[person]

And I am able to support a suburban NJ family from my earnings

You can do all listed w/out your wife's income? What percentage does she bring in? (this is retorical questioning. Don't need to know your most private info)

[Sonny Pruitt]

actually she did not work from 1984 to 1996 she just stayed home to raise the boys. Then she started working as a teachers aid 3 -5 hrs a day
she is up to 20.10 per hour to yell at kids during lunch
She also does pet sitting which has turned into a nice little job with great potential
I am no genius and had plenty of financial woes but I am atill here trucking
The reason I got my own authority was I switched to Akinson(misspelled on purpose) in Pa. I was on % so I saw how much they got for each load every week. The company sucked but I stayed on accumulating bills from me and acouple of friends there.
I saw how a major eastern truckload carrier played the game and unbelievably the rates for every move.
Sorry but the big players haul the cheapest of cheap freight to get back to home territory.
Northhampton Mass to Coke in Philly......110 per mile and they wouild send 5 6 trailers a day no problem
Nashua to Stamford ,Ct 250$ and had a zillion dropped trailers there
They have Teamster company drivers and have to pay them.
After I studied their game plan I knew I could do it on my own.
But a friend of mine insisted I go with a reefer
which I did.
and much more lucrative
at 3 pm today I got a call
Pete ....you gotta...
I love those Pete you gotta calls

I have to agree with Sonny. I think most of you put too much emphasis on analyzing the crap out of your business. By the time half of you get done with anyone there making .02 cents per mile.

Sometimes I haul for $1.35 to get to a better area. Sometimes I'm getting $2.50 for a day run. I typically take the runs that average from 2,000 to over 3,000 miles and get around $1.60.

I don't factor, I don't run home to cash a check because one is waiting. I have over $20,000 in my checking account each time I head out for my 3 week run around the US and that keeps growing.

I think some of you sit around at home so much waiting for those big paying loads your doing a Hell of a lot worse than I am.

[rank]

I have to agree with Sonny. I think most of you put too much emphasis on analyzing the crap out of your business. By the time half of you get done with anyone there making .02 cents per mile.

That reminds me. The Q3 numbers are in.

I think some of you sit around at home so much waiting for those big paying loads your doing a Hell of a lot worse than I am.

I highly doubt that.


One thing in Sonny's post stands out for me...."I am home almost every night". I say he does well because he doesn't drive much. Less driing = more profit. Now where have I heard that before?

[RostyC]

Pete ....you gotta...
I love those Pete you gotta calls

I thought your name was Sonny :lol: :lol:

I disagree Steve, I think you have to look at your numbers closely so you can tell if those 1.35 loads are worth taking. You might change your mind if you see it on paper or you might not, but if you don't look you don't know.
I like to do that stuff though, not everyone does.

EDIT: I would also like to say this thread has been interesting and full of information and great conversation.

[Sonny Pruitt]

Sonny Pruitt is my alter ego
I did not run the reefer all fall/winter/spring because I was linehauling for
a trucking co...I thought I hit the jackpot
then... the owners started fighting
Then... Proctor and Gamble bought their main account
did an audit
and accused them of overcharging.....
So ............
I had to fire up the reefer
and put something together again
I am kissing this one brokers butt
(The Pete you gotta guy)
to prove I am the "go to " carrier
I am dead heading quite a bit actually
to cover their loads
but............
They will fit in perfectly for $$$ round trips
when they start digging potatoes close by to my home 20
so I am very choosey on backhauls (yes backhauls)
its killing me now
but I have to take a risk and stick it out
I am not running all over the country
I am patiently putting 2 predictable round trips together
If it doesn't work......
Back to Seaport St in Boston

[merrick4]

$29.95 is what it just cost me to get on this freakin website. How smart is it to ban every single person that uses Cingular for their ISP because of one person? Is that a way to run a business?

Anyway I posted this question over at the OOIDA forum but less people over there and nobody answered:

Just had my first PM and I'm not sure what some of these numbers mean. Any explanation for this stuff would be appreciated.

Coolant Freeze Point -60 (obviously I know what this means but is this good?)

Coolant SCA level 1200

Record air restriction gauge reading 1200
Record engine oil pressures @ idle 48 @ 1200 55 it was at 42 and 48 at Pre-Service


As a further update, I've been out here a month now. As for numbers, I've billed $17,500 on total miles of 12, 722 for an average of $1.38. This is all miles on the truck and a small amount of that is personal miles. So it's more like $1.40.I've spent $6023.47 on fuel for truck and reefer.

At $1.38 I'm better off I think of leasing on to a company where I don't have to pay what I'm paying for insurance etc though I don't want to do that which means I need to get my rates up.

One thing, I had a decent run the other day and the guy I'm working with said that with my experience I'd never get those rates on my own. He's hard to get a hold of but I wanted to ask, I mean what difference does it make on how much experience one has? I know at first blush this sounds stupid, but if they have freight to move and they need a truck and I'm there at the right time and the right place, well it seems to me they need to pay one way or another. Am I wrong with this thought process?

[Doghouse]

Merrick,
Why don't you give it a go by yourself on your next run? Try it out and see for yourself, that way you know what its like and won't have to second guess your dispatcher.
Its like the guy who says to me,...."there's no way you can do repairs on your own truck,..you have to take it to the dealer or a diesel tech",...all along there's a ton of things that I can repair,...some guys just like to make it seem like they are more necessary than they really are.

[merrick4]

Point well taken Doghouse. Don't get me wrong, I don't really mean to sound like I am second guessing, I just question everything. It's like I tell people when they first meet me and I start with the questions, you know how a little kid is always asking why why why, well I never grew out of that.

I'll say one thing, I haven't sat more than five minutes with this guy. He seems to have plenty of freight. He says his problem is finding drivers. He's selling one of his trucks now due to lack of drivers.

When you getting out here Doghouse? Man I got my PM at the TA in Seffert or something like that out by you, small place that is. Good thing I got a PM or there would have been no parking for me that day and I got there early afternoon to boot.

You are lucky that you know this mechanic stuff. It's getting expensive. I couldn't take Sirius coming in and out so I took it to Circuit city and had them install the thing direct. It worked out ok cause my plug to the laptop broke (not the plug but that black box I forget the name) and I had to buy another one. The don't sell ones for each manufacturer so I had to buy a universal for $100. It didn't work for my laptop (Acer) and I got to talking with the kid at the desk and he just gave me one. I tried to give the kid some money but he wouldn't take it.

[GMAN]

Originally Posted by merrick4

As a further update, I've been out here a month now. As for numbers, I've billed $17,500 on total miles of 12, 722 for an average of $1.38. This is all miles on the truck and a small amount of that is personal miles. So it's more like $1.40.I've spent $6023.47 on fuel for truck and reefer.

At $1.38 I'm better off I think of leasing on to a company where I don't have to pay what I'm paying for insurance etc though I don't want to do that which means I need to get my rates up.

One thing, I had a decent run the other day and the guy I'm working with said that with my experience I'd never get those rates on my own. He's hard to get a hold of but I wanted to ask, I mean what difference does it make on how much experience one has? I know at first blush this sounds stupid, but if they have freight to move and they need a truck and I'm there at the right time and the right place, well it seems to me they need to pay one way or another. Am I wrong with this thought process?

Merrick, you should be getting better rates. If you leased to a carrier, I would think that you would be able to do at least as well as you are now, without the extra expense. I don't think the guy you are working with is helping you very much. Frankly, I think you could do as well or better on your own and save the money you pay him. I believe when he stated something about your lack of experience, he was talking about your knowing where to go and how to negotiate the better rates. Shippers and brokers don't really care how long you have been in business, only that you have adequate insurance, authority and can get the job done. It boils down to whether you want to spend the time finding the better paying loads. All this guy is doing is dispatching you. He is not doing any more than a company dispatcher could do for you. I don't see anything wrong with paying someone to find loads for you, but they should be able to get better paying loads than you have posted. I haven't kept up with reefer rates lately, but I would expect rates of around $1.65-1.85. You should be getting at least $1.50.