How do one day runs tend to work out for O/Os?
 

I guess the title says it. I'm wondering if owning your own rig gives you the ability to make it home every night and how much denero that might cost ya. What I mean is maybe you can be home every night but there tends to be an X % penalty for not sleeping in your truck. What % is X?

I'm in Michigan (big surprise I know lol) and I see a lot of runs to Chicago or Pittsburgh or, or, or and I could do the round trip and sleep at home. Just wondering if the paycheck would be ok.

That would all depend on the rate. Most of the "local" guy's I know, are averaging around $635 a day, pulling tanks between Beaumont and Baytown, down here in Texas. What the van guys are averaging is beyond me. The "local" guys I know up in Chicago-land, average anywhere from $580 to $900 a day, again pulling tanks. Each customer pays a different rate.

LOL.....Mackman could tell you what his average with a Dump is.......IF he wants too! But....He is in PA...so again....different rate, different equipment.

I run short trips with a van.

Load 30 miles from home, run 352 miles unload and reload in the same door the next morning. Run back and load and reload in the same door the next morning.

3 round trips a week, $1300 a round, 2125 miles.

Home 3 nights a week and every weekend.

Living in your area you may find runs back and forth between Michigan and Chicago. I know there are flatbed guys who do runs from Detroit to Chicago every day. I don't know about vans. It would be a matter of making the right contacts. You will usually pay a price for being home more often. It will normally result in less income for the convenience of being home. If getting home more frequently is important then you may want to spend some time to see if you can make some broker or shipper contacts that will work for you.

Gman is right, I made alot more money when I did long haul and gone from home.

Some weeks I do 4 rounds if I feel like it but mostly just do 3. I can get 4 rounds in if I unload and reload and go straight there and unload and reload on the same day.

I usually unload and reload on this end and go back home for the day. Unload and reload at 7am and back home by 8:30am.

The shipper leaves it up to me on how many I do or what time I get there. They usually have 2-3 loads on each end every day.

That's what I'm jabbering about, right there. Mackman makes it home every night and can enjoy himself for the evening and sleep in his own bed.

I'm wondering if he isn't the one person on this forum with his head on straight. :) I'm probably restricted to dry van for insurance reasons though.

Something I thought of since starting this thread is the fact that local guys are pretty much restricted to 5 day weeks (not that that's all bad but it's a cut in pay).

Very tough to do that out of the gate with your own authority. It would take a while to find your own source of freight. You could find it being an o/o I suppose.

As far as the penalties go, there are a few. Figure fuel costs at $.70 - .90 per (unpaid) mile depending on whether you're loaded or empty.

Figure lost time off your log book. Figure in lost sleep while you're driving those OOR miles and lost sleep while you're at home (I never seem to get any sleep at home.....too much to do).

Mack is lucky in that he had a "Foot-in-the-door" for what he does. His father's reputation, along with his own willingness to prove himself, went a long way towards putting him in a good spot. It doesn't hurt that he is in the right area for what he does, to be making good money.

I am in the process of becoming a "Local" dog myself. Maybe once the kinks get worked out....I will tell you what it is doing.........And how I am doing at it.

It sounds like short runs involve making less money unless you fall into a steady gig that pays. I've also heard you guys not be too thrilled about coast to coast runs, saying they don't pay real well - kind of a fools gold.

So I'm thinking being opportunistic is the key. You're in Dallas, you check the loadboards, you call a few brokers, the best run that's available is going to Cleveland. The proper response is "I happen to love Cleveland!!!". lol Is that the mindset? :)

IF the money was there, like it was in 03-06. But it just hasn't been....for quite a while. Anymore, even in tanks, it is just not worth it to be running the road. It is all about the money, and a Buck-a-mile just doesn't cut it........$1.55 doesn't hardly cut it anymore!

The deal I am working on, will allow me to be home very evening (or day), and still make decent money.....I hope. Truck is still in the shop getting ready for the gig. Once I am up and running...then I might say more. I want to get six or seven weeks of steady work in, before I get all "giddy" about this.

I hope it works out for you Tex. Keep us updated if you will.

One of my main reasons for wanting to be local is physical health. I'm in my mid 50s and I've always been in pretty decent shape but not anymore. I've been driving for less than 5 years and it's taking a toll on me - I've gained weight and gotten soft. The legs too - the legs don't work like they used to.

I could be wrong but while I know it's the hours spent behind the wheel that do the damage I feel it's the lack of "normal" walking room to room and doing chores in a real house that fails to undo the damage. Spending the evening in an area the size of a closet just doesn't work. Days I've driven and spent a few hours at home affect me differently than days I've driven and spent the evening and night in the truck.

I'd be willing to accept a smaller paycheck for a greater feeling of well being providing the income is enough to pay the bills. Plus, there are other things I enjoy doing that could earn a few $ if I had time to invest.

And on top of all that there is longevity to consider. Truckers don't live as long as most folks according to stats I've read.

Kinda depressing the numbers you're talking about. The "coming shortage of drivers" never really happened did it? I guess the right here/right now influx of people willing to do almost anything to try and stay in their homes got in the way.

Again, I'd enjoy some info on your new venture when you're ready. :thumbsup:

I make anywhere from 550-700 day on avg. I run a 40mile radius of the quarry i haul out of. I will post one of my pay stubs with the loads all broke down for ya. Out of the quarry is all paid by the ton. Blacktop is the only thing that is hourly. at 75/hr. When i get my own work i charge 80/hr. So 640 for 8hrs. I hardy ever work over 10hrs a day. I leave that house at 6am and most of the time backing in the driveway by 3pm. Once in a blue moon i may run past 4pm lol. Avg miles for a day is around 75-200

It sorta seems to me, that you should jump onto the "Snowman-machine" and switch over to LTL. It seems like that should fit your wicket and help you get back to where you want to be physically....and still get you home with "Bling" in your pocket.

As for my new "adventure".......I'm gonna stay mum for a few weeks. Get at least 6 or 7 weeks of working at it ....before I make any comments. The shop is saying the truck will be ready Thursday. It's a "Gulf Coast" shop....so I am not gonna hold my breath. :hellno:

You just don't know what "slow" is!! :confused:

Here is a copy of a pay stub. Its only for 3 days. The other 2days i worked for a contractor. @ 80/hr. One 8/hr day and one 9hr day. So for the week i made 2,037.94 at the quarry and 1,360 with the contractor. for a total of 3,397.94. Im not sure of the total hours for the week but i think it was around 45. Miles would have been around 8-900 for the week. This is the avg. week 7-8 months out of the year. In the late fall to late spring dump truck work is real slow. So you have to save your pennys for the slow times. Also if it rains most of the time i dont work. Unless we are stocking a railroad yard or something. But we cant go to jobsites in the rain. Have any questions just ask.

Also dont laugh to hard at the joke of the Fuel Surcharge we get. Another thing the 1st load on the sheet only went about 2.5miles from the quarry. took me all of 20mins to make 72 bucks. hauling 5 tons lol.

http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/t...scan0001-3.jpg

:lol:

I would take that kind of a week right now! Heckuva lot better than what I have managed for a while!

But........THAT is a story for another day..........maybe I will tell it.:(

I hear that. I was down 2 days last week. Mack had to do alittle work to the old puppy dog. Nothing major just didnt have the parts. :pissedoff:

Im just making a living not getting rich. I assume you OTR guys are doing the same.

That right there is my big holdup right now! Parts!

Once this truck is put back together, I will be a "Local" dog, for the foreseeable future! Hopefully the rest of my driving career!!!

BUT......I'm not holding my breath right now...and hopefully in August I will have a good feel for how this new gig is going to work.

I can tell you that the "old gig" was a total wash. The last year, it took everything I could swing, to make ends meet. But.....I will wait until August to tell that story.

Short haul is where the money is!! You just have to make the contacts. Stop stressing being home every night, even if that is what you want. It isnt always doable and it makes employers in trucking wonder about your dedication for the job. I have seen drivers do really stupid things to be home daily. The money wont be great and the days will be long. I ran the midwest between Cleveland, Chicago and Louisville, lived in Indy, wasnt home every night but made good money.

yep....

Thanks for posting that Mackman! Looking at that report I'm guessing you're leased on to the company and that's the weekly report they give you to accompany your check. If your expenses are anything like what otr expenses are like you're sure doing good imo. In fact you probably don't run anywhere near as many miles so I would think you're expenses would be a lot less.

I'm going to ask around but I doubt I could get something like that going around here. I'm just a little north of Ann Arbor and there's just no building going on around here. Detroit might as well be in a different state, we don't seem to be affected by their problems much but still the area is pretty static.

Rank - maybe I should look at it that way. Try to be home more often if I can but don't get married to home every night.

A smart and experienced guy like Tex having problems is a bad sign. You guys haven't talked much about rates lately (or I've missed it). Have things recovered? Are rates anywhere near 2006 levels? Has the driver shortage materialized or do we now have an oversupply of drivers thanks to the recession?

Off to scour other threads...

Thanks for passing along your insights. :thumbsup:

Rates have been up and down lately. Right now, rates seem to be up for me. Much of it has to do with the type of freight you haul and where you run. I don't see a real driver shortage. We seem to have plenty of trucks where I have been running. I just took a load that pays more than anything that I have seen in almost 3 years. But, it has been a real hassle getting the permits. I have been offered rates from as low as $1.50-5.00/mile the last few months. Most seem to be settling around $2-3/mile. I have a friend who pulls a van and he has seen a decline in rates the last 2-3 months. I think he is averaging about $1.70-2.00/mile. I do see a shortage of capacity or over abundance of freight in a few areas. It has not necessarily resulted in higher rates, although you would expect that when their is a shortage of capacity. The market still seems to be somewhat fluid or volatile.

I run under my own authority. Lehigh Hanson is the shipper. They pay all the trucks that work for them once a week. It aint a bad gig. Some of the rates suck and the F/S is a joke. But you never have to worry about your money. Every tuesday i have a check no questions asked.

What more could you ask for?

As of now I'm officially looking for a truck. More than anything I want the control to determine which runs I take and which I avoid. For instance, I've never been out west. It's got to be a crime to drive otr and never see half the country. Another reason is NYC. I'll never go there again, let alone schedule a run there when the forecast is for 12" of snow. It's tight enough even when people aren't parking 2' from the curb. It's insane after a heavy snow but it isn't my bosses problem, it's mine.

I guess I'll try to get out west a couple of times (in good weather lol) and then concentrate on the midwest and see what percentage of days I can make it home and still keep the bills paid. ( of course until the truck is paid off, whatever pays the most gets a whole lot more consideration)

I see a lot of people have viewed this thread and since a great many are probably noobs or company drivers considering o/o here's my situation in case it helps.

My job isn't all bad. I get paid 36 cpm and $10 per hour doing stops with a one hour minimum. The average stop is probably about 1/2 hour so that isn't bad. I also asked for and now get a $50 premium for NYC runs. This week I drove 1950 miles and did 12 stops, 6 of which were on Long Island. My pay should be $702 + $120 + $50 = $872. I don't think that's bad for 4 days. Next week I'm doing a run to Miami with a few little detours and I'll end up with 3000 miles. I'll get one long run like that for every 4 - 6 runs that are much shorter. Usually I'll get an extra short week now and then but not lately. Post recession, each stop is getting less freight but each run has more stops. My leased truck is 2 years, 10 months old and just hit 300k miles.

I'm going to miss having a newer truck. They've ordered a new Cascadia for me that we're waiting to have an APU installed in (backordered until July! I guess their swamped with orders). Not only are new trucks comfortable and sweet smelling :), they probably don't break down as often.

Another thing I'm going to miss is our office lady. Being a company driver has spoiled me. I hand in my paperwork and she deposits my check for me and gives me a statement which I file when the pile starts to bug me. :) My taxes last year took less than an hour with Turbotax. Stick a fork in it, done. Being self employed has always meant endless paperwork to come home to. I never really felt like I was off the clock. This time I'm hiring an accountant right from the start and the paperwork gets handed off. But still, there will be all the crappola of being in business to chew on. From a contact you owe a phone call to, to something that isn't quite right with your truck. That feeling that it never ends is something I'm not looking forward to.

One thing I know from previous ventures is bankers will treat me like I have a contagious disease for a long time after I make the switch. I've been planning this for at least 6 months and I've got the financial biggies set. House, car, insurance, credit card debt is all where it needs to be. I'm vulnerable to a run of bad luck with truck or home repairs of course but you can't control everything.

Good luck with the change. Have you found a truck and trailer yet?

Thanks Gman. No I looked at a few during the winter and I check my local craigslist quite a bit. Now I'll start looking seriously. Even though the economy is looking weak all of a sudden I'd like to get this going before things slow down in the fall.

Sounds like you're making not bad money. I don't know what your house payments are like but I encourage you to get as much capital as you can manage before you take the plunge. Being under capitalized in this business can make you a slave at best possibly a failure. You lose the ability to sit and wait for better paying freight, you are forced to work alot.....and being home is what one of the things that you're trying to accomplish. And yes you will always be on the clock. Get used to working on your truck on the weekends.

Home daily might not make for decent revenue, but it is very workable to do something that gets you by the house 2 or three times a week and off on the weekends. I have that kind of gig and my gross for last year was $175,000. Net was roughly $70K. One thing I liked is no sitting except for a break. When one load is done, go get the next one. Not dedicated work, but everything done within the same region. The upper midwest is pretty consistent.

I haul containers down here in the gulf la ms fl . most runs are 600miles to 550miles per day.pay1.20 per mile never anyplace longer than an 1.5 hours. i start day about 5 am finish around 3- 5 pm home every day . i drag their wagon. after fuel paid paid i bring home between 12 -1,400 per week. could make more if i took longer runs but i dont want to sleep in truck.

Good luck MD. Keep us posted.

I live just outside Chicago and have done local both with a flat/train and van.

Flatbed has much higher revenue between Chicago/Detroit but you will not be home every night. Sitting in line at the mills then getting a sameday appt at one of the auto plants or factories is a whole nother thing! But the money is descent and I was able to be home everyother night and off the weekends.

Van freight is very poor. There is a lot of deadheading unless you want to pull stuff for under $1.25 a mile, which I won't.

Best money I had made (before going to tankers) was doing rail work, moving containers. I was able to avg $700 a day, home everyday (I ran 8pm-5am) and off weekends. Easy work, especially being done at night as there are no lines to wait in.

Now I am on a dedicated gig, I clear $1,000 a day and am only gone from home for 3 days each week pulling tanks.