The Deed Is Done

from JoeUser Forums
I changed rooms right after eating lunch and started in on my paperwork. Even though there were three separate trips all requiring their own sets of reports I managed to throw the whole thing together in about 30 minutes. I then hopped into the van and dropped them off over at the office so they can be processed by payroll tomorrow morning. I'll get paid Friday which is always a nice thing.

Another of our drivers is staying here in the hotel with his wife. I ran into them out in the hotel parking lot and shot the bull with him for a few minutes. The guy is totally insane. He had a very good job with the company same as I have and he was crazy enough to go out and buy a truck. Ah well, he'll learn pretty quickly that there are reasons so many of us sold our trucks. I hope he like bologna sandwiches because he'll be eating a lot of them as all of his cash gets sucked up by the truck.

I went by the grocery store and picked up some beer and can now kick off my shoes, toss back a few cold ones, and chill out watching the Sci Fi channel for the remainder of my stay here.
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Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

I take it that since he has his own rig, he gets paid a higher rate.  But then your boss has to figure out the cost of the truck when he chargesfor the load as well.  So I wonder - how does the extra money get sucked away?  Bad management can play a role.  And when you dont own, that is a lot less hassle and headaches.  But shouldn't it be more profitable in the long run?

Just curious.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

I take it that since he has his own rig, he gets paid a higher rate.  But then your boss has to figure out the cost of the truck when he chargesfor the load as well.  So I wonder - how does the extra money get sucked away?  Bad management can play a role.  And when you dont own, that is a lot less hassle and headaches.  But shouldn't it be more profitable in the long run?


Just curious.




You would think so wouldn't you? If you have a nice new truck that will have lower maintenance costs, and managed to get a good low payment on it, then yeah you can make more money. Also, if you have a truck that is in really good shape and is actually paid off you might make more money if it doesn't start needing a lot of work.

Big trucks have a way of sucking the money out of you pretty quickly. The freight rates are virtually the same now as they were in the late 80's but the cost of everything else has gone up. Trucks, insurance, fuel, tires, and maintenance, not to mention just the cost of living itself, have all gone up a lot since then.

The companies with multiple trucks can save on their operating costs by doing their own maintenance (we have our own shop), getting discounts through bulk buying power, even getting a discount on the trucks themselves. Insurance rates are also cheaper as they get a bulk discount.

The lone guy with a single truck simply has higher operating costs as he doesn't get these savings. If he knows how to do a lot of the maintenance work himself he can save some money that way, but then he is spending his home time working on the truck instead of resting and enjoying his time off.


That's why I sold my truck. It simply became too expensive to run it. The way I see it, if I'm only going to make as much profit as I would have earned in salary driving someone else's truck why in the world would I want the headaches that go along with owning and operating a rig? It simply didn't make good business sense to do so. And to be honest, I actually keep more money now than I did when I did own my own truck.
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