what are some of the typical costs

You need to know your expected MPG before you can attempt to calculate fuel cost. Pump price, FSC, and fuel taxes will affect your cost.

 

Miles driven/fuel burned= mpg
miles/mpg=fuel used * ppg is fuel cost.
How about you read these forums first and get some experience.
And buy this

 

3000 divided by your miles per gallon then multiply by price per gallon and like magic you have your answer. so lets just go with these numbers 3000 divided by 7 miles a gallon =428.5 gallons so 428.5 times 2.50 a gallon will give you 1071.25 dollars in fuel for the week times four weeks will give you 4285 a month .
It is not hard it is simple math .

Now for other cost you have tolls and tires and oil and plates and fuel taxes and 2290 and parking and food and bad habits and insurance and bobtail and prepass and maintaining the truck cost and then you have the fees the company wants to charge you and any escrow accounts and the like ..
None of which are cheap .
I cant give you numbers for everything because the numbers change from day to day and place to place .

 

I would estimate 1 beeeeeelion dollars of fuel in a week. In all truth, there is no way to estimate. Where are you running, style of truck, trailer pulled, speeds, idle time, gearing, tire choice, driving technique, what states are you buying fuel in, surcharge, pump discount, paying cash/credit/fuel card, etc. You could estimate from 4.5mpg to 8.5mpg,

 

No 2 trucks or companies have the same set of fixed costs. Like fuel.. prices never stay the same. Different trucks with different engines and specs have entirely different mainenance and operating costs.

As an O/O you dont think in terms of miles per week. You are paid by the load. As such.. the load breaks down to a fixed rate. Your goal is to negotiate a profitable rate.

You must know your costs before you can negotiate a rate that is profitable.

Hurst

 

First thing you should do is learn how to separate 2 types of costs.
1. Costs that are based on actual miles driven. Fuel, tyres, oil changes. If you have an older truck, an estimated rate for repairs per mile. These costs are only incurred if you actually drive.
2. Costs that are based on time. Insurance, equipment payments, heavy use tax, UCR, everything that is the same amount due regardless of how many miles you drive.

The reason you need to separate the two is because you typically have longer length loads that will pay less per mile, while shorter loads will pay significantly more, but often take more time to complete. You will need to learn what freight lanes pay what rates and what is a good load and what is a not so good load. Don't get all starry-eyed when someone offers you 2.50 per mile to drive far into the north east, where brokers prey on your lack of knowledge of the freight rate for the lane. Or, if someone offers you $300 to do a load moving 30 miles. When that load takes you 2 days to complete, you will understand why.

All of that leads into the second half of this post. Freight lanes often change with seasons, and also do the rates. You might be able to do well when running short haul loads for $4 or more and come back empty and repeat, but you need to know what to do when that market cools. A simple example would be a local produce company shipping their loads say 200-250 miles while they are harvesting, they pay say $1000 per load. You do one per day. You could look for a load going back but with some simple math you will figure out the easier, more reliable way is often to simply go back empty and do it again. When harvest ends the loads are gone. Now you need a new plan.

Right now many sectors of trucking that live on this excess freight are having a difficult time turning any profit. Add to that, it is an election year, and most everybody closes their wallets. Add the drop in oil price, resulting in all those millions of workers in the oil fields looking for work elsewhere, guess where they went? Lots went into trucking. It has created the perfect storm where there is lots of excess capacity. This has driven spot market rates very low. Lots of people are hauling at or below cost on a hope and a prayer that they will see it through until rates rise again to sustainable levels. Some may even have it figured out they will go broke slower if they have some money coming through the door rather than not take the low paying load. It then becomes the question, say you have a $2500/mo truck payment, the bank is taking it on the 1st. Do you drive and not draw a salary in order to keep the truck another month? What lots of people fail to realize if they are at this point they might as well be driving for someone else. You need to have 2 brains always thinking when you own a truck. You are a business that employs a driver, (you) and you are still an employee that has to make money to pay bills at home. If you do it right, the employee part of you thinks "gee I really have a sweet job setup here" while at the same time the business owner part of you thinks "I have a great employee, he treats my equipment well, and I am still paying for everything as well as turning a healthy profit."

 

Why do you want to run 3,000 miles per week?

A better goal would be "take home pay of $1,500 per week".

You can't put miles in the bank, only money.

 

That is the best, most factual reply I think I've read on this subject. Should be bookmarked.