Hey Truckers!!

bcr466 wrote:You say that is after ins prem, licensing, permits, fuel, maintenance? If so money dont sound too bad. But just an example, we just picked up my brother's Freightliner about an hr ago. In frame with a Cat recon head on his 3406E was $13,240. He had to borrow it, so without some capital built up or some good luck untill you can get it built up,????????????????? He was lucky enough that the man he pulls for paid it and will deduct it periodically from his percentage. If that is luck.

jasonf wrote:You know Bill, my dad has been a truck driver for 40 some years and from what I have seen there is no way in hell I would ever do it. Sorry, trying not to offend anybody so don't take it that way. I just seen my dad chase dream jobs his whole life and end up with nothing. There would be some good job like you mention so he get a truck and do that for awhile to find out he didn't make enough money or it would slow down. Then he would go upside down on months when the truck wasn't working. Then you always have the bad luck gene when your motor goes out somewhere on the road and you loose more work and spend 20K. So now you can't sell your truck because you owe more than it is worth and you can't afford to make all you payments. Eventually he would get rid of his truck and go back piloting or doing hotshots. Two years later he would be looking for a truck because he made more money doing that.
He loves driving and loved the job but I have never met a rich truck driver or a truck driver with much of anything. The only people that make money off of trucking is the people that own the trucking company not the O/O's. The company finds all the work, takes a % of the ticket and the only cost they have is insurance and a small office. I watched every person my dad work for get filthy rich while everyone was broke as shit.

That being said, if you already had a truck and found some work that sounds good then give it a try. If it doesn't work then find work elsewhere but there is no way in hell I would go out and buy a truck. Go be a farmer at least they get subsidy.

schmitty wrote:Bill, I have been in the truck business for 7 years now, as an O/O and have had people drive for me also. It is a sideline winter job for me, but I get some guys that call me off and on during the summer and I have a couple of reliable retired guys that take good care of the truck and operate it responsibly. What is the per mile rate on this job? And how many miles/km per week? Make sure you like where you are going and pray the Good Lord smiles on you, because as you know there are no gravy trains in the truck business. If it will pay the bills and give you some enjoyment along the way, I say go for it, and if it is good enough, hire a driver and go back to the other business and double dip.

dfree383 wrote:If you can get a good truck cheap, one that's been maintained and clean. I'd say go for it. I'd never try it with buying something new, the overhead will kill you, just be very frugal and do as much maintence your self as you can and save save save.... Maybe end up with a couple of cheap trucks you can rotate and always have one ready and one running????

dfree383 wrote:Cheap as on used, 15k and under