Can I ask question ?
 

Whats a ball park # to turn the west coast New England to California ?
Whats an Owner Operator Grossing...Just a ball park number please.
I'm getting itchy feet !

Thanks
Pomie

Do you mean how long does it take to make a turn from the West Coast to New England or how much money for such a turn? How much an owner operator grosses can vary according to the type of freight hauled and where. An owner operator can gross from $90M to $350M or more depending on the type of operation.

New England to Cali....
 

Yes I meant how much cash from say Boston to LA and back
the entire turn.

Just need a ball park # I know if your pulling reefers it's more etc...

thanks all

Re: New England to Cali....
 

That's a big ball park. If he's loaded EVERY mile, he could make .25/mile over his costs. Could be more for more specialized stuff. Dead miles could wipe the profit margin out though.

Re: New England to Cali....
 

I think if you were only clearing .25/mile you would have to be pulling some awfully cheap freight, but with fuel costs and what some people will pull for these days it doesn't suprise me! Heck.... a rookie at most any company will clear that for every mile he drives in a company truck. Does offer a lil bit of insight to the O/O side of things though.

Your question is very broad based. You could have two different owner operators pulling the same type of freight and hauling at very different rates. For instance, there are some who will haul out of California for $0.90/mile all the way to New England. Others may not haul below $1.50 or $2.00/mile. I know you want a definitive answer, but there are a lot of owner operators who have no idea of what it takes to operate a trucking business and will run for most anything as long as they can keep the truck moving. There are too many owner operators who will lease to one of these mileage carriers and run for less than $1/mile. If you are looking at one of those carriers, just calculate the miles and you will have the gross revenue. It isn't the gross that is important, but the net. You can make a million dollars a year, but unless you can net a decent profit out of the money, it isn't worth it.

Re: New England to Cali....
 

I used $1.00/mile to the truck and an operating cost of $.75 to arrive at the $.25.

Re: New England to Cali....
 

JMO If you are doing it under 8 grand, you are wasting your time! :roll:

Thank you all for you posts....It's so interesting/frustrating at times
reading in the message boards about the money involved or not involved
in the trucking industry.


Pomie

I can understand your frustration, Pomie. The reason many people fail as an owner operator is because they don't treat this like a business. A business doesn't become successful on it's own. It needs someone to direct and manage it. Once you buy a truck, you are no longer simply a driver. You are a businessman. Unless you treat it like a business you are doomed to failure. As in any business there are different levels of compentency. Much of that comes with experience. Not everyone is cut out to run a business. And there is nothing wrong with being a company driver. You can earn a good living with a lot of benefits if you get with the right company. You still need to be able and willing to manage yourself to become a top earner. Success doesn't just happen. Those who achieve a high level of success do so with careful planning and hard work. Those who want a 9-5 job will likely only achieve a mediocre livelihood, regardless of what they do for a living. What means success to one person could be different with another. When it comes to being a successful owner operator, you should look at the type of freight and investment that is required. It is much less expensive to run a van than a multi-axle rgn. The more specialize an owner operator becomes, the greater the earning potential.

Look at most professions. Some make good money and some starve. A good example is Real Estate Agents.

I just did a flatbed run from Boston to CA for $4800

$8000 solo? Thats a bit high for reg van or even flatbed freight at roughly $2.50 a mile for 3200 miles.

Usually the longer the haul, the less the rate (in most cases).

Questions unanswered-
1-type of freight
2-time of year
3- where the o/o books/gets the load from

I know, but wouldn't it be nice? :D
Actually, i meant round trip minimum, isn't that what he was asking? :P

I thought he was talking about round-trip too and $8000 is way too low. Pulling reefer it would take at least $11000 for me to do the turn. That's figuring on $2/mile from CA to MA and $1.50/mile coming back. And that's a minimum. I didn't run the miles so I'm using the 3200 cited earlier.

Well, good luck on that! :shock:

:lol: There's a reason I don't go to Boston very often. Even when I get more than $2/mile to go out there that usually means I can do better running a better lane.

It has never made any sense to me to take a load for cost or less just to keep from having to take money out of my pocket for fuel. I understand the argument to take it, but I think it is a bad business decision. I work for profit. It is just one of my quirks. :P

I couldn't agree more, GMAN. The one argument that makes some sense is the guys that have a dedicated account for which they have to get back by a certain time to service the customer. In that case, when you're going that way regardless, I can see the argument for padding the revenue with whatever you find. However, if you're servicing a customer with dedicated trucks I hope they're paying enough to start with where you don't have a loss when you have to run back empty. And you'd better be darned secure in that dedicated account because the minute you lose that freight you're having to compete back in the lanes where you've been pulling the cheap backhauls and now you have no cushion.