Hopper Bottom Freight

[repojohn10]

Hey guys....and gals.......New to the board here. Just wondering how many hopper drivers are on here. I currently pull a flatbed but my owner is switching me over to a hopper soon. Wondering how that line of trucking has been doing. I'm free to stay out however long I need so hoping to make it profitable for us both!!!!

Any suggestions on going from flats to hoppers is welcome

John

[Jackrabbit379]

The great thing about hopper bottoms is that all you have to do is roll your tarp over, and open/close the hoppers. Wallah!, and you are back on the road.
The bad thing is, you have to go where there is a need for hopper bottoms, and it's seasonal. You can haul grain all year, but the peak is in the summer and fall.
This year is another good harvest, so far. Most hopper bottom pullers follow the harvest. You can make some decent money in the mid-west in the summer and fall, but it doesn't last all year. You can also haul fertilizer in hopper bottoms, but it's not good to do, unless you trade in your trailers pretty often.

You wonder how well it's doing.... It all depends. If you don't have to travel very far, and not far from the house, you can make a killing. A lot of hopper bottom runs are short hauls, and you can haul several loads in a day's time.

[golfhobo]

Hey, Wabbit! What do you call "a killing?"

What if a SINGLE guy wanted to follow the harvest, live in a cheap motel by the week or so, and didn't CARE about being "close to the house" or even how much OFF DUTY time he got.... for the whole Summer and Fall seasons?

How much are we talking? And are we talking O/O or company driver?

[Jackrabbit379]

Well, that's a good question.
I'm not exactly sure what grain haulers are getting now days.but.25 cents a bushel, and you haul a dozen loads a day, or maybe 20 loads a day, (if you are hauling wet corn) at about 850-maybe not quite a 1,000 bushels a load, that's not bad. If that made any sense?.
Not all elevators have a railroad. Especially in the small towns. They hire these hopper bottom guys to come and haul their grain to the next biggest elevator that has a railroad. Those O/O's make about what I listed above.
Again... if that made any sense. I'm sorry for any jibberish. You gotta remember where I'm from.
The guys that I used to work for, they told me this June that if I went with them, they would pay me $4,000 a month. That's not bad for a bunch of bull, and hauling grain, and eating dust.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Only thing I didn't like about hauling hoppers was that the majority go up to Canada....... most local farmers haul their own to the CO-OP, and then the CO-OP sells to feed silo's and CArgil and such. I did some KS,ND,SD stuff, but mostly to Manitoba and the pay was not so great for all the waiting time I had.

I was an O/O