Anyone else making this scenario work?
Hello all,
I am new to this forum / website, and appreciate the level of helpfullness and professionalism I've read in some of the disscussions posted here. I would like to hear from any of you guys who might be doing something like what I think I'm fixing to jump into. First, a little background. I have just one truck and my own authority, have been in the business about 20 years now pulling a flatbed most of that time. I have found my own freight for a long time so dealing with shippers, brokers, and customers is nothing new. My problem centers around the ongoing struggle to make hometime match the slim amount of good flatbed freight where I live in north central Kansas. For a years I would get out and run 10 days or 2 weeks at a time, but I just don't have it in me to be away from my wife and kids that long anymore. Lately I have concentrated on hitting just the surrounding states, and hometime is great. Problem is, sometimes I'm home instead of working because there isn't enough of that kind of work to do! I haul a good bit of $3+/mile freight because many of the trips are to bad places and lots of deadhead. Over all miles last year I stayed above $2, but not much above and not on enough miles to look good against all the fixed expenses of being in this business. My interest for a while now has been in adding a used high side to haul ingredients/commodities/byproducts as it seems there is plenty of that kind of freight passing back and forth through here. I 'm not too interested in grain as it seems there are plenty of multi-axle setups around already and I think the rates are probably lower than what I'll be happy with. I know some grain will figure into it, but I didn't want it to be my mainstay. It seems like most agree that it's best to set up for a 26 ton net on a 43x96x78 closed tandem. Anyone want to comment on 102s with 84 high sides? Is that too much trailer for my area? I doubt I'll get down in the delta for rice hulls but what about soybean hulls or any other low density products in this part of the world? Is it realistic to think that I could sleep a couple of nights a week and the weekends in my own bed and still do at least 4 grand a week? Kansas has the highest number of in and outbound loads of any state on this board, so I'm thinking it shouldn't be that hard. But I do see that many of those loads are grain and very short miles where it is probably hard to get a daily minimum for a rate .
What do you all think? Fire away, but please keep it constructive. I have explained the flatbed business to many an inquiring driver over the years and tried to be as helpful as I could.
I am new to this forum / website, and appreciate the level of helpfullness and professionalism I've read in some of the disscussions posted here. I would like to hear from any of you guys who might be doing something like what I think I'm fixing to jump into. First, a little background. I have just one truck and my own authority, have been in the business about 20 years now pulling a flatbed most of that time. I have found my own freight for a long time so dealing with shippers, brokers, and customers is nothing new. My problem centers around the ongoing struggle to make hometime match the slim amount of good flatbed freight where I live in north central Kansas. For a years I would get out and run 10 days or 2 weeks at a time, but I just don't have it in me to be away from my wife and kids that long anymore. Lately I have concentrated on hitting just the surrounding states, and hometime is great. Problem is, sometimes I'm home instead of working because there isn't enough of that kind of work to do! I haul a good bit of $3+/mile freight because many of the trips are to bad places and lots of deadhead. Over all miles last year I stayed above $2, but not much above and not on enough miles to look good against all the fixed expenses of being in this business. My interest for a while now has been in adding a used high side to haul ingredients/commodities/byproducts as it seems there is plenty of that kind of freight passing back and forth through here. I 'm not too interested in grain as it seems there are plenty of multi-axle setups around already and I think the rates are probably lower than what I'll be happy with. I know some grain will figure into it, but I didn't want it to be my mainstay. It seems like most agree that it's best to set up for a 26 ton net on a 43x96x78 closed tandem. Anyone want to comment on 102s with 84 high sides? Is that too much trailer for my area? I doubt I'll get down in the delta for rice hulls but what about soybean hulls or any other low density products in this part of the world? Is it realistic to think that I could sleep a couple of nights a week and the weekends in my own bed and still do at least 4 grand a week? Kansas has the highest number of in and outbound loads of any state on this board, so I'm thinking it shouldn't be that hard. But I do see that many of those loads are grain and very short miles where it is probably hard to get a daily minimum for a rate .
What do you all think? Fire away, but please keep it constructive. I have explained the flatbed business to many an inquiring driver over the years and tried to be as helpful as I could.