at 4 dollars a gallon.......I am bailing out

[Sonny Pruitt]

as of 5/4 I am going back to Triple Crown
There is no way I can turn a decent profit at 4.21 a gallon
52 weeks a year
In some cases rates have actually gone down
1000 dollar loads are paying 850
Getloaded is full of 1.50 per mile loads
I stayed in at 2.50 per gallon to see what would happen
well know I know what will happen
it went to 4.21 in pa....that's what happened
It cracks me up to see someone say they had to raise thier prices
due to increased shipping costs......
bull.....its coming from my pocket

I am no longer interested what will happen
I am getting out
while the gettins good

[Mandilon]

as of 5/4 I am going back to Triple Crown
There is no way I can turn a decent profit at 4.21 a gallon
52 weeks a year
In some cases rates have actually gone down
1000 dollar loads are paying 850
Getloaded is full of 1.50 per mile loads
I stayed in at 2.50 per gallon to see what would happen
well know I know what will happen
it went to 4.21 in pa....that's what happened
It cracks me up to see someone say they had to raise thier prices
due to increased shipping costs......
bull.....its coming from my pocket

I am no longer interested what will happen
I am getting out
while the gettins good

To each his own:

We're WAITING for $5 to $6 fuel 'to jump in' on the fun.

Hope we don't have to wait 'a full year.'

God Bless all

[fast forward]

I hear ya Sonny I have been doing this for over 20 yrs and I am done also. And it is only going to get worse that is exactly why I am parking and selling my truck which won't be an easy task at that cuz no body seems to be buying used trucks right now

[BigDiesel]

THE SKY IS FALLING !!!

THE SKY IS FALLING !!!

THE SKY IS FALLING !!!

[solo379]

I'm not sure...yet , if it's "falling"...
But it's definitely not bright and shiny! :wink:

[no_worries]

"You got to know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em..."

Recognizing when to get out is often harder than knowing when to dive in. Certainly no reason a guy can't jump back in when things get better, it's not like it's difficult to go truckin'

I'm afraid I'll be sticking it out a little longer. Am in the middle of our first week back since December and it's going to be better than all but one week all of last year. Can't hardly throw in the towel on that note. I'm definitely seeing signs of carriers disappearing though.

[Crash935]

Beat ya too it Sonny!

Parked our 3 trucks Thursday!!!

[Doghouse]

The sky can fall all it want's ,...my solar panels protect me

[BanditsCousin]

I'm on a quick run to Vegas. 550 miles, FSC is $500 to my pocket. So, no, I'm not bailing out. Guys that work for companies that don't command a decent FSC or deal with brokers that can't give a good rate I don't know what to say about. Let it go $5-6 a gallon, my business won't suffer. My everyday life will be impacted as much as anyone else on here though.

[Sonny Pruitt]

What was killing me also was that all the tolls are going up
GW is now 40.00 etc
So I needed a company that pays tolls and had a decent surcharge.
And be home most nights.
Maybe my downfall is I only choose lanes that get me home most nights.
But its back to the railroad.
I left them as one of the highest wage earners
now I start at the bottom
Here is their deal
start at 1.00 per mile
surcharge based on 1.10 per gallon
loaded or mt same price
30.00 for every delivery or p/u (appox 15 per week)
unloading 75.00 (few and far between)
waiting time 20 after first hr,30 2nd hr 40 3rd hr
if their trailer blows a tire etc 20 per hr maint time
a bunch of other accessorials
all dispatching on quaalcom
ALL TOLLS PAID with their easy pass
but.........
over the top safety/log compliance
(and you must buy into to this from day one)
(er no more loose leaf logs)
100% on time deliveries
(yikes!)
(and you thought the railroad was "slow")

this company will also drive you crazy
have to used to constant moaning from other drivers
"how come he's going here, and I have to go there?"
"he gets that good load every day!"
"those miles are too short"
was one of the reasons I left in the first place
the b tching and moaning


but with tolls and insurance
I stand to save around $20,000 per year

At times I did very well with the reefer
beating the TCS $$$ handily week after week
but at 4.00 a gallon they have the better deal for me
by far

[Doghouse]

sonny,
Why would you go back to a job you hated? It seems like your trading one headache for another. I don't know your situation (age and so on) but if I were you I would not go back to a job I hated in the first place.
I wish you good luck on whatever you decide.

[solo379]

Am in the middle of our first week back since December

So am i! Can't complain either! May be they missed me...

sonny,
Why would you go back to a job you hated?

I hate any job! Still got to make a living! :wink:

[Sonny Pruitt]

trust me this is one of the best o/o deals you will find
(except for Solo's)
I did not hate the job
In matter of fact one of the things I immediately missed
was the ball busting with my friends there
I park next to two of those knuckleheads right now
At the time my big money maker$$$$$$$$$$
Wakerfern foods in Middletown NY closed its doors
They were a half hour away and I would get a 5 pm delivery
"on my way home" $350 to end the day.....nice

So I lost a lot of bucks and found a better paying carrier
The new carrier dropped its rate from 67% to 62%
I always wanted to be on my own so my friend gave me his brokers and I bought a reefer
I figured I could make some serious $$$$
I left TCS on very good terms

[RostyC]

Good luck Sonny, hope it all works out for you.

[tracer]

I'm not sure...yet , if it's "falling"...
But it's definitely not bright and shiny! :wink:

I guess lucky for me I'm leased to a carrier and we get a fuel rebate. The higher the cost of the fuel is the higher is my rebate per mile. Last pay I got 30 cents per mile extra! Also, I quit doing long hauls and am sticking to 400-500 mile runs into North-East USA. In my company they pay 1.30 per mile for these (as opposed to 1.12 for "long haul"). And of course I'm choosing light loads (under 20,000 lbs) when I have a choice. This directly affects my fuel mileage. Another thing: if you ever see a very slow yellow truck driving at 57-58 mph in NY, PA, IN - that's me

[merrick4]

Sonny, looks like their service areas doesn't include Boston. Unless by service areas they just mean terminals. Is this all dry goods? Is basically drop n hook? or do you get it from the rail yards and then go to live unload and then drop the trailer back empty at the terminal?

Anyway good luck to you. I don't know how you were doing it anyway in that part of the country. .

[Sonny Pruitt]

bethlehem serves Boston
mostly dry
mostly heavy
volume accounts
one customer may get 15 20 loads a day
they own the yard and the train
lots of drop hook
best part is ways to get paid with the truck shut off
eg $30 per del or p/u
detention
but there are plenty of rules and its like working for UPS
and lots of short runs
in and out of the terminal all day
over and over

[merrick4]

They own the trains! Unbelievable. Sonny you ever heard of Evans Delivery http://www.evansdelivery.com/default.asp,

I never heard of them til recently but they are out of PA with terminals all over too.

The more I look into this the more all of this amazes me. So much to this business.

Anyway like I said good luck to you. We can all look at this from our own perspective, I mean I wouldn't want to be driving around up there especially in the winter but if we look at the big picture especially from a personal perspective, it's more than just driving around in the winter for a paycheck for you.

What I mean is you have mentioned before that with what you do you are able to give your family a decent suburban life and send you kids to college.

So, (I know I ramble ) in all the rates like $30 per delivery etc, in the big picture that is going to let you continue providing the life for your family that you have set out. So like I said good luck you you and hope you continue to post here.

By the way, I found out recently that Sonny Pruitt was some trucker from a TV show or something like that. Probably lost on a lot of us younger truckers.

[Bigmon]

Get some of that 50 gallons for $50 like Bandits Cousin did last year.

[furbis]

this is a big benefit with fedex we can buy fuel at the hubs for $1.25 so unless my guys can't make it hub to hub I never fuel at a truckstop and even then we get a fsc but it doesn't get it down to 1.25