Profile For Mouse

That is one of the first times an article referenced a solid realistic number for O/O pay. They usually use nombers like $260,000.00 per year. Lots of people do not know that GROSS number is nowhere near net pay. Owner operators have HUGE overhead. Just think about the price of fuel you use as a Company Driver alone!

That's one of the metrics I'm tracking to compare my first year, the amount of fuel I'm costing my company.

They take 25% off the top to cover their operating expenses, then I get my % of the remaining Rev TTT...but I swear, we're authorized 250 gallons a day, and I'm starting to believe I live at fuel islands. These company margins have to be paper thin at times.

Just did the numbers and 14.17% of the total money (to include the 25% TMC takes off the top to cover operating costs) this truck has generated in my first 3 weeks, has been spent on fuel/DEF.

I mean, at the end of the day it's easiest to logic that owners and lease ops in particular make no money by working backwards from the companies side.

Most freight companies are making around 5% margins. If they are keeping the 15-20% off the top plus they are also charging you out the rear for your lease how exactly do you think you can turn a high profit? Even if you own your own truck you are still losing that chunk before it even makes it to you. You can't split 5% and suddenly both sides are making wads of cash - someone is going to lose on that. It amazes me how many drivers will tell you that their dispatcher holds the good paying loads for them and gives the poor loads to company drivers. That always gives me a hearty laugh because each and every one of these large truck companies would be out of business if they operated that way. They are always, always, always going to prioritize high paying loads for company drivers.

My opinion is the only way to run a hefty bottom line is if you can break into a specialized area. Think something like moving priceless pieces of art from one museum to another. I'm sure that whatever companies are contracted to transport Smithsonian exhibits are paid exhorbitant amounts because the museum wants to know everything will arrive in the condition they left. If you are just moving any old stuff from one place to another you will always be in competition with these large companies who can afford to take a loss on some loads in order to secure customer loyalty. But breaking into a special area would require years of curating contacts and a single screw up and you're done. That's the way it goes with any kind of business - the less specialized you are the less you make on margins. You have to provide something unique in order for people to be willing to fork money over.

O/O Reap Record Earnings 2018

Thanks Rainy! I know I'm young and therefore everyone expects me to inherently understand technology but honestly most of it goes right over my head. Things never work the way I expect them to!

Saw this article today about owner operator income hitting a record high income in 2018 at an average of $65k. That's up from $60k in 2017. The expectation is that 2019 will return to more "normal" levels since last year had such a high demand.

https://www.overdriveonline.com/owner-operators-reap-record-earnings-in-2018/

Also, I bet that the median is even lower since probably a handful of drivers moving highly specialized cargo (and therefore able to charge a premium) are probably driving that average up.

Hmmmmm, that really isn't more than company drivers. Heck, there are plenty of experienced company drivers that probably rival or beat that number. And we don't have all the stress of truck payments, repairs, losing money hand over fist every second we aren't rolling, etc. Yep, I think I'll stay in my nice company driver job. :D

Just do not make a habit of hitting things

Oh heck no! Kathy is my baby and I don't want me or anyone else to hurt her. I even put out my cones when I park (we're supposed to in my company but I never see other drivers using them) because don't you dare back into my girl!

Yes, I named my truck... Don't judge me.

Whew, that's good to know. That will seriously take a load of stress off my mind! I'm through wil-trans and our program is basically identical to Prime. I've been solo for coming up on three months now and I've managed to avoid any big oopsies so far.

I suppose all that worry was probably a good thing in the long run though because I'm ULTRA paranoid about watching where my trailer is and using all the tools at my disposal to plan out every second of my route.

I've gotten so used to watching my trailer that now I dislike bobtailing because I feel naked and lost without it back there. Also, I rented a car when I went home last month and it felt like being in an alternate universe to just drive on whatever roads I wanted to use. I almost had a heart attack when I saw a sign for a 11' 10" bridge looming in front of me before I remembered cars can actually drive under that. :D

Rob D,

In the trucking world, we need to own up to our responsibilities and mistakes. His company already knows it is his fault, and honestly they expect new drivers to have accidents like this. It is how one gains the skills and knowledge needed to endure.

Wait, wait, back that thought up a second (but GOAL first, hehe). So a fender bender wouldn't necessarily be the end of a trucking career? Gracious, I've had that in my head all this time and it's been rather stressful, especially considering I live full-time in the truck so I was thinking I'd lose both my job and my "house" at the same time if I bumped into anything. Don't get me wrong, I would still drive just as carefully as I can but it would take a little worry off my mind.

Hey! I'm a recent wil-trans graduate. Their program is really quite good. The small class size is great and those 40k miles out on the road with a trainer were incredibly valuable. My trainer was fantastic and I heard several other students say the same about theirs.

Study hard! Since the classes are so small you WILL be noticed if you don't pass. Use the tools that they send you and study, study, study.

Other than that just listen to everyone around you. They really want to set you up to succeed and they are going to give you the tools to do that.

I was nervous about winter weather when I went into truck driving this year because I'm from the south with zero experience driving in snow. I've never had a dispatcher complain about me shutting down - instead they've actually thanked me for being safe.

Also, if any of you are newbs like me most good trainers will let you bug them after you're off their truck with questions about what is safe to drive in. I've talked to my old trainer every day for the last several days because I've been back and forth through Wyoming and the weather has been "interesting" for someone from the south. Who knew so many different types of driving/road conditions could exist?

Sometimes I think SLC is where trucks go to die. I've had three trucks break down in SLC and one was terminal.

Good luck and hopefully it's a speedy recovery.

Oh dear. I'm in SLC broken down! Mine *should* just be a sensor - it'd be ultra sad for a truck with less than 100k miles on it to be dead.

I knew y'all would come through with helpful storage places :)

And Susan I've been using post it notes so far, I find it hard to read marker on a window in some situations. Same concept though. I gave up real quick on trusting a GPS to do what I needed it to do and started scribbling my route down before rolling.