I find it interesting that you're leasing trucks. From those that have leased, I've generally learned that they aren't maintained properly at all. More of a "we'll fix it when it breaks" kind of deal. I have over 2 million km on my 99 volvo and it is extremely reliable because I believe in fixing things before they break. Alternator every 2 years, air dryer every 2 years, batteries every 2 years, belts every 3 years, etc.. A little bit of maintenance makes all the difference.

On top of that with a lease you never own the truck, never ending monthly payments. I guess it does tend to keep cash flow more consistent.

But to each his own, it doesn't matter because our business models are different, I do not have employees (most here do not either). I wish you success in the future. Keep us posted.

I think it pays to own. Everyone who i talked to that leases says in the long run its more money. Also all the bigger fleets around me. Own most of their trucks. But to each their own. What ever works for ya.

I was thinking about buying a 7,000gallon vacuum tanker. Then leaseing a tractor to pull it. So i can bid on sludge hauling. But im still thinking about that.

I've always deferred to you with respect to mechanics allan as you know so much more than me. All I can say is they (Ryder) own the trucks so if they want to resell it than they should be maintaining it so they have better residual value. At one point I had 7 trucks of my own and was leasing 7 and made a comparison and it came out to be the same. However I always say, you can quantify breakdowns at the end of the year but how do you quantify downtime?

I've had clutches go in the middle of the night and still made on time delivery (with flowers to Walmart). It's a peace of mind thing. My payment includes insurance which my old agent told me that he hates to lose a customer but I will never get rates in the state of Florida like that from an agent. It includes the plate, the 2290. It even helps if it's my fault. For instance I had a truck hit a deer that did a lot of damage. They towed out a replacement and we kept rolling. I had to pay for it but again I made on time delivery with flowers to another Walmart.

You'd be surprised how many real big companies do this too. MBM is I think Ryder's largest customer. Ruan has a bunch of them. I was talking to a guy from TransAm I think it was or one of those big ones from Kansas that haul meat and he was telling me until they reached 50 trucks they had Penske. Seems like there are Ryders everywhere too. Actually just to give you another example, last week we broke down at 11PM in the middle of Vermont. We thought the clutch went, but we spoke to the shop and we decided to nurse it there as he was just getting on the interstate. He got there, they gave him another truck and we made on time delivery and they had his truck fixed by 11AM or so. It was some rod or something. This is a huge selling point with customers.

Awwww you're making me blush. I'm not a super mechanic or anything, I just really pay attention to details and always try to get my hands on shop manuals.

I understand where you're coming from completely. You'd rather take care of the customer service side of things than the mechanical items. We just have different business models. I don't know if I could handle that many trucks because I'm such a perfectionist, half of them would be off the road at any given time! If I were to build a fleet like that they would be all 2000-2003 trucks full restored and rebuilt before put in service. I'd have no problem putting 30k into each truck. The upfront cost seems absurd but this is the most cost effective way to do it long term.

I always try to avoid breakdowns and downtime. To me spending a little more and looking at things closer has paid off. As soon as you hire one guy to drive a truck, that special care disappears. But I certainly wouldn't hire a driver with at least some mechanical background. At a minimum they should be able to change lights and belts, and recognize certain problems like wheel seal leaks, hubs low on oil, brakes out of adjustment, wiring wearing through, air leaks, etc..

The problem is most of those type of drivers are owner operators already.

My oldman told me years ago. The problem with building a fleet is getting good drivers. Cuz all the good drivers sooner or later will buy their own trucks. Just like we all did.

i for one was iffy about buying a ex ryder truck because of what i've seen when i was a company driver in fl. my truck i have to say was really taken care of well by ryder! the location where we used to go when i was a company driver (riviera beach) was THE WORST. i can see both the pro's and con's to leasing. i think one of the biggest next to the pro's that merrick has stated is the write offs. that case alone i dont think he'll mind the never ending payments.

merrick i am taking notes and what not, i hope to buy my second truck by june of next year. i tell people all the time, from what i see the rates are down, but money is still to be made.. and a lot of it! continued success !

I prefer an older truck too Allan (I drive a '98 myself) but the difference is the driver.

You and I an keep an older truck on the road because we hear every squeak and fix it. Merrick's drivers might not be as concerned with the truck as much as we are. Also, you and I likely have a shop to work in on weekends. Merrick would need a couple of mechanics working round the clock on weekends to fix everything that broke during the two weeks.....assuming the driver mentions it. What's Merrick going to do when the driver neglected to tell him about that growling clutch and now the driver is broke down day 1 into a 14 day trip?

Older trucks are fine, but there are no company drivers qualified to operate them IMO.

That new!!!! You're one of those high faluten truckers.
Mines an 84'.:smokin:

Hey Rosty remember that new one you were looking at 2 years ago. That would have been 1/2 way paid off my now LMAO.......

True, but this old girl is starting to take shape now. It was rough, but I'm getting ahead of it now. I don't think I'd trade this b model CAT for anything new.

what about a new 2011 with a 3406 E.

2011 PETERBILT 389 Heavy Duty Trucks - Glider Kit For Sale At TruckPaper.com&

Not a bad idea but I'd hate to spend that kind of money to only be told you can't run it no more by the EPA.

That's the problem with an old truck...you never want to get out of it. Buy a new one and you and then you're counting the months.

BTW, you must be from the south. I don't see too many '84 anythings in the northeast. :(

I'm from Maryland, but I don't go much farther north than that, PA and De for p/up or delivery sometimes. They don't like old smokers up there. (and I don't like their tolls) Hell, I got pulled over in Baltimore for a smoke test a couple years ago. It passed, but I thought "geezuz, ain't you got nuttin better to do?" :pissedoff:

Thank God my life doesn't consist of checking peoples exhaust all day, same reason I wouldn't be a proctologist. :lol:

thats whats stopping me from getting a glider.. looks like my next truck i'll have to pay for exhaust fluid..

Well for the first time in over 3 years I guess it's been I took a road trip. I went to Sterling, IL. Miserable the whole time. I mean I remember loving it, but I had 17 other trucks on the road at the same time. I had two people in the office but there's things that I can only do. When I was just driving, I just cruised and listened to the radio. No phone signal? Who cared. Now I was trying to get load info on an Ipad and couldn't get a signal. I was on that 74 in Illinois for what seemed like days and saw nothing but trees and grass. I need skyscrapers and palm trees not to mention high speed internet. I use to like that highway too.

Also I wasn't prepared for food and I can't eat junk food so I basically didn't eat on the way back. I left Miami Sunday and just came back empty. (was paid well enough to do that.) I needed to be back here. Seems like a lot less O/O out there; basically big companies. Also the technology has changed so much. I was driving a 2012 Volvo. USB port right on the dashboard. Also it was dark and I couldn't figure out the DEF thing. I didn't see the other pump. I guess I wouldn't mind it if I didn't have the other responsibilities, but as someone told me recently, "you can't dance at two different weddings at the same time".

Also to be honest, I love South Florida. I Just don't want to leave here. Except for the last 10 years here, I spent my whole life in the North East and never felt at home like I do here. If they would just put a D'Angelos sub shop (A Mass thing) here that's all I'd need.

Well I think another change also is I have a little girl now. I take here to daycare every morning and pick her up at noon. I never would have understood it before but I realize now how hard it is to be an OTR driver with a little one at home. But on the other hand on the way back I called home from Daytona Beach or so to see if they had a plate for me and she was crying and got on the phone and just kept calling out for me and honestly I felt like turning around and working five times harder so she has everything in life.

So I don't think I'll be doing that again for a while, but I got a lot out of it. I think it was good for the other drivers to see me out there working as hard as they were. They all seemed to have a lot of respect for that. They know I work hard in the office; answer the phone 24/7 and make sure they make a decent living but to be out there hustling is another thing.

Good post, Merrick. You seem to be doing good. Happy for ya. I know how nice southern FL can be. It's a whole nuther world. You did GOOD to show the other drivers that you can still do it. But, I can relate (sort of) to that kid's voice on the phone.

Sounds like you haven't forgotten where you CAME from. That's important in any business. Total kudos to ya!

thats an awesome post! i'm trying my hardest to grow my business to get something like yours.. i doubt i can get out of the seat though. as much and as bad as i'd kill for a desk job.. i'd be bored fast!

Well, I'm right behind you. I was in the trucking business in the early 80s for about 7 yrs. I never grandfathered my license due to I never thought I would EVER need it. That being said I needed to back to driving and yes it was a shock with all these new regulations. I ended up going to school, going to work ovr for 1 year. worked local for 4 mths now I just bought a truck. I checked on geting my own authority I the cheapest insurance I was quoted was $18000 per yr. Now I'm going thru the process of leasing on with a carrier. I'm probably 1 to 2 weeks out from going to work. I'm full of anxiety. I'll keep you posted on my progress. BTW i'm a flatbed driver. Worked with oversized,etc.

Merrick, and Gman, and a couple of others that have remained on this thread from the beginning, and anyone willing to share their real experiences on this particular thread. I want to say "Hats off to you", for sharing this extremely valuable info. I think the more that Owner Operators learn what the true costs to operate are, will help everyone in the industry. I saw a thread where Gman posted numbers of about $1.75 cost per mile as a good standard to consider. I agree that if a guy was to shoot for this number plus about a reasonable rate per mile to cover deadhead miles, say .65 CPM based on the current cost of fuel. I think a guy could do pretty well. maintain his equipment and earn a good living. But getting the freight that will pay is the the challenge.

After about 14 years of driving trucks, the last 10 being car hauling I got very sick of the business. 13 years ago I chose another career path, as I had prior commercial fishing experience. I make very good money as a Tugboat Captain. But I still miss the freedom of being out on the road. I was talking to some of my contacts in the business recently and they said I needed to get my head examined for even considering coming back.

Merrick, I have read your thread from start to finish and just want to say that you are going to be successful in this business as long as you can collect payment for the loads you haul. Just be careful with how much money you let sit out there for 30-60-90 days. Many a trucking company has gone down because of this simple little detail.

I have truly enjoyed just about every post on this thread and hope that the thread will continue into the near future.

Thanks again to all who have contributed..

Time to update this I guess. I've broken the 20 truck barrier. I have two guys in training and then I'll be up to 22 with 2 more waiting for training.

I've had a falling out with Wabash and now am taking my business to Great Dane. But I hate to complain this certainly insn't a picnic. I have two people finally who are bright in the office so I don't even really know where the trucks are half the time. The dispachter is awesome. Honestly they say the worst part of this business is the drivers but all the guys here are great and want to work.

However you really can never pull away and every time the phone rings I cringe. I stay busy with compliance stuff and keeping on top of the maintenance and the vendors. We are looking to other avenues of business and have a meeting this Sunday with a woman with 30years in the buisiness of ocean freight.

In the end it's a bad economy so I'm sticking with this but I have a long way to go and there are many different avenues I'd like to take.
The end of this post is far from over.

God Bless You Merrick! Do you have any hair left?? LOL

Congratulations on your success Merrick. It just goes to show what a guy can do if he does his homework, and makes smart business decisions. Wishing you all the best that life has to offer. I have truly enjoyed and am grateful for the opportunity to observe this thread.

Be safe, and God Bless

DonM

Congrats Merrick. I'm very proud of you for doing this the right way. You've built a 20 truck operation in the worst economy we've ever seen. Good Job!!!!

Hi there Merrick, do you still hiring drivers?, do you take truck owners?

So in 5 years after coming out of CDL school you now have a 20 truck fleet??

Hello there. Right now Toady, I have all the drivers I need and no I do not take O/O. I am now up to 25 trucks and just got approval to obtain more. I should be to 30 soon. Mind you I don't buy the trucks, I do the full service lease from Ryder. I buy the trailers but I might lease some now.

My life is basically insane. I'm running around all day. I never know where the trucks are as I have 3 people in an office but it's never ending on the phone. People think you are making money and you have vendors up your rear all day. Also Last week was insane. We are in the process of changing payroll companies, installed a server and bought Prophesy Dispatch software which we need to set up and we are changing compliance procedures.

We are now focusing on diversifying our customer base but in truth, in this economy I can't complain. I'm self employed. My little girl is growing and I'm having a blast with her. I drop her off at pre-K everyday and make sure to attend her karate class. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but again at this point I can't complain.

Where is No Worries?

Congratulations and WOW, that's fast-tracking it for sure. CDL school to OO in little over a year, talk about wanting it bad. Impressive and congrats!

This year seems to be flying by. Still in business and am over 30 trucks now. Honestly I don't know how I did it without crashing and burning. I've said it before this is not for the faint of heart and it certainly is a love-hate relationship. We just got approved from the TSA and are basically air freight forwarders. I'm not sure exactly what we are going to do with it. It's kind of like when I started the trucking thing; I had no idea where to take it but I learned (and am still learning) so I am eager to see where this new venture which integrates with the trucking anyway takes us. If I'm not learning I'm dying.

Not sure how much more I want to grow, I have good staff now and we are in with big companies and could probably handle 50 but I was on the edge for a while and like I said I can't believe I didn't crash and burn. Now I am more and more putting procedures into place so if I grow it will be orderly. Seems like a lot of new people here. I wonder where a lot of the people from the beginning are? Well good luck to all and be safe out there.

I am glad to hear things are still going well, Merrick. As you have found, being in business can be a roller coaster. Some people who have never been in business have no idea what it takes to keep a business running and growing. Frankly, I had concerns when you started growing so fast. It sounds like you have found a way to make it work and to keep from crashing and burning. Thanks for the update. I hope you will check in more often. We still have a number of members, but more read rather than post these days. It has certainly been much more quiet than a couple of years ago.

Thanks GMAN. Glad to see you're still around. It was somewhat lively a few years ago. I wonder what happened to many. Doghouse for instance, or the guy in MD who bought his own truck. Pepe. Steve I never really conversed with but he kept things interesting. Honestly almost everyone I know when I got in the business is out. The guy whom I mentioned on the first page and was helping me is down to one truck from I think 19 or so. We're still good friends though.

By the way, I just had a driver "follow his GPS" onto a street in Milwaukee and got a massive ticket. I'm too embarrassed to say how much. I guess in Wisconsin they blame the company not the driver. I don't see how, I didn't pull down a street that said no trucks. I might have to fly up. Anyone know much about Wisconsin laws or a good attorney up there. I spoke to one but I looked up the law myself and I don't think he liked that and wouldn't call me back. I really don't want to fly up there but for this amount I might have to. I had planned on being done leaving South Florida but for that amount I might have to.

Yep, I am still hanging around. We have lost some, but still have some of the older members occasionally check in to see what is going on. Roadhog is still around as is Orangetxguy. I have not heard from Pepe or Doghouse in some time. I think the last time that I heard from Pepe he was going out of the country. At least I think it was Pepe. I saw Doghouse on 287 in New Jersey a few years ago. I tried to hail him on the CB, but he never responded. Steve got banned and I have not heard from him since. We still have a lot of people reading posts, but not nearly as many posting. It used to be quite heated at times. I met a few members and continue staying in touch with some of them. I don't know what has happened to some of them. Some people in the business have downsized. I thought about buying more trucks, but with all the new regulations and political turmoil, I just don't know if I want to deal with it. I have had a chance to buy a few trucks at really good prices the last few years. Finding good drivers is always the biggest challenge, as you know.

I am sorry to hear about your driver. I had a driver get an overweight ticket a few years ago and we both got a ticket. Since I always pay for the CAT Scale tickets and he passed at least half a dozen before hitting the scale, I don't see how they could hold me responsible, but I guess these states go after the deep pockets and they think that it will be easier to collect from the carrier than a driver. You might check with OOIDA about finding a lawyer. There are a couple of services available that can help you find a local attorney. I think one is called Roadlaw. There is one in Tulsa, I believe, that has lawyers around the country. They supposedly give you a discount over finding one yourself. I would try to find a lawyer and see if they can handle it rather than going up yourself. It is like a boys club. You can get a lot more done if you are a member. Non bar members are not welcome. You could talk to them and see what they say. You should be able to tell if you want to work with them or fly up yourself. You might get one of their lawyers to handle it for about $500, depending on the severity. That is one of the problems with these gps units. Drivers become too reliant on them and don't use common sense.

It sounds like everything else has been working well for you, other than the occasional bump. I hope you can get something worked out in Wisconsin. Let me know what happens. It is a good lesson for other drivers to pay more attention to road signs than the gps.

Wish i was in the same boat Merrick is in, but with no C.D.L., no medical card, no truck or trailer and no insurance, i'm screwed. :(

Merrick's legal problem reminds me of the story someone posted on the "true stories" thread about the driver who pointed at the sign and told the cop, "it says no BLACK trucks! Mine is blue!" lol! Who knows... maybe it would work on the judge. lol.

Usually Milwaukee will negotiate to 10% of the original fine.(with a lot of groveling)

Thank you for the responses. I did call Roadlaw GMAN but they never called back. These lawyers don't want to deal with me. I ask questions and I don't think they like that. I asked one lawyer I'd like to know who calibrated the scale and he just said it's calibrated.

I did look up the statute and I am responsible. This to me is ridiculous. I didn't drive down a road with two signs that said no trucks, why do I have to pay? I'm sitting in Florida. I think I will unfortunately take Chris1's advice and grovel. I got the driver to send a written statement of what happened and he admitted he told the officer he was following his truck GPS. I have a lifetime of taking responsibility for my own actions, why should I be responsible for this guy's? I mean if he follows his truck GPS off a cliff is that my fault too?

I would think that the Roadlaw people will call you back tomorrow. It is always difficult to find people on a long holiday weekend. There is another legal service. I wish that I could recall the name. I suppose you could call the local bar and get a referral, but I have never had much confidence in those referrals. In the worst scenario, you could make the trip yourself and see if you can work something out. You might even call and talk to the magistrate.

Isn't it great to have employee's? Being responsible for everything they do wrong? Call the court,get hold of the DA handling this and work out an amount. From experience in Milwaukee,they will go with a higher amount if you plead not guilty and waste their time. There are a few street's/bridges there that are real money makers for them.

Bought my plane ticket. I thought about calling like you said Chris1 but if I have to pay that kind of money they are going to listen to me. I obviously don't mean to be rude but this just does not make sense. If a driver is speeding he gets a ticket. If he causes an accident he get's a ticket. (if he causes damage then the company's insurance pays for it). All I want is for someone to look me in the eye and explain to me how I, sitting in Florida, can be held responsible for a driver choosing to ignore clearly posted signs.

As the original cop told me when I called up that day, they can't go any higher. Worst case scenario is they leave the full amount and I can appeal that. I will (and have) sue a state, city, county whatever. I personally beat my home state in New England. I lost and won on appeal. I further had the ACLU threaten the state of Florida to file a class action suit with me as the lead plaintiff over some foolishness, but they backed down quick. These people and many others in this world get away with stuff like this as they count on people not fighting back.

Trust me I don't want this battle and I certainly don't want to fly to Milwaukee, but this is ridiculous. My hearing is in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted. By the way the fine is for just over $14,000. No damage, nobody killed and the driver is fired and probably working for someone else. Something is wrong with this picture.

Good luck with it. If they say the truck damaged it then get your insurance involved. Having employee's is just like having kids,you're responsible for everything they do.