loaded miles and I also can look at them grouped together or separately.

Then when you look back on it you can see exactly what your operation did and if you think you should try to tweak that or change it.

Obviously it would be a great world if we deliver in one city and pick up right out of there and move to the next and get the rate that we're looking for.

Obviously it doesn't always work that way.

The loads that I have this weekend, for example, I have a pretty good deadhead for all of them, but the rate per mile still is really good. It just happens that the freight where I'm at is moving in One Direction, or at least it was when I booked the loads.

As far as empty miles versus loaded miles and wear, being empty still puts wear on Tires and Brakes and Servicing and axles and Transmissions, but not at the same rate as loaded. So as long as your overall rate is good you're all set. Obviously it's best to minimize it if you can.

Think of it like this. If every load that you ever did was 5000 pounds, would your truck, and Tires and Brakes Etc last forever?

No, but they would last longer.

 

That's too ambitious for me. I'd fail miserably If I wanted to master that as opposed to what I do now, where the principal goal is to gross at least 15K per month so that the final result would be 100K a year after operational costs.
But I am not saying that it isn't something I would not want, but that in itself cannot be a goal for me.

Well, I can only hope that with time, better decisions on my own and good market it will come by itself.

 

I don't know why but it somehow stuck in my mind that a full time owner operator (80K-100K miles per year) who spends most of his days on so called OTR should generate $100K before he pays himself. If he cannot attain that, which is something that I am guilty of myself - maybe except for this year, there are some shortcomings to be eliminated.

 

Joe whenever I see that term gross it raises my eyebrows.

I'm not sure that you meant it that way or not but the gross number to me is something that doesn't mean anything.

I never look at or think in terms of gross numbers. Only when I go back and look at the books then I see what the gross number is.

Everyone does it differently but for me, I look at the income number after Fuel and after tolls because those are the two variable factors.

If you are working more or working less the amount of fuel and tolls that you pay is going to vary. The rest of the expense generally is fixed.

So if you understand what the fixed part of it is then if you look at it what the income is after Fuel and tolls it gives you more of a real number.

That's the way that I look at it anyway.

 

Well, the assumption is that with a given physical and mental capability that is the number that a person can generate within a certain time frame. Surely, gross on 10 000 miles does not equal the same gross on 15 000 miles but it does provide some common denominator when all other things are equal or similar. For instance for us dry van haulers if someone says that he made 250K gross in one year on a spot market this may give us some idea assuming that a person cannot really go much beyond 120 - 130K miles.
But you are right that the gross by itself is not very meaningful..when I was leased on I made more than 200K per year but more than a half of it was not meant to go to my pocket. Now when I run solo on my own, I run 7-10k miles per month so for me 15K should work. Also based on previous years data.