When do you call it quits?

I know a lot of guys around that 30 year mark of being owner ops. It is sad seeing them go because they were the first ones I worked with, they taught me a lot that I would have never learned. I still have a lot more to learn about the business but I think they have helped me out a lot in my short time.

 

thats awsum.... there were times when i said this was my last load and all that but come august its reality... I started when i was 17 driving 10 wheel gravel trucks after school...could only work 4 hrs a day due to labor laws due to my age then i just went on at 18 and got a class d license or chauffer license and pulled gravel dumps...then when i hit 21 i bought my first truck a Diamond Rio and never looked back....yeah its been good to me and i never had one ticket or accident in all them years....

 

I always ask for more money even the rate index is showing $1.74 a mile even that's bull when I first started I was getting $1.95 a mile tires run $200 the pm was $129 fuel was $1.19 a gal I just don't get it I just put steer tires and drives on my truck a few weeks back steer tire cost me $1,500 with a aliment when I got some more money I got some 517 drives they cost me $4,290 so almost $6,k there and trailer tires now cost me $980 for two (never change one at a time)fs560
Like I said I fell like I'm just turning my money over Freightliner insurance tire shop and the gas companies are making all the money not me
I'm sick of calling on stuff that don't pay but $1.50 or less a mile one ask me today what could I do it for I said my price he told me he don't have nowhere ne'er that in it and it was a tarp load one of the other loads I called on when I ask for more money he said I can go $50 more I said put a 7 in front of that and I'll take it he said he gets it moved all the time for $2,000 that's the best paying load I seen $1.53 a mile I was asking $2,750 and would have to dead head 120 miles to get it didn't think that would be that big of a deal
I really don't see it getting better I have the cleanest DOT# out there never have been put OOS or even got a Tiket two warnings for a oil leak and one for not having reflective tape on my mud flaps
The last place I droped off at you needed a twic card to get in out of five trucks I was the only driver that had one but people don't seem to care about how good of a driver you are or how many years you been doing it or even that I have a new truck they don't care as long as your cheap they will fix you up I hear company drivers say they make $60,000 a year I'm sorry but I don't come close to that profit after everything
I just can't sleep wondering what to do something has to change but what?

 

That is the problem, has been since the 70's cost have been increasing freight rates have not kept up, there are always FLY BY NIGHT outfits who will run for nothing with junk for equipment. We have 2 trucks but we have signed on with a good company, we haul frozen or fresh foods most of the time. I think that with the way fuel prices are increasing there will be fewer bottom feeders running in the near future. What needs to be done is companies sticking to their guns not accepting the rates that are lower than a snakes belly in a tire track. The increasing DOT regs and fuel cost will take care of the bottom feeders in time.

 

If your making 3 bucks a mile coming out of texas maybe you should be a broker. You can lie to eveybody by saying I dont have that much in it when your offering 1.50 a mile. I think they all say that. I think dognot said it best, get rid of it all except a truck and trailer for youself.

 

I just brokered off a flatbed load to Oklahoma from Scranton $2.85 mile no tarps $50.00 to load , $50.00 to unload 20,678 LB piece of machinery , shrink wrapped. Loaded this afternoon , deliver whenever you get there as long as you call 1/2 hour before arrival.

 

That's just it when I was leased on to all them companies I built alot of relationships with them guys so when I first went on my own I was not looking for loads they were calling me and most never asked a price now it's not like that everyone ask for prices first when they tell you a town in a state your not sure how far it is I have to call them back if I just spite out a price I could be high or to low on the job when I start looking it up I always get sidetracked by more callers or in the middle of doing a load. A few weeks back I was in a plant for almost the hole day and had to turn in my phone at the card shack and turn it off I just turned off the volume when I got back to it I had 47 calls that right there makes me look bad
I use to be the go to guy when people wanted something done they called me but now they will call anyone that's cheaper or open now this load I'm on now I pulled out monday so I been gone all week people keep calling for loads but I can't help them because I'm gone all week the one I'm doing this run for has had six loads going over a 1,000 miles a run I can't do them all
My next big thing is getting paid most customers slow pay me to death one owes me over $9,000 from janurary on ten runs I did that I have already paid my driver and fuel so maybe $3,000 of that is profit
I'm running crazy trying to keep up blood pressure is always high stressed out all the time I run and I run hard im not a lazy driver and I know my $$ numbers some don't even know what it cost to run I keep up with all of it even do my own ifta but I'm just falling behind the 8ball

 

BigJim, "sticking to your guns" will get you nothing but stuck 1400 miles from home sitting at a truckstop for 3 weeks. Try telling your driver that he is sitting because you want to teach a bunch of O/O's a lesson about finance.

Shortfuse, your story sounds all too familiar. I think the only way to make money is to do something that others dont want to do. Even oversize is getting crowded ( I did it for years ), I ended up hauling fuel (Haz-Mat, TWIC, TSA, loading rack cards...) its tons of paperwork and a constant battle to stay legal but you arent fighting with Swift to haul Jet Fuel into an airport.

Good luck.

 

The title of this thread is 'When do I call it quits'? For me,as soon as I can find something better to do.I fell into this by chance and accident almost 8 years ago,and although I must admit the first couple of years where,to say the least interesting,I have NEVER been of the frame of mind,as other's I have met on the road,and yes even here,-I LOVE this trucking thing.

Problem is,at 52 yrs old,I don't have as many options as I used too.I DO NOT hate Trucking,but when my last day comes and I leave,I will certainly not look back.

In something unrelated,last week I saw a sticker in Mt. that read something like this; Because I drive a Truck,I am not a criminal...I sure wish I could find one of those.