I came up with a formula to deduce what my perfect trailer is. This might be of interest to others who can't decide what trailer to pull on the road to their first million

My criteria can sound strange to some but here they are.

For some crazy reason (maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was born in Budapest, Hungary) I want a trailer that will take loads that are LIKELY to pay better than average; loads that are LIKELY to be lighter (think fuel mileage); there should be minimum or no tarping (think winter and wind); work on the trailer should require minimum/moderate physical efforts (why kill yourself?); and the trailer should be low priced for the new one.

Now I place 4 types of trailers in the order of best to worse - when looking at each criteria. I'm only looking at trailers that seem like my cup of tea (therefore, no reefers or dumps).

RGN - detach, SD - stepdeck, F - flatbed, V - van.

Here we go.

PAY MORE THAN AVERAGE more 1. RGN 2. SD 3. F 4. V l ess

LIGHTER LOADS
(better mpg) lighter 1. SD 2. V 3. F 4. RGN heavier

LESS/NO TARPING less tarping 1. V 2. RGN 3. SD 4. F more tarping

REQUIRES MINIMUM
OR MODERATE PHYSICAL
ACTIVITY less efforts 1. V 2. RGN 3. SD 4. F more efforts

LOWER PRICE FOR NEW lower 1. V 2. F 3. SD 4. RGN higher


We are almost done... Now we calculate how many points each trailer received (just add the numbers in the front of each trailer) and we see the score (the lower the number the better is the rating):

V 9
SD 12
RGN 13
F 16

So it looks like V is the winner. Van loads don't pay 6 bucks per mile like RGN loads BUT they can be lighter, there's no tarping, you don't work as hard (just close the doors and off you go), and a basic van trailer is probably the cheapest type of trailer you can get. Plus: a 53 foot van trailer can take in a ton of LTL loads - at a handsome profit.

Which is of course why everybody pulls them...

So I think for accuracy sake we should lose the VAN trailer and take the 'second best' option which is ...Stepdeck (SD) with the honorary 2nd place with 12 points, or even RGN which is only 1 point more. Flatbed turns out to be the worst one in the lineup.

Very interesting when you put it on a matrix. Have you considered wait time? The time sitting to get loaded or unloaded can add up.

I haven't thought of waiting time ... but the more criteria you use the more accurate your "forecast" will be. Speaking of waiting time, I was late for my 9 am appointment (dispatch's fault) and had to wait 3 hours to get to the dock, 2 more hours for them to start unloading and finally 1.5 hours when they took the stuff off. 53' dry van.