What is the cpm you would want for this type of work?

3-5 years...but yeah. If it is only one, that wouldn't work. How would I be using up more tires than 'you' are doing right now??? Same mileage as you expect to get...the trailers are provided for. I'm missing something. How am I going to go through a million tires in a year doing 130,000 miles, the same as anyone else out here, doing 98% highway miles...even more highway miles as a percent than some of you? Light loads and half are empty/deadhead on return? Am I missing something?
There are no breakdowns in no man's land...if anything, maintenance fund could be less. I see this as less risky than OTR.

Scratch that, even as a 1-yr contract, it still makes sense.

 

It's dumped on concrete...everybody thinks this is yard work. It's not.

It's ok, we are talking about turns, backing in, etc. I get it. I would be surprised if there were more than 6 stop lights from start to finish. So $2,000/month for maintenance is not enough to set aside??? Really?

 

Definitely one of the big things I thought about but didn't bring up...don't know. Funny, I don't think my friend will even have time to find out...he's buying his own with what he's making.

I would assume all of that is on me...possibly. If I am pulling it, I am responsible for it when I pull into a weigh station. Don't know though. The good thing is that there are no weigh stations on the route...there's one a few exits before and none even after...stroke of genius to have that work out. One less headache.

 

The loading facility is pristine concrete...nothing is on the ground. No scatter. Again, it just is...not even an issue.

The idea of me setting the cpm for the truck at $1.05 is the planning to succeed through adversity...way more than the average cost estimations by any stretch for good roads and light loads. MNDriver, that is how I do things too, because it's not just me that fails, there are a lot of other people depending on what I do. And let me clarify, I don't plan to fail. I plan to make things right and maintain something that is self-sustaining. If it doesn't make sense to start, then something needs to be addressed to make it work. But just saying, "Throw more money at it!" is not going to work if your business model has no plan to succeed. You don't leave things to chance...and you don't just double all cost estimates and hope that is going to work. If you are in one location, you can meet mechanics, meet dealers, meet drivers, etc. Maintenance will be much lower than OTR with less downtime...everything is at worst 50 miles away. Just have three mechanics: one in town, one at drop-off and one somewhere in the middle. Not complicated.

The alternate routes is a non-issue. At any point along the way, there are several perpendicular and parallel highways. Completely different set of highways adds 6 miles roundtrip...countless options. My friend got this 'hook-up' and it just changed everything for him. He started with NO TRUCKS at all...talk about going in blind with no assessment for real costs, except estimates. It's a different setup but similar enough, yet his is even more difficult as he had a lot more to absorb starting. I think he's glad I made him do it. And he doesn't even get the last numbers I talked about, which makes it even funnier. I think some of the people who have done, or do this, probably wouldn't want to speak up.

What do you mean you cannot run 100% of the time? That is what having a 'few' other drivers on speed dial is about...local drivers that you know and make relationships with. Wouldn't be hard when you have a home base. You can absorb losses like that when you have volume. It's economics. And it's recession-proof. 52 weeks a year...may switch to 7 days. Where my friend is, it starts next year for part of the year at 7. I guess I should tell him to quit then?...too much volume. Haahaaaa. I wonder what he'll say to that?

And no one is going to fail...it's designed not to. I know you guys don't see it, but it doesn't help anyone if it doesn't work out. You get this, and it makes things more consistent, stable and profitable...not the other way around. But if you can't see that from the beginning, it's probably not going to be a comfortable fit.

People who just say they want to get $500,000 to make it work with a $300,000+ salary for what is barely more than a one person job...I suppose that is why they are not doing it.

 

Ok, I got it. But you have just as much chance to fail if you are OTR. Many of you have been stuck in the middle of nowhere with a load that you will not only not get paid for, but have to figure out a way to pay for towing it to a mechanic you don't even have a relationship with. All things being equal in terms of the driving being highway, the truck's cpm shouldn't be double just because you are going into business for yourself. I definitely put aside more to make sure I keep afloat, but it is not going to be used at the level you are suggesting.

For instance, if I already said I had 100k put aside to run a business, that should not change the truck's cpm or what I account for scheduled maintenance or emergency repairs or a replacement schedule...yes, there are small variations (new eqpt may have lower maint costs, or severe duty higher), but won't greatly alter how much I put aside for future repairs, permits, licenses or I risk depleting that fund in the long-term. Your chance for success or failure are predicated on what you do to make it work...including a back-up truck, option to rent a truck or trailer in an emergency (also accounted for), and extra drivers on-call..it's is all you can ever do. Once you include that in your plan and costs and have all of these in place, you're as covered as you can ever hope to be. You don't have to raise CPM again...CPM is different than the amount of money you have in your bank account.

Ok, I'm going to say it: even though it doesn't affect you at all in assessing revenues too low and costs too high because you are in 'island' in terms of working for yourself, it does come into play for more dynamic businesses when planning for growth. When business-types consider your situation and you look at anything above your minimums as a bonus, it works out the same for you. But that only applies to you. To put it short, when doing business with multiple different forms of income-generation and you can't figure out in advance which is actually making money, deciding when, if or where to expand, or where to place assets efficiently...you're going to have problems. For a driver that isn't considering expansion, but only maintenance and when to replace his truck, it's a lot more straightforward. I think we'd agree on that...maybe Take it easy.