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Rawze · 01-20-2021, **(Subject: X15 questions )**

(01-20-2021 )Camstyn Wrote: ...
You might be asking why I bought a truck like this to do this job. Resale value. The truck it replaced was an aero 579 with Paccar MX13 @ 500/1850 and it was no better on fuel than this truck, and I could barely give it away when I was trying to sell it.

(just putting this here for perspective) ...

Resale value means absolutely nothing if you spend $8,000-$15,000 every year in extra fuel. Someone has gained nothing whatsoever in resale value compered to the tens of thousands in lost revenue. this is especially if someone is running competitive market freight (dry/reefer/flatbed) and can use an aero spec'd for all fuel mileage instead.

I can literally take your loads at those weights and easily run them in the high 8's and low to mid 9's in mpg with my prostar (set at 475HP,1730trq/3.55 rears) at those speeds you mentioned and take home nearly 1.5x the pay every week, have half the maint costs, and even do it after undercutting your bid and stealing your customers away from you (just making a point, not trying to be sarcastic). - Your earlier question is why it would be so different ... so Yeah, that front end is literally that bad on those trucks compared to a full-out aero prostar or cascadia.

I Don't know about any one else out there, but I am a strong proponent against giving my profits to big-oil ... they are already rich .. I am not.

Instead, I make strong efforts to keep as much of that fuel money as absolutely possible. That is the smartest thing an O/O can do and makes the most business sense above all else because fuel is literally the number one expense in ALL trucking operations .. even in my operation where mpg is maximized.

(just generalizing here)...

Trucking is all about operating expenses, not profit margins. Anyone that would tell you otherwise is a fool. ... Sure, you might get a nice rate for a load here and there.. or a nice gig for a while that pays well ... but overall in our industry, trucking literally has absolutely the lowest average profit margin of any other industry that exists out there. This is because it is so competitive and awash with mega-fleets and over-burdened with O/O's who are desperate due to piss-poor management skills that will under-cut anyone just for scraping out a few dollars.

I would think that any level-headed business minded individual would start their business and equipment planning by focusing the hardest on the biggest expenses .. but it seems like how someone feels and what they want to look like going down the roads, how much HP and chrome, etc... .. or what only a salesman would tell you ... this brainwashing quote of "how much resale it has" -- like the typical used car salesman would say .. gets into their head and clouds their judgment straight in the opposite direction towards doing anything positive towards their biggest operating expenses.

This stuff gets into their heads and mucks any wise choices all up.. then they wonder why they struggle to save money, struggle to make payments, or struggle to pay for unexpected repairs, etc. - This especially considering most of us are competing with mega-fleets and low-rent rates. I literally could care less what the manufactured body-style of truck looks like, I want the competitive profit margin, not the looks or resale value. Anything less and it would simply drive me crazy knowing that I was giving my money away to some already rich oil company simply because of the vehicles exterior design. I would feel that I cheated myself every time I got behind the wheel.

(again, just generalizing to show how bad it the wrong equipment for a job can be)...

At 6mpg ~ 120k miles @ roughly $2.50.gallon = $50,000 in one year alone is fuel costs.

My prostar running the same exact loads, same routes, etc...
at 8.7mpg (what I would realistically get on the loads you mentioned) ~ 120k miles @ same $2.50.gallon = $34,480 in same year.

(and if there is any doubters on what I actually get for fuel mileage... here is the first million miles of fuel receipts ... ref: http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...8#pid24378 ) My fuel mileage is higher now than it was the first mil, and still inching upwards into the 8.6~8.7 range at this point now that it has 1.4 mil on the odo.

THAT IS AS MUCH AS $15,000 IN FUEL SAVING ALONE!!@!! IN ONLY ONE YEAR --- THAT IS $45,000 DOLLARS IN 3 YEARS ... AND THAT IS $150,000 DOLLARS SAVINGS IN FUEL ALONE IN 10 YEARS / 1.2 MILLION MILES - A FULL LIFETIME FOR THE TRUCK... I CAN BUY A SECOND WHOLE BRAND NEW REPLACEMENT TRUCK IN THAT SAME TIME JUST ON WHAT A NON-AERO TRUCK LOOSES IN FUEL ALONE!.

The IRONY is that what I do can absolutely be repeated... i am not a unicorn, there are plenty of other O/O's on this forum who have done, and can do the same.

I started my career with fuel at $4.00 gallon and the industry was still trying to adopt surcharge into their rates. Imagine how fast someone with a square-nose would go out of business trying to run dry-van with $4.00/gal and no sur-charge.

And then there is me ... I literally smile all the way to the bank every time fuel prices spike up because the surcharge rates that are now in place for trucking operations is based in the 6 mpg range. I GET 9 freggin' MPG, NOT 6! --> I literally make a higher profit when fuel prices go way up. That is a very good place to be in our volatile industry. I have set myself up so that I Don't have to worry about fuel prices, not one damnned iota. I have managed to turn a truckers number one operating expense into a profit margin of its own simply because of industry standard FSC (fuel sur-charge) rates. Because of this, I also now have direct control of fuel based expense/profits. They are in my own hands and not some rich oil companies who wants to jack the prices up. - That is the place to be in our lower than normal economy of trucking. I MANAGE FUEL EFFICIENCY NOW .. and not concern myself about fuel prices. Since fuel efficiency is in my own hands, I can manage it myself (keeping it well above the industry standard) instead of having to concern my operations on what the fuel prices are at any given moment.