[tootie04]

Originally Posted by BanditsCousin

Melton only pays about $1.20/mi too. Throw fuel, insurance, and 1 meal a day in the equation and you'll see how its not as great as it seems.

That 1.20 per mile INCLUDES the fuel surcharge.

[BanditsCousin]

Fuel, insurance, and meals are a deduction from the $1.20. $1.20 is with surcharge, i agree.

[Cam]

...company flatbed is stupid...

That's pretty hard, huh? I just want to apologize to anyone I may have offended. I wouldn't do it and I've said why, but that doesn't mean someone else doesn't have their reasons.

[azcardnlz]

Originally Posted by Cam

That's pretty hard, huh? I just want to apologize to anyone I may have offended. I wouldn't do it and I've said why, but that doesn't mean someone else doesn't have their reasons.

I did it once. Took me two months to finally ask myself, "Why????"

[Longsnowsm]

Take some time and go to OOIDA under the tools link and get your hands on the spreadsheet tool. Then come back here and read the thread "From desk to authority" and the part 2 that was started by Steve Booth and plug in some numbers that our resident experts shared on what it costs for insurance, maintenance, equipment, and expenses. Then go back and compare the numbers your getting from any lease operator per mile with FSC and figure it out for yourself. Real numbers are eye opening for sure.

Don't forget that you have to get paid, and have expenses of your own besides feeding the truck, your own insurance, benefits, social security, taxes etc that have to come out of that money. Any profit that might happen with a lease operator will likely be coming out of the wear and tear on the truck. If your lucky enough to work through the lease you end up with a worn out truck and you barely made a living.

I realize you have already said you are staying away from the leases, but take some time to plug the numbers in for yourself so YOU know. It is a good exercise and will help you understand the costs of an OO and what you will need to do in order to be a profitable business owner.

Buying a truck is just a small part of the business. Knowing the numbers, for total cost of ownership of the truck, operational expenses, the gotchas, and the hidden costs are all part of the overall picture of this business.

When you read through the posts here it will always boil down to buying new vs. buying used(quite a spirited debate at that). You will not hear the lease operator as part of any equation or conversation as a viable reality.

If you want to buy a truck and lease back into a carrrier that might be an option depending on the company, the pay, the benefits such as discounted fuel, equipment, insurance. But weigh your options and do your homework. Don't be in a hurry. If you don't already have a healthy chunck of change(ie cash) saved to get started in your business then I would say get on with a good company and start saving. Don't get yourself into an impossible situation. Take your time and do it right. It will give you the best chance possible for success. Listen to the resident experts here.

I am in the save money mode and preparing for my own business right now, and I can tell you that I will pay Gman for his consulting services when I get ready to launch my business if he is available to assist me. There are so many great resources here. If you will take the time to listen to the great posts and advise you can save yourself a great deal of grief, pain, and hard earned cash. BOL

Longsnowsm

[merrick4]

I'd pay GMAN too.

As for company flatbed drivers being stupid, I'm very close to doing that. I was going to go buy a truck and sign on with CRST Malone, but I'm not too thrilled with the recruiter. She's not on top of things. I have the cash to buy a truck and I only have 10 more months to hit the 2 year mark for my license. I'm working on getting insurance now, but if this doesn't go through, then I might go with Melton. When I do get a truck, I need to do my own thing anyway. I like being in control of my own affairs.

Actually I would be paid about 7 cents more than I am now, but it's not really the money. First I always need to be learning something new. Second, I'm not gaining weight, but this is not healthy sitting down all day. I brought jump rope out with me but never did it once. At the end of my day, I don't feel like skipping rope in a urine smelling parking lot.

I will say this though, if I do wait another 10 months, I definitely see why people wait to learn the business. I haven't made much money, but I've learned a lot.

Actually today, I blew my first tire. Man was that loud. Well I went to buy another and the company I work for told the tire place they don't have to pay sales tax. I didn't understand why and neither did the dealer. Anyway the shop head faxes over a reseller license or something like that. That is that they sell trucks, they don't have to pay sales tax on things. I'm not sure of the whole deal, but that was the gist of it. But if that's the case then depending on how much the licence cost, it might be better to sell a truck then trade it in and not have to pay sales tax on things. When I get back I'm going to find out more about it.

why would anybody want a rough riding shiternational??

[Cam]

Here's my biggest, totally number one hang up about pulling or in my case going back to flatbed (I do want those higher rates).

Here it is, nothing just falls or bounces off a dry box and don't give me a ration of doggy doo doo about a picture you saw one time of a guy who hit a bridge with a load of flammable liquids and his dry box blew apart! :lol:

Seriously, I close those doors and I'm off to la, la land with a book on CD or the cloud formations or plotting out the next meal. In 10 months I never got fully comfortable that everything on the back of that skateboard was just going to stay there, no surprises. I'm more concerned about this than I am rolling out a filthy tarp 12' off the ground on an irregular surface.

edit...in Georgia in July!