Why did you downsize or end your fleet?

Let's keep the personal attacks out of this.

 

short answer the money got too thin , parked 2nd truck in the summer of 09 kept running myself till last fall but planning a resurgence come late spring "picked a good winter to take off" and if the gay piano player wants to look me up there is no need authority is still intact

 

I'd like to thank everyone who has shared their stories. I have an opportunity to expand beyond a one person motor carrier and I'm concerned with all the potential for things to go bad. I guess I won't know how it will turn out unless I actually try it, but based on my experience so far and the stories shared here and elsewhere it seems to me to be almost crazy to try to grow a trucking operation. So much risk and so little reward/profit. I haven't decided what I will do, but I appreciate everyone sharing their experiences in this thread.

 

ed, the hardest part, far and away, is hiring dependable drivers. many talk a good ballgame but cant play a lick.

 

expensive lesson to be learned, from losing customers for bad attitudes or service failures, insurance deductable for careless accidents, safety score going to the dogs, tearing up your equipment , etc , etc, etc. Bad drivers suck.

In my opinion A good driver is worth his weight in gold

 

Even they are a handful. Top performers demand a lot of attention too, just in a more positive light than the bad ones.

One day I was catching up with BigJohn54 after a fairly busy week, and I mentioned that there were times I was deliberately not loading him to force a good night's sleep or a break (even when it wasn't required for logbook wholesomeness). Of course, he questioned that, being paid on mileage at the time. I answered, "John, when you have to call me to ask when to eat, shower, and poop, that's about the time your reload takes a little longer to find than usual."

Being the pro he was, he got it and appreciated it.

 

I posted this somewhere else but it really goes with this also....The deal is most drivers that are new don't get how trucking once was, it was easy for a truck to gross $6,k a week and only spend $800 to do it, now you spend more than half your gross just to stay on the road.....Best thing I ever did was get into trucking next best thing was when I decided to sale all my trucks and keep just one. Unless you have 75% of your own customer base you can't make much money off owning trucks with drivers in them, I couldn't for the life of me understand why I wasn't making money when most of my freight payed $4/+ a loaded mile.


I did did the same thing most people do I said "if I added a 2nd truck I could double my money" well i'm here to tell you from experience that never happens. To keep good drivers you have to pay them well I paid mine 27% of the load after paying taxes and workmen's Comp it was actually over 31%.


I'll tell you what I've been telling people for years all of the good drivers own their own trucks good drivers that understand the industry simply by their own trucks. Maybe things would have went different for me if I would've had the support from somebody else but I truly have no gameplayers with me and did everything on my own, i've never drove a truck for anybody I was 100% owner operator from the start learning lots of lessons the hard way. My wife gets pissed at me all the time for helping others out with how to get started and the best way to make money she says nobody helps you so why should you help others but I do.....

 

OMG that is a good one! I about fell off my chair. As I am sure you now know, it would be more accurate to say "HALF your money"

 

Good drivers are hard to find.
We had a driver at my company, real POS, he'd come into work late every day and treat everyone like garbage. One day he was TWO HOURS LATE. This guy acted like we killed his first born son when he got fired for frequent tardieness.

Is it realistically asking too much, that you haul your ### into work, at least sort-of on time? Apparently. Because this is the run of the mill driver who is the majority now.