is the any money doing this

[stujol]

ok I have been lurking on this forum for a few days. I was looking for something to take me from age 60 to 70.
Planning on teaming with my wife. we are self employed now and making decent money but it is long hours and I climb on a lot of roofs and towers. I want to find something less physical by the age 60. I have small pension that will kick in then. I was thinking vans so I can do side trips easily but it isn't looking like there is a lot of money there. Since we will both be doing it I would like to clear 80k a year. I know most forums you get more negative than positive because the guys with no complaints are busy making money or living their lives. Any ways I got a couple years yet but thought I would start looking for some thing that would pay the bills and give me some travel and really I wouldn't mind being able to take a couple weeks off once in a while. Right now I get weekends if I am lucky. driving record is clean, credit is good and equity is not a problem. So the question is about the money. Can we make 80k a year driving team in a van ?

 

[paulnstef39]

Welcome to EO. I'll let a van driver or team give you the bad news.

 

[akkshole]

How does one make $1 million in expedite...start with $2 million... (what I was told).

 

[Turtle]

Can we make 80k a year driving team in a van ?

Only if you use it as a food truck, with really good food, or use it to distribute illegal drugs.

An excellent year for a cargo van is averaging 1500 miles in a week. Team or solo doesn't matter. At 48 weeks in-service that's 72,000 miles in a year. At 90 cents a mile that's $64,800 gross. With the Rule of Thirds being what it is, with one-third going for operating expenses, one-third going to the truck for maintenance and stuff, and the other third going to the driver, you're a long way away from $80,000. If the van is paid for up front or paid off within a year, and you are a stickler for maintenance (don't forget you're putting 5 years worth of miles on the van every year, and thus the maintenance to do with it) and replace wear parts before they fail, you can turn the truck's 33% into perhaps 20-25%, and if you're really careful with your fuel you can turn that third into 20%, giving you the extra revenue at, say, 55%. So, 55 percent of $64,800 and there ya go, that's the most you can realistically hope for.

Some vans do more, most do worse, but that's the ballpark.

 

[stujol]

Only if you use it as a food truck, with really good food, or use it to distribute illegal drugs.

An excellent year for a cargo van is averaging 1500 miles in a week.

Some vans do more, most do worse, but that's the ballpark.

I was expecting more miles I guess. Thanks for breaking it down for me. 30k a year if it is a good year and you do everything right is not even decent money. I am guessing there is a high turn over in this business. Then you add in the cost on living on the road and health insurance you might as well be working at walmart. Do straight trucks do better or do they just make enough more to pay for a more expensive truck ? I am wondering why you guys do this.

 

[Turtle]

30k a year if it is a good year and you do everything right is not even decent money.

It's all relative. Depends on your needs and your definitions.

I am guessing there is a high turn over in this business.

In the cargo van sector it's astonishing. Fifty percent are gone within 6 months, eighty percent within a year. But all you need is a cargo van and keys and you're all set to make some easy money. Anybody and everybody can drive a cargo van, and they're cheap, don't need a CDL to do it, so everything thinks they can be a cargo van expediter. It's just driving, right? Easy peasy. As a result, there's like 37 vans for every load out there and they're all bidding against each other to see who will run it the cheapest.

Then you add in the cost on living on the road and health insurance you might as well be working at walmart.

Thanks for insulting every cargo van operator in North America.

Do straight trucks do better or do they just make enough more to pay for a more expensive truck ?

Straight trucks make considerably more money, especially straight truck teams.

I am wondering why you guys do this.

You can take off when you want, you don't have people looking over your shoulder all the time, you get to see America (OK, mostly at night, but still), and you don't have to climb roofs and towers.

 

[stujol]

It's all relative. Depends on your needs and your definitions.

Thanks for insulting every cargo van operator in North America.

.

I am sorry, I did not intend to insult any one. It is just with what you guys have to do, gone form home, living in your vans with no real job security it was a easy comparison. Obviously I have respect for any one that are self employed and risking their own money. What I really meant was there are a lot of safer and easier ways to make that amount of money.

 

[Turtle]

Thanks, but no need to apologize. Walmart, burger flipper, we've heard 'em all.

Hopefully some of the straight truck teamers will chime on in what you are likely to make in a straight truck. It's considerably closer to that $80,000 figure you're after. But it does require more commitment, preparation, and financial risk. Which is why so many go for the van.

With a van you need almost no money to enter the business, and even less experience. Those are rarely the qualifications required for an $80,000 a year job.

 

[Moot]

You can take off when you want, you don't have people looking over your shoulder all the time, you get to see America (OK, mostly at night, but still), and you don't have to climb roofs and towers.

And you don't have to wear a silly blue vest!

 

[Treadmill]

ok I have been lurking on this forum for a few days. I was looking for something to take me from age 60 to 70.
Planning on teaming with my wife. we are self employed now and making decent money but it is long hours and I climb on a lot of roofs and towers. I want to find something less physical by the age 60. I have small pension that will kick in then. I was thinking vans so I can do side trips easily but it isn't looking like there is a lot of money there. Since we will both be doing it I would like to clear 80k a year. I know most forums you get more negative than positive because the guys with no complaints are busy making money or living their lives. Any ways I got a couple years yet but thought I would start looking for some thing that would pay the bills and give me some travel and really I wouldn't mind being able to take a couple weeks off once in a while. Right now I get weekends if I am lucky. driving record is clean, credit is good and equity is not a problem. So the question is about the money. Can we make 80k a year driving team in a van ?

Nope. Probably more likely in a st or tt.

 

[Treadmill]

I was expecting more miles I guess. Thanks for breaking it down for me. 30k a year if it is a good year and you do everything right is not even decent money. I am guessing there is a high turn over in this business. Then you add in the cost on living on the road and health insurance you might as well be working at walmart. Do straight trucks do better or do they just make enough more to pay for a more expensive truck ? I am wondering why you guys do this.

I just did my taxes for last year and my net profit after expenses was 30k. Gross was in excess of 80k.

 

[stujol]

I just did my taxes for last year and my net profit after expenses was 30k. Gross was in excess of 80k.

What do you get to claim ? I mean besides the obvious stuff like fuel, repairs, and interest. Do you claim all your meals , cell phones, internet, hotels etc ?

 

[Ragman]

What do you get to claim ?

Anything and everything required to operate your business is deductible.

 

[Turtle]

The mileage deduction is the biggest one.

 

[Treadmill]

Anything and everything required to operate your business is deductible.

What he said.

 

[paulnstef39]

~56.5 cents of every mile traveled in your van for "business" is immediately shielded from income tax (deductible from gross)

 

[TeamCaffee]

Per Diem is a huge deduction for us.

Personally a straight truck works for us. We have comfort and quality of life that suits us and yet do not have to fight with a trailer.

 

[paulnstef39]

Per Diem is a huge deduction for us.

I always forget it is per diem x 2 for a team. That is huge.

 

[tknight]

Can you take a Per dium if your not getting a check weekly?

 

[M. Moy]

Have any body ever worked for Expediter Service ?