Been leased to Reliable Carriers for 12 years.

Now Merrick4 claims to have 34 trucks that are leased from Ryder or Penske and has 40 reefer trailers leased from PLM... Lets do some math... The average full service monthly lease cost is roughly $2000 a month for the tractors and roughly $900 a month for the trailers. So he is stroking a check from his "3" person "office" for over a $100k a month for the equipment???? Right.................... :roll3:

Three people for 34 trucks is pretty easy.

You're talking $.25-.30/mile for all the items included in the lease. ANY carrier should have margins that can support that cost structure. I guess that's the nice thing about being leased though; you don't have to worry about any of that.

That's the great thing about the internet though, you can choose to believe whatever you like. Merrick's been around for quite some time and actually built up credibility with folks here.

Agreed! I'm not so easily BSed myself, some how i believe him. And he didn't started with that many trucks, as of to how many folks he's got in his office that's laughable, it doesn't take that many to wright a check....

I forget that you and Chris1 the trucking wonder of WI and you the one truck wonder who claims to make 5 bucks a mile know everything about trucking.., :D

how is it difficult? its clear the man went out.. took a chance and it worked.

maybe if you took a chance you could have the same thing?

Now BigD, it's nice to see some things never change. Apparently your memory's better than mine because I don't remember ever making $5/mile and I thought you were running a few trucks in Oregon.

I know enough to keep growing the parts that make me money.

I think you have mistaken me for someone else sporto. Anywho back to the subject at hand. Still waiting for merrick4 to respond.

I have been busy and in all the years here I do not debate or argue with people over the internet. I've seen too many squabbles on here; I have better things to do with my time. Remember all the time wasted with that Steve guy and all the fighting?

Just to clarify I have 5 people in the office not 3 and you have some of your other facts wrong too but like I said, I'm not here to argue and if you choose not to believe me then please don't.

I do want to say thank you to all those that defended me, one I've even met in person who was a real pleasure to meet ( we have to speak again soon btw). I've learned a lot here and I really appreciate it but really arguing with this guy is a waste.

As for the staff (and this is ignoring BigBank), I wouldn't mind discussing the amount of staff. I have one girl who does the invoicing and payroll and has quickbooks done to the penny daily. I just brought in one of the drivers as a driver manager ( I can't deal with them) and that was the greatest thing I did. He goes to the yard every morning and checks on the trucks and is creating a bonus structure and cracking down on the logs. Our score, while still high, has NEVER been as it is now. It is dropping every month, knock on wood.

Then I have a girl who does all the check calls with the brokers and customers. She also checks reefer temps and calls shippers and receivers to verify info if it's a brokered load (that took me a lot to get them to listen to me on that, but they see how many problems it has avoided.

Then I have two dispatchers, one is moving more into sales. I am constantly combing the internet and researching things and I pass it on to him and let him at it.

But even with all of that and let's face it 34 (actually I have 36 now as I signed for two more) is still a relatively small company. We did come close to 8 million in revenue this year but the phones never ever stop. Everyone is busting their backs and even with 5 it seems like we are understaffed. I don't know sometimes on that issue I think I am doing something wrong.

As for my duties, I don't do as much as I use to, but for instance today, I am getting set up with a mentor who specializes in transportation through that SCORE program. I was trying to reach the head of the logistics and supply chain program at the local college. They have internships with partners according to their website and we are right around the corner from them and I would like to get more involved with that. I also was fighting with our general liability insurance company as we need a certain form (Accord 22) for intermodal and they will only keep it on the (Accord 25). I am going to register for the Air Cargo trade show in March but for some reason my company's name wasn't on the drop down box as a member to register for the show so I called up and they fixed that and I will be able to do that tomorrow. All these things are never a simple phone call as I get to talking with these people etc.

It was very busy in the office today as we had several trucks down due to the weather. Ryder's breakdown line (RCRC) was swamped as you can imagine. We have good technology, hard working staff but it never seems to be enough. Sometimes, again, I think I'm missing something.

Everyone be warm and safe. Tomorrow is supposed to be like 60 here and they are all complaining. As I've posted before I am from the Boston area so I'll deal with the 60 degrees :)