What am I missing?

it is the biggest crap shoot ever trying to ''win'' as o/o...its very risky at this point...

my advise is wait till 2010...

I am not moving and i refuse to haul for a ''profit'' of 400.00 weekly...sorry.

 

Yea, I'm still with Roehl.

I want at least a year before I make a move. One of my dispatchers got promoted to planner, now we have a new wet behind the ears kid. His bright idea was that even though I didn't have a load I should drive the three hours to get to the truck by seven in the morning. Even though I was being told to be ready to roll, I wasn't supposed to start my fourteen hour clock. Guess what, you tell me to leave my family to cool my heals while you look for a load, the law says I am on duty/not driving and that is what I will log it as.

I also called them to get them to explain to me how a driver can make money on their lease/purchase plan. Guess what, when I hung up the phone the numbers didn't add up. In fact they didn't add up even if I owned a truck outright. There is no logic from the driver's side to banded pay. It isn't rocket science to figure out that the thousandth mile costs just as much as the first mile to run, so why would I accept less money per mile for a longer run.

I know some of you o/o think I'm clueless about what I'm wanting to do. I am the type of person who thinks for himself, but listens to what others have to say. I then take what they say, and compare it with my own research to make a decision. Believe it or not I have a game plan of what I want to do if I am going to stay in the trucking business. That plan has both a long range plan and some short term goals. I'll tell all of you one thing, if you have more years behind the wheel than I do I at least listen to what you have to say. If nothing else you have sounded a warning.

 

PharmPhail
My advice is if you do decide to go o/o'n I would lean towards a good older truck, but if you do you need to make sure that who ever you are thinking about running it for if that is what you intend on doing that they will except an older truck. The quicker you can pay that truck off the better you
are going to be, because if the economy goes further south and your truck is paid for you can park it and not be worried about that monthly payment, and can go to work flip'n burgers. LOL
But again at this time o/o'n is not a good Idea, if the economy picks up later then that would be a better time to think of buying a truck. IMO

 

hey ,they called me for the 7 on 7 off out of kansas city...tell me more please

 

I have not heard anything substantially bad about Roehl and would have loved to go onboard with them.

 

What is your guy's idea of older out of curiosity? I'm already looking 7+ years old right now.

 

PharmPhail:
Thats about right for age, between 7 to 10, IMO
What I look for more is good records of work done on it, and the miles on the speedometer. Also run the truck at an idle for an 1/2 hour and look for leaks of any kind. You can find trucks older then 10 years that were well taken care of. Again this all requires a good mechanic and good records on the truck.

 

Ok, right. THe trucks I'm looking at are all 7-10 years old, but the ones in good shape with a warranty and overhaul with new rubber are running in the 22k to 29k range.

 

PharmPhail:
Thats something else you have to look at to, is that a newer truck has a bunch of electronic BS on the engine and every where else, and this can add to your cost of a repair bill. The older engines were mechanical, and easier and cheaper to work on. Electrical problems can be the worst nightmare you ever seen to try and find and work on in some of these newer trucks, just thought you might like the bit of info.

 

Specs and pics of the 3 I've been considering are posted here:

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ator/67349-instant-o-o-and-load-boards-3.html


If you don't mind taking a look!

Thanks guys.