Yet another CRST MALONE question :)

Most owner operators who lease to a carrier are not going to gross over $200,000 to the truck. There are some who will, but the average will be less. In fact, if you only do short runs you will likely not come anywhere close to that figure. You are correct about the net being the important factor. It isn't necessarily smart to do short runs. It depends on the rates and how long it takes to load and/or unload the truck. If you haul one load per day at $450 for a week, you gross revenue to the truck is $2,250. If you spend $800 on a lease payment on the truck and then $185 for trailer rental, then that only leaves $1,265 before fuel and the other expenses of running the truck. Using your figure of 150 miles per load you need to double that in order to deadhead back to the shipper. However, just using your figure, let's assume the truck gets 5 mpg. It will take 30 gallons of fuel for a one way trip. At $4/gallon, that comes out to $120 for the one way trip or $600 in fuel for the week. That leaves $565. If you deadhead back to the same shipper you can deduct another $120 per trip for fuel. That leaves $65 for the week. You also need to consider that you will be paying for an occupational accident policy and bobtail insurance. An occupational accident policy should cost about $150/month and the bobtail should run around $60/month (perhaps less). Now you are down to $52.50 profit. If you blow a tire or break down, you could be in the red. And, we have not even mentioned taxes. You will be responsible for fuel taxes, self employment taxes, income taxes, etc., Tires can run $350-700 plus any service call charges. If you lease purchase a truck you will be responsible for all maintenance costs.

Rates may sound good on short runs. Some may actually pay well. Where many make a mistake is how much they are actually going to "NET" on those loads. Two things that most neglect to remember is the deadhead to the next load or back to the shipper and the waiting time. If you could do 2 of those short runs and make $450 for each load and do it consistently, then you might make it work and do well. For most, that isn't going to happen. If it were actually that easy, many more would want to do it. And if the $450 for the short run is gross then you need to take off 25% for the carrier's part of the money.

Being in business requires the owner to be flexible. If you try something and it doesn't work then you try something different. The poster wants to lease purchase a truck and be home 70% of the time while earning more than he could as a company driver. As you can see from the rough figures that I posted, he would most likely make more as a company driver after all expenses are considered. Let's say that he can find enough short runs to keep him busy and earning enough money for a good living. What if the shipper cuts back or the economy takes another nose dive? He is still obligated for the weekly lease payments and expenses. Those go on whether the truck moves or sits. He will need to haul freight in order to pay expenses and keep the home fires burning. He may need to start doing long haul in order to survive. He may be able to walk away from the lease, but he will lose anything that he has paid on his lease and won't have a truck. He is back where he started. He could even be worse off if there is a cancellation clause on his lease. I believe in doing a lot of research before making major decisions. You also need to be prepared for the results, even if they disagree with what you want to do. You always need a contingency plan.

 

see my sig

 

Sure you pick your own loads, BUT.. the loads have to be there to pick from, and you being the new guy sometimes things will pass you buy, of course we all know there is no favoritism or politics in trucking company's.
Truth is it is not "pick your loads and run when and where you want", it is go where the freight and money is if you want to make a living.
Do they have any steady shippers near your home? Where do they ship to? How do you get back, load or DH?

Find out what is in your area before you sign.

 

All I do is heavy haul as an O/O. It's not easy and expensive to operate. The monatary rewards are good. If he only grossed over $10,000 he is doing something wrong. I expect over $18,000-$20,000 per month.

Takes time for heavy haul, I wouldn't start there....

 

If you don't have patience, you don't want to get into heavy haul. Sometimes you need to wait on permits or will need to sit to find a load. You won't be able to run except during daylight hours in most states. You will also be sitting over the weekends due to restrictions in most states. Some states also restrict speed on heavy haul or over sized loads. The more specialized the freight the better the pay, but you will usually sit more with heavy haul than regular flatbed freight. And you should do more than $10,000/month with flatbed freight if you are running. And that is gross before any expenses come out. Heavy haul pays better than flats. Heavy haul tends to do more deadheading than flats. It usually takes several years of doing open deck freight before most carriers will allow you to move up to heavy haul. In this business, you take baby steps to get where you want to go. Pulling flats is different than vans or box trucks. If you get into a hurry pulling open deck freight, someone can get hurt or killed.

 

The first thing you need to do is learn how to properly secure a load. Most will start with flats. CRST Malone will train you in the basics of securement and tarping. There are a few other carriers that will also train you in securement, such as Maverick, TMC, ATS, Landstar. But, you will need your own truck with Landstar. You can start with flats for a couple of years or so, move to step decks and eventually move into double drop or RGN's and then more axles. You won't make this transition over night. It is good to have goals, but you need to first learn and become proficient with flats.