I'm looking into driving my own dump truck. Found out this morning that the quarry I was hoping to drive for isn't taking drivers. Have found lots of other quarries but they're all 40 to 60 miles away. I've read that a dump truck can cost $1 - $2 per mile to operate. Is that accurate for an unloaded truck? I'm not too clear on what kind of pay to expect and was wondering if 80 to 120 miles a day getting to and from work will be too expensive.

Thanks,
Mike

That will depend on your operating expenses. It will vary from one driver owner operator to another. Now two will be exactly the same. If this is something you want to do, you should start putting some costs together and see for yourself. To give you a start, fuel is running around $3/gallon in most parts of the country. If you get 5 mpg, it will cost you $0.60/mile just for fuel. In addition, you have the expense of tires, maintenance, oil changes, etc., Owning a truck is expensive.

Here is a thought.

Assuming the pay is better than you can get closer to home why not find a place to park the truck at or near the site and commute in a car. It would be a lot cheaper than doing it in a dump truck.

I know around here in south east PA all the guys in the quarry get paid by the ton. And anything over 30mins once they get to the job they get waiting time which is by the hr.(mostly blacktop loads) You really cant judge anything a dump truck does on cpm.

Most everything my transfer truck does is within a 1hr radius from the yard. Thing is, if work is poor in your area and you must drive to where the work is, just count the costs as part of doing business, or find something else to run/do that better suits your needs.. I don't know how much they pay or what your costs are so I can't really help you other than write it off as a buisness expense, or go elsewhere. Best of luck

I dont think a 40-60 mile trip to the area you`ll be working in is anything to get upset about, assuming your working in that area and not running every load back 60 miles to your area of business, very rarely did I work close to the yard whenever I drove a dump truck.

like uturn said drive a car back and forth, there are several here that do that. All the rock crushers are up here where I live, that's why I moved here. All loads go to Ft Worth or Dallas area, dump, come back here to load again. So for that it doesn't matter which end you live on. The ones who drive their cars live mostly n of here where the loads don't go usually.