Power only in South Dakota - Minimum Revenue Guaranteed

Sir not trying to be negative, but at that rate, you will drive a guy into bankruptcy over night.

there would be so much money to be made i will buy 20 brand new trucks to put on sign me up R u -----ng kidding me i would have been embarrassed to post this any one who does this remember if you want to work for free call me i have plenty of openings

I guess If u read the head line it says minimum revenue. That's pretty much it minimum.

$2.15 ha ha I make that pulling one trailer! This what happens when a farmer gets into trucking. Good luck

Jason - Over the years I've watched people post on this forum and after a while you start to feel like you can understand who they are. While I don't always agree with some of the things you post, I do think you have a good understanding of the financial side of your business, and I respect that a lot. Everyone looks at things differently when it comes to the business side of trucking. With my trucks, we have certain targets for revenue/mile, revenue/hour, and revenue/day. Of course, we also have monthly, quarterly and annual goals, but I have learned that if we can hit our targets for all three of those categories, we do well.

Anyway, after reading all the comments about how bad the numbers we offered were, I decided to sit down and reevaluate. I think I have put together pretty accurate numbers and I don't believe I missed much. Here is how I arrived at the numbers.

The truck payment was assuming a new glider at a cost of $160,000 financed with no downpayment at 5.5% interest over 5 years. The figures below just show the payment and do not reflect any equity that will be built over the life of the loan. If we were to assume that this truck has a value of $60,000 and was paid for at the end of 5 years, it would have built up an additional $1,000/month of equity over the numbers below.

Fixed Expenses: Regarding insurance, I currently average about $8,000-9,000 per unit which covers a truck, two trailers, and a converter dolly. The cost to license a 40 ton truck in South Dakota is about $1460. I am offering to pay for the tonnage increase so I think $2,000/year should more than cover any other fees that may pop up. HVUT is about $550, over 80k on the interstate is about $65, IFTA costs per year are very minimal when running mostly in state miles. With just one truck, professional fees should be minimal. A cell phone is something everyone has anyway, but I put it on here regardless.

Variable Expenses: It should not be a problem to get 3.75 mpg even pulling doubles. A more likely number is 4.0-4.25. With this truck being new it will have some warranty. If you are someone who doesn't like or want new, just subtract from the truck payment and add to maintenance. You are going to pay the mechanic or the banker one way or another. A smart man once told me you can stop paying the mechanic if you aren't busy but the banker still wants paid. I added in some expense for washing the truck and some more miscellaneous expenses.

If anyone is still actually reading this, I am impressed! I feel a little like Alfred! Just kidding Alfred, I actually really enjoy reading your posts :) But seriously now, for anyone who is still reading, I would like to hear your thoughts. I like to think I understand my business pretty well and know my numbers really well, but I'm sure I could be missing something. Otherwise, in an industry where operating ratios below 90% are considered excellent and 20% profit margins are extremely tough to hit, can someone tell me why this is so bad? With actual numbers rather than just

Gross Truck Income		Per Week	8 week total
$2.15/mile on 2325 miles/week		$ 4,999	$ 39,990
Fixed Expenses	Annual	Per Week	8 week total
Truck Payment	$ 36,674	$ 705	$ 5,642
Commercial Auto Insurance (includes GL, Comp & Collision, Cargo)	$ 10,000	$ 192	$ 1,538
License Plates	$ 2,000	$ 38	$ 308
Permits/IFTA/HVUT	$ 1,000	$ 19	$ 154
Professional Services (accounting, legal, etc)	$ 500	$ 10	$ 77
Cell Phone	$ 1,000	$ 19	$ 154
Miscellaneous	$ 500	$ 10	$ 77
Total Fixed Expenses	$ 51,674	$ 994	$ 7,950
Variable Expenses	Per Mile	Per Week	8 Week Total
Diesel Fuel $2.40/gallon @ 3.75 mpg	$ 0.640	$ 1,488	$ 11,904
Tires	$ 0.065	$ 151	$ 1,209
Preventative Maintenance	$ 0.100	$ 233	$ 1,860
Repairs - Non-PM & non-warranty items	$ 0.050	$ 116	$ 930
Truck Wash & Washout	$ 0.030	$ 70	$ 558
Misc Expenses and Losses	$ 0.050	$ 116	$ 930
Total Variable Expenses	$ 0.935	$ 2,174	$ 17,391
Total Expenses		$ 3,168	$ 25,341
		Per Week	8 Week Total
Net Income		$ 1,831	$ 14,649
Operating Ratio	63.4%
Net Profit Margin	36.6%

He also forgot to add that this is the bulk industry those rates are for dry freight industry those rates are also for double payload on his trailer. 165000 pounds at 2.15 per mile is an absolute joke anybody that hauls that will go broke overnight gain some knowledge in the dry bulk industry and then you'll have guys standing at your door looking for work the rate you're offering is pretty bad

He also forgot the 20? for workers comp.

96.50 isn't too good of an hourly rate either. Glad too see so many idiots r in the trucking industry. That's wats wrong wrong with it. 125-150 is more like it

I'll give u numbers I pull a reefer barely ever grossed out. I haul for 3.00 a mile. I run 2000 miles a week. I'm done my round in 3 days and do 6000 a week. My grandfather was making 2 dollars a mile in the 80s so family's been truckin for long time

i always charge more pull someone else's junk. Never have had a good experance pulling others trailers.

If that haul is so profitable, why is he looking for trucks? Why hire outside equipment? Buy your own and keep all the money.