Removing the wages gets us down to the what an owner operator must make to break even. Now with the $1.22/mi break even figure I can figure how much one needs to make per mile to make $10k/mo or $9k/mo and buy a real apu that won't burn down a truck and smoke out the neighbors.

I don't think it is "working for free." I think it's working free or maybe working free of charge.

 

Call it a fund for a real apu.

 

Who cares what it takes to break even? It is a completely irrelevant number. I'm not in business to break even, nor should any O/O be in business to break even. If I can't pay my salary, then why bother with the hassle of being in business for myself?

What you are describing is called "buying a job". It is done by poor businesspeople and hobby truckers who are bored. Which are you?

If I haven't met my salary for the month, I most certainly did not "break even". I ran at a loss. If you hired a driver to drive your truck, and couldn't meet his wages, then you didn't "break even". You ran at a loss. The fact that you are the one in the truck plays no bearing on that.

Apparently, this is too confusing for you to wrap your brain around, because it is the very thing that everyone has been saying to you ad nauseum.

So you want to pull out the salary just to put it back in? What are you planning to do? Call a broker and tell them you need $1.22 per mile, plus an additional $0.25 per mile for your salary?

I can figure out very quickly what I need to earn to make $10K a month. Just change the figure in the calculation from $6K a month to $10K a month. Wow. That was friggin hard. No "pulling out the salary to figure out what I need to 'break even'" required.

 

If you made money, but didn't make as much as you wanted, but covered your costs you didn't run at a loss.

If you hire a driver and didn't make enough to cover his wages you ran at a loss.

If you know your base and what you want to make add them together and that is the minimum you charge to haul freight.

IMO, the calculations are easier. You can see at a glance how much you make per mile.

 

If I didn't make my salary, I most certainly ran at a loss.

What - you can't do simple math?

$6000 / 9000 miles = $0.67 per mile.

Now tell me what I am supposed to do with that information. Of what use is that number?

 

Division and subtraction are more difficult for me than addition and multiplication.
If 8000 miles are ran each month for every $0.10 increase in the rate you get $800.
You know what you have to make per mile to cover all your costs and you know how much you make for anything over the base.

 

Of course I do. I have to make $1.90 per mile to cover all my costs, and anything above that is called profit.

Stop thinking of it like an employee, and start thinking of it like a business. JEEZ. :roll:

 

My dad and I are just hobby truckers then. He doesn't like mountains and will accept lower paying jobs to get home each weekend.

@ $1.22 for the base cost you just made him $0.07 over what I had figured. You're making people all kinds of money today.