What do you consider decent gross for your trailer type?

Any decent year here they can and do, not 10 wheel dumps, but trailer side dumps. I know drivers that come up and drive them during the season then go home and lay around for the winter.

Very few try to run 100 trips but some do and it is there if a guy wants it. In fact they are begging for guys this year.
Now not just anybody can or will do this haul, guys have been known to leave their own truck up north and either catch a ride out or fly out. lol
All trucks are not capable of it either, a guy can get by for a little while with a light weight lower 48 road truck, maybe, but usually not for long.

 

An off topic question. How often, do you think, a person should change his avatar pic?

 

Good question, I have never changed mine. lol

 

The Paving operation I worked for in my time is actually only three people at our core We am the paving company with everything therein.

I think the company income borders on 300,000 a year give or take and we barely need to go any distance more than about a hour in any direction from the Blacktop Plant. Some jobs were big enough to bring in 40 to 60K over 5 weeks give or take. The last parking lot we built in Hunt Valley at the Corporate Area there was 4 weeks finished at 32000.

I remember that job because one of he things my old Superliner Mack 500 was is carried two fuel tanks with about 340 capacity you could get to. And there were times we go back for a second time and fuel the mack because one of my jobs is being a fuel tanker of sorts to support all the other critters. (Bobcat, paver, roller, backhoe etc)

We only worked about oh...7 or 8 months of the year, the other 4 or 5 months is Unemployment time which paid about half pay more or less cash without taxes. We did however have a farm which did hay and cattle. So there was alot more to the outfit than just blacktop. We also were involved in cut wood. One oak tree took 10 people with saws a week to chop down. And my dump truck needed 4 trips to get all that wood over to the buyer. All of that was paid by buyer at ton mile and truckload each trip.

 

I had a $150k year in 2014 where I netted a hair over $100k with a dry van, leased on. Seems hard to fathom now with how poorly van rates have been for several years since then. I haven't had a year with more than 78k miles driven in over 10+ years now pulling van and reefer. 100k miles or more sounds like work. Imo at that point you might as well go be a company driver and grind out a bunch of low paying miles for 50 weeks out of the year. If you're going to grind out low pay you ought to at least be able to kick back and say F*** trucking for a few days every week. I'll take a piss poor year owner operating over a good year of company driving any time.

 

Why would a guy want to run lower rates, but more loads, miles , to net the same money???
this has always just made my head hurt. I would rather sit, deadhead or even just plain stay home, to run the least miles for the same money as I could make running my truck every day at a cheaper rate.

I have been known to let it set most of the time for over a year and drive a company truck when it pays better.

 

Probably so. I look back at the time frame in the here and now with current conditions and realize I left a LOT of money on the table back then because I foolishly wouldn't accept rates then in "slower months" that were better than some of the "good" stuff I am seeing now currently in busier months. Hindsight is always 20/20.

 

A lot of this Joe depends on a persons needs in life also.

I USED to run 90-100k per year in Flat work,Live load/unload everything.. No fancy pants drop n pull.

Nowdays- Im around 70k miles per year- 45 weeks per year (7 weeks vacation) around $160k gross.

Dont need or want anymore- 4 days per week,sometimes 5......

Couldn't ask for better than the way Im set up now......Lots of Time to be around family and Do things.

 

You guys are killin me. I have to get my own dang truck when i get my money in order.