I am a driver for several years as a company driver and make more than most owner ops, and for that I am grateful. I am sharing the numbers that an owner op makes that I run with daily. His #s are real, we talk about it for hours a day, beats listening to the double digit IQs on 19 talk of "**** each others wives", charming.

The been there, done that, I was polishing fuel tanks before you were born mentality of many old schoolers that find having a depreciating piece of equipment in the driveway for half or more of a given day as a prudent business idea are the ones being driven out of this business if for no other reason than resistance to change.

 

I think he is talking about running the truck 5 days a week, which is 960 miles per day.

 

Never thought of that. Guess that would work, Oops.

 

Change to what? :roll:
In the trucking business, miles, is not exactly equals $$$!
I know, quiet a few people, who has run operations, like you described, all of them, has run out of business, within 3-5 years! :sad:

With all that said, you go ahead you seems to have "selective" hearing anyway!

 

the miles make sense, 1000 miles a day, 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year = 240,000 miles

from what i read, the idea is to slip seat the run so you have two drivers completing the run, not one guy trying to run 1000 miles a day....so that makes sense.

been working out the numbers here and they add up. Going with advertised rates of 1.30 mile (FSC included) this guy's run would make money. We can talk of the unknowns and emergencies, but those are to be expected and are factored into any successful business plan.

i'm not telling anyone their business but its simple, miles = revenue - expenses = profit. In any scenario, the above plan makes profit, a healthy profit, by my standards at least.

it would be beneficial if we could hear from those people who lost their proverbial shirt, i'd be interested in knowing what went wrong, that would be valuable information. My cousin's friend's uncle stories are no more credible than CB talk.

 

I lost my shirt a few years ago. Had 6 brand spanking new 387s with 53 Great Danes reefers each financed separately. Payment on each tractor trailer $2900 per month, all insurances $1000 per rig. Thats $3900 per month that must be paid whether the trucks moved or not. 6 different drivers, 6 different personalities, 6 different work ethics. These trucks ran plastics from Indiana to CA, TX, FL and brought back produce to IL, OH, PA, or into other produce areas. As long as the drivers stayed out, things were good to great. If you couldnt drag a driver out of the house, your revenue drops each day his butt is not in the saddle and the left door stays shut. My point is this: Slip seating will not work and yield you the numbers listed because that is for an ideal situation. Trucking is always a real situation. The only driver that you can really count on to run a truck is YOU, besides that, you are at the mercy of the driver. Keeping seats filled not just with quality drivers, but just a breathing, wheel holder is probably the hardest part of running a trucking company. If you think your idea will work you can go into business for about $325 to get started. Keep us updated and good luck. You have to love this to stay in it.

 

You may want to keep in mind that if you are using figures to include today's fsc, that can change weekly. Some may change monthly. What I am saying is that it is money that you cannot necessarily count on when you are running your numbers.

 

That was good advice mr Load It.

 

Yes, thank you "LOAD IT", that is extremely good information and i do appreciate it. That is the kind of information that is first hand and a good barometer for determining whether or not to break into this volatile industry. Thanks again.

 

You forgot to mention the trade deficit! lol

Actually, the economy looks pretty good right now. Interest rates are low, so is unemployment, corporate profits are coming in at the high end of expectations and it looks like interest rates are going to come down some more pretty soon.

Even if we do head into a recession, people have to eat, buy clothes, fill up their 4-wheelers with gas and so forth. <shrugs>

Predicting recessions never put a nickel in my pocket before. In fact, if you're just going into the trucking business, going into it just as a recession begins might be a good idea.

JMHO, as always.

-- c t