Opportunity or hosing?

pthompy · Apr 10, 2011

I am being offered a chance to drive someone's van on a 60/40 basis. 60% being mine. I pay 100% fuel. I get 100% of a 24% fuel surcharge. Paid miles between .80 and 1.00 per. Split the tolls, he pays all vehicle maintaince. Class 2 vehicle out of Cleveland,Oh

I'm kind of desperate for a good job, since my plant closed 5 years ago, I've gotten a series of low paying temp. jobs.

Thanks for all input. Sincerely appreciated.

BillChaffey · Apr 10, 2011

I think if you go back and research, the only question may be the Tolls. Understand what this type of life stye is. Make sure you have a contract you both understand and agree to.
Good luck to you.

x06col · Apr 10, 2011

Your opportunity reads to me as industry Standard for a driver. But, some folks feel they are being "hosed", even with a sweet deal. IF, you can't get past the employee mentality, you will always feel "hosed" in this business.

LDB · Apr 10, 2011

Your base is .48-.60 per mile. What sort of van? What kind of fuel mileage do you expect? Is the 24% based on the .80-1.00 or on the total billed to the customer which should be a good bit higher than .80-1.00? Worst case scenario would be 24% of .80 or 19.2 cents meaning 67.2 cents per mile minus fuel and tolls. With fuel at $4 and 12mpg that's 33cpm for fuel leaving you 34cpm loaded.

That means for every mile you drive loaded you make just enough to pay the fuel for one mile of deadhead, presuming the carrier pays nothing on deadhead for at least some of those miles. Now best case jobs are $1.24 a mile leaving 91cpm loaded. That means one mile loaded pays for 3 deadhead.

Any idea what percentage of loads pay which pay? How much deadhead does that carrier average? The offer doesn't hose you and is pretty standard sounding but you need to look at the numbers closely because some of them aren't so great. Good luck.

cheri1122 · Apr 10, 2011

pthompy said:
I am being offered a chance to drive someone's van on a 60/40 basis. 60% being mine. I pay 100% fuel. I get 100% of a 24% fuel surcharge. Paid miles between .80 and 1.00 per. Split the tolls, he pays all vehicle maintaince. Class 2 vehicle out of Cleveland,Oh

I'm kind of desperate for a good job, since my plant closed 5 years ago, I've gotten a series of low paying temp. jobs.

Thanks for all input. Sincerely appreciated.

I'm wondering whether you understand that you're being offered a chance to live in the vehicle, [as opposed to a home with conveniences you're used to, like indoor plumbing] for months at a time.
LDB and XO make good points, but if you can't handle living in a van, staying out for weeks and months, sitting for sometimes days waiting for a load, all the money in the world won't matter.
This isn't like a 'job' - it's 24/7 over the road - just hope you understood that part.
If so, did the owner offer to let you speak to previous drivers, or any other way to verify what he's saying?

Letzboogie · Apr 10, 2011

cheri1122 said:
I'm wondering whether you understand that you're being offered a chance to live in the vehicle, [as opposed to a home with conveniences you're used to, like indoor plumbing] for months at a time.
LDB and XO make good points, but if you can't handle living in a van, staying out for weeks and months, sitting for sometimes days waiting for a load, all the money in the world won't matter.
This isn't like a 'job' - it's 24/7 over the road - just hope you understood that part.
If so, did the owner offer to let you speak to previous drivers, or any other way to verify what he's saying?

Ugh. I'd rather be a carnie.

DannyD · Apr 10, 2011

As a general rule there isn't enough $$$ for cargo vans to be able to support 2 seperate entities. It can be ok for a father/son type situation, but not usually where 2 different incomes need to be provided.

As mentioned, the tolls are a drawback too. Odds are this is another low paying job, but as Cheri said you'll be out on the road living out of a van. I can imagine there's a lot of stress in not having a decent job. Chances are this won't help it any. I'd pass on this one. Whatever ya decide to do, good luck to ya.