Cutting cost vs. increasing revenue

[wildkat]

One note about wildcats figures they are in Canadian dollars, check the exchange rates.
1.50 CA is about 1.21 US

That's today Heavy Duty...When our dollar was 1.01 to the US dollar I was still making 1.50/mile.

Besides, it's all relative to what it costs you to run... I know what I earn, I know what I take home...that's good enough for me.

[wildkat]

I didn't mean to suggest it can't be done, only it is A LOT of work.

15000 miles/22 days = 680 miles/55 mi/hr = 12.4 hrs driving time.

Fold in fuel, loading and unloading, maintenance stops, paperwork- you're probably at, at least 14 hours a day of actual work. Now, let's say you want to do things like eat, take a shower, wee wee- there's nothing else left but sleep. Certainly, it can be done. It's just a lot of work, that's all. I's a lazy trucker. I likes to mosey along, cool out, make my delivery, make another one after that...no offense, more power to you. Why, if I tried to do 15,000 mi/month, when would I ever find time to squabble on the internet!?

lowrange...a "normal" work day for us IS 14 hours...we have 16 to get it done...THEN if you NEVER leave Alberta...you can LEGALLY work 15 hours/day...7 days/week & NEVER run out of hours, cause there is NO duty cycle.... Alberta love it's truckers & understands that we make the world go around here!

I tend to run around 1250 kms/day, EVERYDAY...that would be pretty close to 800 miles I think...you have to remember..where I run there's long stretches between cities...Edmonton to Yellowknife is 930 miles I do that in one 15 hour shift...cause once I cross the border into the Northwest Territories...9.5 hours north of Edmonton I run the last 5.5 straight up! Piece of cake!

I'm a linehaul driver...we don't have time to piss around like you do...if I did that I wouldn't have a job the next day. We are REQUIRED to BE where we are supposed to be...

[lowrange]

Alright then, truck igloos! I knew it was something.

Seriously though, all this is pretty fascinating. I bet it feels like the edge of the universe on that long road to Inuvik sometimes- a gazillion stars, wildlife... 9/11, the US Federal Reserve banking cartel and the Illuminati aren't really pressing problems up there, I bet. (interesting note, it appears the current economic crisis started with an 'electronic run' on the banks on 9/11 of last year)

I'm going to find some time to go digging through your earlier posts and pictures.

[wildkat]

What she meant by saying that she doesn't run south of Edmonton, means precisely that ; I'm curious to know how you could infer that to mean that Edmonton is the southern border of Alberta ( it's more like north-central AB...the southern border is about 6.5 hours away, and "way north" would mean about 8-10 hours of driving north of here till you reach the Alberta-Northwest Territories border). Also, she did mean "literally" that her truck is spec'd for the Arctic...that doesn't, however, imply in any way, shape or form that she runs it at 75mph. That's illegal, as our speed limit up here is 100kmh on 2-lane highways, & 110 on 4-lane highways.

As for your bet, I have news for you...you've lost.

Thank you Greymist....I always get a charge out of these guys who think we live in the dark ages up here.

No I realize that alot of our advances are due to the needs of the oil patch...hey whatever gets it done right?

[lowrange]

lowrange...a "normal" work day for us IS 14 hours...we have 16 to get it done...THEN if you NEVER leave Alberta...you can LEGALLY work 15 hours/day...7 days/week & NEVER run out of hours, cause there is NO duty cycle.... Alberta love it's truckers & understands that we make the world go around here!

I tend to run around 1250 kms/day, EVERYDAY...that would be pretty close to 800 miles I think...you have to remember..where I run there's long stretches between cities...Edmonton to Yellowknife is 930 miles I do that in one 15 hour shift...cause once I cross the border into the Northwest Territories...9.5 hours north of Edmonton I run the last 5.5 straight up! Piece of cake!

I'm a linehaul driver...we don't have time to piss around like you do...if I did that I wouldn't have a job the next day. We are REQUIRED to BE where we are supposed to be...

Yeah, you're working your tail off. Me, I've got to have time to know how the college football recruiting is going.

I see why you bought yourself a good truck! The road to Yellowknife is no place to break down.

[wildkat]

Maybe I should have said 'boundary', the southern boundary of where Wildkat runs. Wildkat told me to look at a map and I did just that, but I always knew Edmonton was somewhere in the middle.

Ok, her truck is literally spec'd for the arctic, fine. Forgive me for thinking that when she said way north she meant the arctic. None of that was related to the speeds she runs. I was saying it takes a whole lot of time to do 15k miles a month at 60 mph- A LOT of time.

On the mobile broadband, I hope no one is offended because I happen to know that Canada has a population 1/10 of the United States and most people are clustered on the southern border. All that means northern Canada is sparsely populated. I'd be very surprised to learn you can stick in your PC card and connect to the internet all over northern Alberta- VERY surprised.

lowrange I said I LIVE near Edmonton... I DO have a home! I WORK in the arctic...that's where the Yukon & Northwest Territories are! Do you truck within 20 miles of your house? Except to get home? Me neither!

And you definitely LOST...Alberta has complete broadband coverage....probably better than most states... I had broadband over 10 years ago...what about you?

[wildkat]

lowrange...I sorry...I don't mean to be snappy...sometimes...well it's irritating when we get treated...or it "looks" like we get treated like we live in huts & drive wagons up here...or when we get comments like...do you have snow all year long?

Just as I'm sure you'd get irritated if someone asked you if you could walk from New York to Los Angeles is one day!

Same concept for me...

I don't consider myself "worldly" by any stretch of the imagination...cause I've never had the good fortune to leave North America...yet...but I DO try to be INFORMED! Nothing I hate worse that forgetting to put my brain in gear, before I engage my mouth! Foot in Mouth disease is really embarrassing!

[wildkat]

Alright then, truck igloos! I knew it was something.

MY truck "igloo"

[Heavy Duty]

That's today Heavy Duty...When our dollar was 1.01 to the US dollar I was still making 1.50/mile.

Besides, it's all relative to what it costs you to run... I know what I earn, I know what I take home...that's good enough for me.

I am not disputing what you make, just stating a fact, You can have all my Canadian work. I had all the Alberta I needed back in the 70's, in a cab over 1972 White Freightliner. Delivered a lot of oil equipment and Cat to R Angus. I have been offered many good loads to the oil sands, I just say no thank you, besides they don't like my long truck.

[wildkat]

I am not disputing what you make, just stating a fact, You can have all my Canadian work. I had all the Alberta I needed back in the 70's, in a cab over 1972 White Freightliner. Delivered a lot of oil equipment and Cat to R Angus. I have been offered many good loads to the oil sands, I just say no thank you, besides they don't like my long truck.

That's ok Heavy Duty! I understand about the long truck...our wheelbase restrictions stop alot of you guys from coming here. I *think* it has alot to do with our roads...or lack there of... & the loads we haul...length CAN be an issue!

[lowrange]

MY truck "igloo"

I quite like that. I have neither the land or the building- no real good place to get under the truck and try my hand at anything.

You know I'm just having fun, Wildkat. To answer your question though, 10 years ago I was living in China. The only person I knew with a "mobile phone" before I left the states in February of 1999 was a physician's assistant who was on-call over the weekends. You're right, we were behind you there.

The place where I really began to see what commonly began to be called "cell phones" was in China. They actually seemed ahead of us with them, too. It was the strangest thing, I'd see little shopkeepers pedalling these kind of truck-tricycles they use over there with cell phones strapped to their belts. Fascinating, the mix of modern technology and Communist backwardness. How do you post a picture? I'd like to post a picture of one. Any other message board, it would simply be [img] link [/img]- I can't get that to work over here.

[lowrange]

I checked the FAQ, here's a try. Now, this guy would have a cell phone on his belt, and this was before they were common in America.

[wildkat]

I checked the FAQ, here's a try. Now, this guy would have a cell phone on his belt, and this was before they were common in America.

That's really cool lowrange! It IS funny how "some" technologies are adopted so fast and others just seem to not catch on as quick...depending on where you are in the world!

We had those old XJ mobile phones back in the 70's & early 80's when I first started out...I ran the Arctic way back then too...that was our only means of communication. CB radios never really did catch on up there...their range is just too short...I use a good VHF radio...we have to have a license for them, but the cost is well worth the chance of being stranded...with mine the range can be as long as 75 miles...don't think any CB can touch that!

Heck, up north they only got DIGITAL phone service 2 years ago...the Yukon is way better than the NWT for phone service...but I think that's cause of Alaska....they are only an hour away...and so many Alaskans go the Whitehorse to shop...you'd think that it was part of Alaska...some days I see more Alaska license plates there than Yukon ones!

I can't remember when I got my first cellular phone...back in about 83 maybe...I was working just around Alberta then...my kids were small & I wanted the sitter to be able to reach me if needed...man they were huge & expensive, I remember the batteries lasted about an hour...but I had pretty good service, even then cause they used to bounce the signal from the XJ towers...they were analogue back then & were compatible with the towers...THANK YOU OIL PATCH!

Sorry guys I had no intention of hijacking the thread...I'll go back to my own little corner of the North now!

[lowrange]

I'm just pulling these off the internet. I've seen this a million times:

[lowrange]

Coldest place I've ever been- Harbin, China (beautiful, I'll add)

[lowrange]

Harbin Ice Lantern Festival

[lowrange]

Switzerland? Nope, Harbin

[solo379]

you can LEGALLY work 15 hours/day...7 days/week & NEVER run out of hours, cause there is NO duty cycle.... Alberta love it's truckers

Some "love", I'd say! They are practically, will let you kill yourself, if you are not smart enough!

[Graymist]

Some "love", I'd say! They are practically, will let you kill yourself, if you are not smart enough!

I don't really see too many of us here "killing" ourselves. So, I guess we are really smart enough...smart enough to work our asses off for a fairly decent wage, smart enough to not have to be away from home for endless weeks at a time, smart enough to have a very decent standard of living and not work for pennies on the mile and to get paid for every moment that we breathe near our trucks, smart enough to not fritter away our time at truck stops ( maybe that's why we don't have too many of those ), smart enough to acquire some driving skills that would make some of your jaws drop, and smart enough to love and enjoy every moment of it and wait impatiently to get back into the truck the next day.

That's the magic of black gold !!

[solo379]

Well, i guess you are all special...but i happened to know a lot of folks, who are not....Just an opinion.