Comments By Steak Eater

I've seen posts indicating different time-frames so maybe it's different for each company. Is a day off a day by name or 24 hour period or some other time-frame?

Exit 74 of I-40 at Amarillo TX, The Big Texan. Truck parking in back. /thread

😀😀😀

I see reserved spaces at a couple of the busier truck stops in my area. How much does it cost to reserve a space and does the driver or the company pay?

I can however tell you that even with the weeks that I make little or no money that week (a negative paycheck does happen from time to time), I have been able to average about $1200 - $1500/week before taxes overall.

So even without receiving any "payout" at the end of the lease term youre still coming out slightly ahead of a company driver on a weekly basis. I'm pretty impressed. Given the leasing rates I see thrown around for Prime you appear to be one of the few able to make this work, and as a solo driver at that! Pretty clearly a testament to your work ethic and ingenuity. Good for you, sir!

Per the article:

"The best scenario that I could come up with was that I was going to make about $40,000 a year, and that was if I could consistently haul freight at 1.75/mile. I might be able to make a little bit more than that, but basically I was breaking even at 1.75/mile and paying myself a $40,000 salary - there really were no profits left after that.

Now when I projected that out to somewhere in the five or six year distance and I would be needing to either do some major overhauls to my truck, or try to buy a new one, guess where that money would have to come from? Out of my annual salary that I had been making of $40,000 for the past year!"

Disclaimer : I recognize a new driver (the focus of this site) is foolish to contemplate a lease purchase or outright purchase of their own truck. Given the lease rates I see thrown around (nearly $1k per week) there's very little chance anyone can be successful from a mathematical perspective. And I agree with Brett, having extra debt, responsibilities, and associated grief and worries to only make the same as you would by being an employee and allowing another to shoulder those risks makes little sense unless there's room for substantial growth relatively quickly.

That being said, Old School, Im curious about your comparison analysis as it would relate to an owner operator. If your analysis took gross revenue and deducted reasonable expenses and arrived at an excess of $40k per year for driver salary and truck replacement, I'm curious as to how any trucking company could be profitable with the same numbers. Even if I assume a company has significant leverage with suppliers with regard to expenses, that still wouldn't seem to be enough to cover driver salary and truck replacement costs.

I know this is pretty far out into the weeds for this site, but I'm curious as to what the difference would be that would allow a company to purchase a truck and pay a driver to run it profitably (even minimally) but not allow a driver to purchase a truck and at least break even (meaning, cover expenses, salary and truck replacement without excess profit).

So far this year leasing I've made 157,000 revenue my fixed and variable costs are 82,000 so before income tax I've Made 67,000 and I have my settlements to prove this.

That math doesn't work. $157k minus $82k leaves a balance of $75k.

Do OTR drivers spend most nights at truck stops or shippers / receivers? Is it 50/50?

I see mention that truck stops fill up pretty quick in the evenings. When is the worst time to find parking at a truck stop? Is it better to stop early or late?

I'm not sure I'm buying this, but if it's true, I would;

(1) Make sure I covered my tail so the female trainer couldn't claim it was rape. The accusation itself could destroy your life. Rainy is 100% right on all counts. Whatever it took. Recording conversations, securing any evidence, etc. Whatever. It. took.

(2) I think RoadR has the better hand and I wouldn't be afraid to go all in. I'd make it clear that I'm getting approved to go solo ASAP or you're (a) screaming to everyone possible at the company and (b) calling a lawyer to file a sexual harassment complaint.

So would the driver who was awakened go on-duty then before the completion of his 10 hour rest period?

What about damage to / or theft of equipment from the truck while the drivers are segregated in the waiting room?

What did your company have to say about it?

Here are some pics.

Nicely done. Thank you!

I've never been in an OTR truck / sleeper. It's hard for me to imagine the space availability or storage areas.