DoD Hauling?

Hi folks! I'm in the Army National Guard in Utah. I drive all sorts of stuff as part of my duties. One that I volunteer for is to haul around tracked artillery (M109A6) and some of the tracked support vehicles for the State.

On a recent mission moving this stuff around, we were also shipping a bunch of vehicles via commercial shippers to another state for a joint exercise. The equipment we were moving was only moving about 100 miles to an active duty training location for unit exercises. There were a couple of hotshots that brought stuff out on the same route, but completely unrelated to us. One of the sergeants said those guys were pulling in $3-4k *gross* for that same run.

Our battalion logistics NCO said shipping an M109A6 (filled with sensitive/classified equipment) from Utah to Florida by commercial truck costs $60k. Are some parts of DoD work really that lucrative? I had a boss once upon a time that hauled military equipment as an O/O, but given that he stopped doing it I guessed it wasn't *super super super* amazing. Am I wrong?

Given that I have a security clearance, should I be looking to get into this on the commercial side? Thanks for your respectful thoughts and comments!

What's your full-time job and what's your experience driving OTR?

If you're thinking about buying a truck and falling into some highly lucrative Big Government contract you can forget that. You will never be able to compete against the companies that already have these contracts.

Our battalion logistics NCO said shipping an M109A6 (filled with sensitive/classified equipment) from Utah to Florida by commercial truck costs $60k. Are some parts of DoD work really that lucrative?

I have no way of knowing if your NCO gave you an accurate number, but I do know you can never determine something is lucrative when you only know the revenue side of the equation. You can only determine if a business is lucrative by understanding both the revenues and expenses.

No doubt, I meant more lining up with someone already doing it. I talked with one of the hotshot dudes thats running his own authority, but I had the sensibility to not ask "Hey how much money do you make?"

Maybe I'll find out when we're shipping again and go talk to a few drivers.

Not much experience honestly, no OTR. I'm not driving these days, but seriously considering getting back into it. I don't have grand illusions about falling into a contract, but rather setting it as a goal. My gut tells me if the money were that good, it wouldn't be a secret.

What's your full-time job and what's your experience driving OTR?

If you're thinking about buying a truck and falling into some highly lucrative Big Government contract you can forget that. You will never be able to compete against the companies that already have these contracts.

This is absolutely true. I'm confident the number was correct, because he's the one that signs off on the paperwork. The route is restricted, the approved stopping places are highly restricted, and I would imagine they need at least one pilot car.

I preach to many people that just because a business "makes" a lot of money, doesn't mean they are "making money". Gross vs net is crucial to understand.

Our battalion logistics NCO said shipping an M109A6 (filled with sensitive/classified equipment) from Utah to Florida by commercial truck costs $60k. Are some parts of DoD work really that lucrative?

I have no way of knowing if your NCO gave you an accurate number, but I do know you can never determine something is lucrative when you only know the revenue side of the equation. You can only determine if a business is lucrative by understanding both the revenues and expenses.