Working for a mega carrier then quitting after training.

Aside from the OP's original question, I foresee bankruptcy in no more than 2 years. Trying to make money as an O/O part time while expecting his parent's small box truck business to provide enough business to be profitable? Not gonna happen....

 

Count on driving for the company AT LEAST 3 months after you're off your trainer's truck. If you quit before you get 3 months solo experience, you are still considered a brand new CDL holder with NO experience.

 

If the parents are only running box trucks I’d bet money their insurance is going to say they won’t add a brand new driver with a semi. If they will I’m going to guess in the neighborhood of $40k a year. And being that it’s your parents they will probably want you to foot that bill instead of their company paying it.

Whatever amount of money you plan to spend, I’d say at least $100k for a junk used truck and start up costs and initial repairs to get it roadworthy, if you can afford to light that pile of cash on fire and not have it affect your life at all they I say go ahead with your experiment.

When you’re out with your semi and running load board van loads for $1.50 just remember that back before the box truck/Sprinter van/non-CDL cargo van revolution on social media you would’ve been able to stack a bunch of LTL shipments in your trailer and make dang good money.

 

So much to unpack with this one.

Good for you, but it does not mean you can actually drive a truck.

OK. Here is the problem, you need at least 2 to 4 years in seat to gain some acceptable skills.

That's a dumb idea.

AND?

You won't. You will be lucky for at least 4 months of breaking even or losing money.

That's alright; they are only worth 700 until they earn more.

Put a '1' in front of that number. $30k will get you just barely a truck, another $30k will make it reliable and then you have to have insurance, and a money for maintaince.

No, not at this time, back in 2017, yes but not now.

Yeah, let's talk about their venture. Do they actually know how this system works in the real world?

Driver or have a business?

What segment of the industry do they service?

No, because you won't get this - when you think per mile, you are already setting yourself up to fail. Owner/operators do not think per mile.

It is, he is looking for justifying his plan.

SO, you want to put all of that up for a risk of losing it, which we haven't even talked about - high risk and the liabilities that go along with it. You do know you are going to be on the hook personally for an accident or for an incident where there is litigation, which means your personal assets are all up for grabs, including the dogs.

You think that driving a truck is easy and it is just a way to make quick money, get into an accident and the legal fees can sink you and your future quickly.

So let her do that full time and you do the trucking full time.

Forget that idea. We don't have freight that waits for you.

That's part of the choices you make if you want this to be a vocation.

Your parents are not too bright if they think it is going to be easy bringing a new driver on board.

$700 is better than nothing. Stop acting like you make the big bucks in this, some people are not worth $500 a week while others are worth a hell of a lot more.

I think you should.

That's dumb, you are going to subject a dog to the stress of the truck to deliver it??

Why?

I say at least 2 years, not 3 months.

It also depends on the segment they are operating in, if it is simple freight, then it is cheap insurance with low risk, but get a tractor in there, and they will see their margin plummet to near nothing. $40k seems to be right.

 

How long have your parents ran the box trucks?

 

I know you're focused on the money part of trucking and you want the freedom to navigate how you see fit, but I do think it's a good idea to run as a company driver for a while. Its just certain things you won't learn about the industry unless you're actually in it for a while. The guys you know making 100k after expenses, honestly, they're few and far between. They've probably spent 3 to 5 times that in operating costs. Profit margin isn't very high in trucking so it becomes imperative to manage costs, like fuel. Many folks get a fuel card that offers discounts. Some guys run their trucks at 62 mph to get greater fuel mileage. I've heard some buy fuel in high IFTA states to avoid a fuel tax liability every quarter. There's other ways to manage costs, but that's just an example of what you won't learn unless you get out here for a period of time. It wasn't til I was about 5 years in that I felt like I was a viable contributor to the industry. Handling the truck became easier. It wasn't until 10 years in that I felt I could offer some viable advice, teaching, insights. Even if you go get a truck for yourself, it's going to take you some time to build rapport with the brokers. They've got drivers they've dealt with for years. Being that you're a newbie to the game, I can envision a scenario where they'd low ball you on a load rate. Now you say, you'd offer cheap transport if it means you could get somewhere to deliver the dogs....you don't want to offer cheap transport in the trucking industry. See the Now defunct Yellow Freight Systems. Also, it ain't always a guarantee that a load is available where you'd like to go. It also isn't a forgone conclusion that you can take time off at will to tend to your other endeavor. Many lease ops, owner ops, or lease purchase drivers oftentimes sink themselves because of taking too much time off. Trucking is truly a full time job and then some. If it were me, I'd hire someone to help your wife transport and tend to the dogs, while I go into trucking full throttle and learn the business. I'm not telling you what to do, but i can only say what I would with similar resources and situations. However you navigate what you have going on, good luck to you.

 

Not to derail the thread but I don't think you understand the difference between lease purchase and leasing on under an operating authority. Two different things. OP is not talking about lease purchase.

 

I give up. You are not reading what I write and then arguing with me about points someone else made. The people pointing out why your plan isn't likely to work all met lasy month and were given instructions to just say "no, don't do it" no matter what you posted. We will now get paid by THEM for trying to keep you out of trucking. Obviously you have a million dollar idea. You'll revolutionize the industry and we will all work for you one day.

 

At this point, it's fairly obvious that this is a "troll post"; he comes here looking for 'advice', yet rejects every_single_piece of advice given. No, his post is more like that famous Monty Python skit, "I've come here for an argument". I even doubt if his story has any veracity, since it looks so perfectly crafted to 'rile up' as many people here as possible. Some people just have an intense desire to cause drama.....

OTOH, if his IS just a bonehead who won't listen to advice he asked for, consider this famous Chinese proverb: "Talking with you is like reading poetry to an ox".

As with any troll, ignore him and eventually he will go away.