Advise on startup

[macmov]

I've been around for awhile but never paid much attention to this board until now. Looks like a great resource. Let me give you some limited history. I am 51 years old and I have been specialized moving off a shoe string for almost 15 years now. Running around in a duelly and 40' trailer moving mostly antiques. I will hang my head and say I've been doing this not exactly the "way within the guidelines" if you know what I mean. I need to get right and I have been through 4 Dodge duelly trucks now, putting on 100-125,000 a year. These trucks just do not stand up as I spent $20,000 in repairs last year and adverage $15,000 a year including tires and maintenance. Economy is nothing short of "it sucks" and business has dropped off 10 fold. I am very uncomfortable doing things as a gypsy and need to change everything. I spend $1500 a month on hotels when I am out and have logged almost 300 days out last year. Duelly is still in payment mode and probably upside down.
My thinking is this, If I can get into a expedited type truck, I have the sleeper, I will save almost $1500 a month when I am on the road right there. There will be times a hotel in needed just to get out of the truck, but that should be minimal. If I can get close to what I owe on the duelly, that will go away. My thinking is I will be able to pickup extra LTL loads as I need to fill my truck to max out loads. (I'm thinking 1-2 pallets here and there) May-be an expedited load as the opportunity arises. On the books I really have no experience over the road. Practical speaking I have been out there over 15 years. SO the industry is new to me. What I am trying to do is expeand what I can haul and become 100% legal.
I am figuring this is going to cost me about $2700 a month with truck payment and whatever legalities are involved. I am very intersted in guidence and thoughts.

 

[nightcreacher]

ok,the short of it is,if you woud move into a van or sprinter,the field is full,which ever carrier,you will have lack of work.you move into a straight truck,running solo,The HOS is going to kill you.Since we cant stop the clock on off duty time or spit sleeper birth,a solo driver unless hes in the right place at the right time,will have trouble.Now as far as Ltl moves,when your on an expedite run,there is no time to fill out your truck,and the customer is paying for exclusive use,so with that said,you best bet is get your own authoriity,and just run on LTL freight,as this will pay very well,and if you can partner with some of the expedite companies,you can mix the expedite with the LTL.Have you looked into getting your authority,and hauling cars,or campers.this can be very lucritive

 

[macmov]

Thanks for the reply. SInce I am new I want to be sure I know what your talking about. I assume HOS is Hours of Service? I am a bit leery of hours of service because I never really have had to pay attention to that, I am not stupid and stop when I have to. I do watch myself on the road, one of my all time fears is falling asleep at the wheel. Most days 12 hours is my max. That's driving,lunch,deliveries and everything in between. If I have no deliveries and it is just a driving day, I will drive 700-850, I have even done 1000 miles but those days are pretty much over. It just takes to much out of me.
I actually do own a 50' hauler and there is a small cargo trailer manufacturer in town, I have thought about working with them, but the last time I checked they only paid $2 a mile. I imagine it is up some now but a guy could go broke real fast with that kind of pay today.
I am kind of staying with what I know, and I happen to know a little more then the general idiot about moving high end antiques. My clients trust me, I am nowhere near the cheapest but I service well and will go out of my way to accomidate my customers. I am not married into antiques though, it just pays well when the work is there.

I would be getting into a 24' straight truck with a sleeper. I am from Arizona so there aren't as many expedited loads out here as there are east. Like I said previously, economy is down, work is not what it use to be and fuel costs are up. Right now my antique market is very specialized and I need to open my door for more work. This is one of the reasons why I want to go with a straight truck.
I guess my main questions are:
1) Are there enough LTL loads out there going various places that a guy like me can pickup some extra, or is the market saturated with low cost freight
2) My overhead is going to be about double what it is now, am I dreaming?
3) What is a realistic startup cost here?
4) If my antique bus.. is flat can I stay busy?
5)I have already tried the Uship deals and most of those guys are just out of there mind with what they accept for loads. No money there, that's for sure. I trust most REAL loads boards are better then Uship?

 

[Jefferson3000]

You would need to be obeying hours of service now, because of your GCW of dually and trailer. Despite what a lot of people think, the biggest obstacle to decent freight rates is not brokers, but illegals running under the radar. You've never had to keep proper insurance and/or permits, so you probably have no concept at all of your cost per mile or your company's liability when you haul. These just produce random, bottom basement rates.

That being said, you could still pull a gooseneck with a hotshot truck if you like. There are plenty now with sleepers built in. You might find some help over here: HotShot Hauling

 

[pjjjjj]

Just wanted to say how nice of you guys it was for you to post some helpful information for this gentleman. Rather than jumping on him for his past ways, which is unfortunatley what i was expecting to hear, you jumped in and gave him real information to help him out.
You EO guys are great!

 

[macmov]

I must say, I do appriciate the kindness, believe me I am not proud of my situation and I am fully aware of the circumstances. This is why I need out now and am making every effort to right my wrongs. I need to feed a family like everyone else, I started a trial thing many years ago and never changed until now.
I do not take cheap freight and I am not really in competition with anyone. I have been very specialized until now and the only way i can make a living is by being a bit more versitle. I don't really want to stay in the pickup, even with a sleeper. My cargo trailer has about 750,000 miles on it at this point and it really should be replaced. That's another $20,000 plus a truck for about $50,000 by the time I set it up. I deal with some very rich people and appearance means allot. I have to replace my truck about every 18 months and I still have enormous repair bills. Besides, I still think I can get more freight to subsidize my loads with a straight truck rather then trying to pickup a car here and there with a cargo trailer.

 

[arkjarhead]

One thing you will need to get on that straight truck is a lift gate. Because you need to be dock high for most of the ltl loads, and I'm sure loading antiques on to a dock high truck would be a pain.

 

[macmov]

I have already planned on the liftgate. Most of my deliveries are residential. How much should I plan my authority and insurance cost?

 

[nightcreacher]

I have already planned on the liftgate. Most of my deliveries are residential. How much should I plan my authority and insurance cost?

That i cant help you with,but if you call ooida,they can give you the scoop on everything.If you want to join,use my ooida number at the bottom of my signature,should save you 25 bucks

 

[Tennesseahawk]

I have already planned on the liftgate. Most of my deliveries are residential. How much should I plan my authority and insurance cost?

Careful now, Mac. You're talking about a 7 course meal when you're not even weened yet.

 

[cheri1122]

One possible 'roadblock' occurs to me: can you deliver to those residential areas in a D unit? Because there are an awful lot of streets you cannot go down, in a residential area.

 

[davekc]

With reading your post, it begs the question of where do you live?
I ask that because you have a set up that is very well suited to the hot shot industry that services the oil industry. Those areas of service are primarily in the south from NM to FL.
Might be an option considering your circumstances.

 

[macmov]

I have thought about HotShot oil industry. I don't know anything about it. Basiclly I am the kind of guy that is just trying to hold on to what I got (antique shipping), which I am starting to think may not be the best idea. I live in North Western Arizona (Kingman). I know it's not the best place to be, but I'm at a point, I need consistent work. My antique business is not going real well with the economy and I travel way to many miles for the money I make. If someone can give me some pointers, I would be thrilled!

 

[kwexpress]

I would think if I was from AZ I would stick to the flatbed ltl authority is a one time fee of $300
insurance get at least 100k cargo plus you will need 1 million liability.
it can be got for less than 8-10k per year
you will need a boc-3 filing I paid $35 for the lifetime.

 

[macmov]

I really wanted to change my deal and get into a different line, but I am being swayed by you guys to stick to the flatbed side of the industry. I presently operate a cargo trailer, I do have a car hauler, but I think I will sell the car hauler and buy a flat bed. Again, I really appriciate the input here, I am so mixed at where I need to go and you guys help me make that decision. Gotta love this site.

 

[kwexpress]

all you need to change is the way you operate not the type of equipment you are using.

I did the hotshot gig for about 2 months and almost starved.then I got rid of my 40' flat and got a 32' dovetail.
much lighter trailer and I stuck to ltl under 8,000
I found most ac units will pay full truckload even though they only take up 8' or so of the deck and are lightweight
so then I would put other ltl on with the ac unit and make bank.
you dont have the time with expedited freight.with ltl you got the whole week to do drops and picks along your route.
with the flat bed there is alot less backing into docks.
I mean when you get to the hotel you can drop your trailer and go out on the town,eat anyplace go to the movies.not be stuck smelling diesel fuel and **** paying over $10 for blah food and watching lot lizzards.there is so much more joy in your type of operation.
a sleeper is not that great of thing to be in. no matter how big it is you would still have to smell a co-drivers farts.

I know dot likes to mess the hotshotters but thats because so many are doing it under the table.
just do it right have a medical card keep a log once I got my class a cdl it was much easier with the dot.once they seen my paperwork was in order and I actually had a bol
most just said have a nice day.

 

[macmov]

Thanks for the advise, but I have a few questions. What savings did you get from a 40' trailer to a 32' trailer? My thoughts are, when I can't find flatbed loads locally I can at least haul cargo trailer from the local plant. I was actually thinking of getting the largest flatbed I could find, like a 50' or so. Isn't bigger better?

 

[Tuckster]

I would like to get additional info on the oil industry business that runs down south. Can anyone point me in a good place to look ?????

 

[kwexpress]

Thanks for the advise, but I have a few questions. What savings did you get from a 40' trailer to a 32' trailer? My thoughts are, when I can't find flatbed loads locally I can at least haul cargo trailer from the local plant. I was actually thinking of getting the largest flatbed I could find, like a 50' or so. Isn't bigger better?

the 40' was a much heavier trailer it was a home made job.and pulled much harder
More deck space translates into more available freight.

but you got to draw the line somplace the 32' was so much easier around corners in small towns.with the 40' I would have to creep around and worry about taking out stop signs.

I couldnt imagine pulling a 50' its not like you even got a sliding axel and maybe that was my problem with the homemade 40' maybe the axel was just not in the right spot.
the only problem I ever had with the dovetail it seemed like I was always working on the trailer lights.

 

[macmov]

Ok, that makes sense. I pull a 40' cargo trailer since '99 got about 600.000 miles on it now. It took me awhile to master the trailer, I blew several passenger side front tires out hitting curbs with a full load.( I'm a triple axle job.) I got use to it after awhile. Seems I get the same mileage with a small trailer or large.