Turning my authority back on...

[Lonestar10]

Im leased on with small company 18 trucks 2 guys in the office 1 dispatches other is safety/billing/settlements/yada yada, been doing this since September 99% of the time loaded over the weekend leave on Sunday drive 1-5hrs to be close to drop off get home normally 3-6 friday afternoon. our worst rates are lumber at 1.65 PMile + 100 tarp pay. best rates are typically PVC pipe 2.80-3.20 PMile depending on the market they are sending you into have had some Styrofoam insulation out of Wisconsin 165 or 190 miles cant remember pays normally 800 bucks. PVC is normally 700 min rate for anything under 250 miles + FSCharge of around 32-34c per mile.


They Pay - Cargo Insurance and idk what else
I pay - IFTA/Truck Trailer Insurance/Fuel/Plates/$20 a month ELD fee/anything related to truck

Fuel - with RTS card best places to fuel are Sapp Brothers .20-.40 off cash otherwise hit up Coffee Cups and other small mom pop type places as its only 12c off cash at J/TA/Pet/Pilot. need to look into NATSC or Waterloos APEX card.


Typical 5 day week average pay before expenses is 4500-4700 take home - they take their 12% off the line rate i get 100% of FSC and Tarp pay. on average 1200-1400 in fuel a week

if i was running like Rawze and pulling a van im sure the van alone would help my fuel mileage but i also wouldnt push as hard as i tend to now as Rawze has said its not worth it to run to make someone else money faster and lower your end result but running this flatbed running a bit harder getting one more 800-1000 dollar load in a week for me adds up. avg about 65mph today and parked at receiver when i unload in the AM ill already be at $2500 for the week and 3 loads delivered.

granted i miss Van/Reefer the 7 or 8 am to 3-4pm load/unload window of flatbed can be a killer some days especially when you get delayed at other shippers/receivers


I honestly don't know what some people are doing wrong in Flatbed and other specializations. i became an O/O in Sept bought my truck used and trailer brand new right around 95,000 big ones on credit hit the road with 2,500 left in the bank after down payments and plates.

Now i have around 21,000 in the bank and ive been maintaining the hell out of the truck replacing parts that Act or are Bad.

since Sept so 9 months just on the truck not fuel/insurance/eld/cat scales/and all other assorted business stuff
740 in APU repairs
32,000 in Maintenance/injectors/rear ends/water lines/labor/charge air cooler/sensors/actuators/u joints/air dryer rebuild/thermostat/exh manifold gaskets/air bag/and idk what else.

I do all my own labor where i feel comfortable with my skill level and shop does the rest. some things probably didn't have to be replaced but im trying to get the truck into top fighting form 1 small area at a time. next is going to be the head that wasn't replaced when it was overhauled.....after that idk im starting to run out of parts to replace trying to find out what is killing my fuel mileage. part is my foot but it shouldn't be 4.5-4.8MPG my cascadia DD15 i drove at crete got 8MPG all day long and i held that thing pegged at 65 all day long and beat the crap out of it where my truck now i treat like it the love of my life which i do love my truck its not perfect but it looks good no one ever believes its 10yrs old and so far except for fuel mileage its treated me good and hasn't stranded me once.