Part time o/o

[Castironsoul]

Hello all,
I was wondering if obtaining my own cargo van and authority if it would be worth doing in my current situation. I have a cdl and work full time at my employer now which is a contract service for another company. I currently work 42 hours a week and am off from Saturday 6pm- Wednesday 12pm. The company I work at constantly sends expedited loads. I work directly with the shipping coordinator of the company. I can have any load I want coming out of there between Saturday 6pm - Wednesday at Noon. I know how much they get for taking each load and doing test runs on how much gas, food, and estimating insurance cost by how much the other drivers get I could make a really nice profit even if I drove the load delivered and deadheaded back home instead of finding a load home which would be nice but with my current work schedule it would be hit and miss if I could find one and make it back in time for my shift on Wednesday. Most of the runs are 500 miles and under with the occasional 1000 mile run (I couldn't take these big runs for my current work schedule). A lot of times they leave Sunday for delivery Monday which would give me plenty of time to get there and back for my normal work shift. Shipping coordinator doesn't believe there is a specific age limit to carriers but he will check. I can purchase an older van cash so little overhead but still don't know if it is worth the struggle out there and how much insurance would be for my van to sit and not make any money on my days working. Any input is appreciated thank you very much.

 

[xiggi]

The proper insurance could run anywhere from 3 to 8 grand a year depending on personal variables. One way loads like that would probably need to pay minimum a 1.40 a loaded mile to be even close to worth it.

 

[Castironsoul]

Thank you! The loads I usually see I can get close to that on all miles. One load was 456 miles there and 456 miles back home, It paid $950 which would be 2.08 loaded or .96 on all miles running there and deadheading back. It seems pretty decent but I've only been a company driver but the good thing is I wouldn't have to deal with a company or a broker I could be both lol. I can always get in contact with more and more brokers and shippers to cover cost back home or try to. Cost of insurance is the kicker if the van sits for 2 weeks or so because the loads don't fall just right or something but that's part of it. Thank you again for your input!

 

[akkshole]

I'm think it's POSSIBLE, with that rate, but only 500 miles may not be worth the insurance cost, and reliability of freight coming back...anything you may gain by running the freight would be washed away by operating costs, almost better off even at minimum wage working part time for those days, would have less risk of delays getting back for primary job and/or see more pay net.

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[Grizzly]

Interesting idea. Imo there's one question to be answered ... Is it worth the risk to your main gig? This isn't exactly a cookie cutter type of business. Stuff happens. Delays happen. Your older, cash van is gonna let you down one day. Business volume ebbs & flows. Often it's the unforseen stuff that determines whether you sink or swim in any new endeavor.

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[rollincoal]

I used to operate in sort of a part time manner. It works OK when freight is busy. When an (inevitable) industrywide downturn occured starting in early 2015 I found myself getting a tad lean running that somewhat part time schedule. A big lesson I learned from the difficult times of 2015 and 2016 is that sort of operation really didn't work out so great. Not for me anyway. Not long term it won't.

For you maybe so but I have a feeling if your plan consists on relying on someone to pass off their excess loads your way, that you won't have any long term success from it either. I diversified a little and started working a lot more. There was a time I would take the whole month of July and most of August off too. Those days are behind me.

Now July & August have become a really busy time for me to haul refrigerated freight leaving my dry van parked in the weeds for a while. Sometimes it's power only runs I do and even now starting to dabble in some flatbed freight. While the times of me taking off months at a time are in my past I still do and always will hold weekends sacred. Luckily where I live and operate allows me to do that in good times or bad. And sometimes I do a 3 or 4 day weekend when I'm feeling burnt out and road weary. It gives me a breather but doesn't really get me out of that rythme I like to maintain staying in tune with what I'm always watching.

I do like to keep that cash flowing. Because when it's not you're for sure going backwards. And that's even true if you run a debt free operation. Now I know operators in very specialized segments who do what one might consider a part time schedule and do it successfully. But they dont depend on third parties to source their freight or only sparingly if they do. Some of them even have other business interests so not entirely wrapped up in their one truck.

Diversifying has been beneficial with me dependent on third parties for 100% my freight needs. I now work probably 10 months out of the year the past couple of years versus only working 6 to 7 months out of a year a few years back. I don't mind the change at all though. You can give it a shot. I dunno. I'm just not thinking it work out so great for you.

Another thing. People will promise you the world in this business but many times they're not people of their word. On that note your word is your honor, always hold to it and you will definitely stand head and shoulders above the crowd out here. Anyways, everything all sounds great in theory but unless you have something rock solid in a contract you really have nothing. I could be wrong. I have been before. This is just my opinion.