Hey everyone, I am new to this forum and looking forward to interacting. I have done my share of road time and hitting docks! I want to throw out a questions for conversation...been brewing in my mind after countless late night, burnt coffee, conversations with my young road warriors. What do you know? I am talking about the business end of the deal; your operating costs, incidentals, take home pay...what ifs, etc. I ask this because it is important to know before you really know what you are looking for. Apparently, truck driving schools need to offer business classes to new owners (maybe they do?). I have had many conversations with "young" drivers and they are all looking for the money, as they should be. The catch is, they don't know what "the money" is, because they don't really know their costs. Just throwing it out there - what are you looking for based on what you know?
Well, I'd agree with you that you need to know your numbers before taking on any form of business venture. This is a solid site for some good information. I'm looking into it now, but there's a lot of planning and positioning that will be applied before I hand in my resignation. My motives are probably a little different from most for making the transition - more lifestyle based. Welcome to the forum, sir.
I dont think the 100% solo O/O will survive the wave once full regulations, insurance, fees and costs etc all come full force. US will become much like Europe. How many O/O's they have running over their? Why are all their O/O over here? Just a matter of time. However, I believe those who are able to cut costs by using shared resources will survive the longest. I believe there will always be a place for O/O's leased or running as subs for larger companies. But the days of guys buying a truck and putting it to work will eventually follow the path of the dinosaurs. Once everything comes to fruition, it will be too expensive to stay in business. Hurst
Thanks for the conversation...so many times no one engages. I agree that contract/subs will be the future. Becoming way too many hoops to jump through as a little guy - and every time I jump,$100 bills fall out of my pocket(and there aren't many of them in there to begin with).
Costs. Well here we have to start by asking ourselves are we running a trucking company or are we buying ourselves a job. Nothing wrong with either one but IMO....and this is only my opinion, running a trucking company implies that one day the owner (you) may decide to hire drivers. If that is the case, then you will need to include driver pay in your costs (many do not). And you will also need to account for all the payroll deductions that go along with that. In today's market it looks like it will cost you a minimum of $50,000/yr to have a driver worth having. I would build that into your costs.
