Question for fleet owners

[Mike99]

I have a question for fleet owners.Do you have a rule regarding the empty miles?I know that in expediting you have to be in the right place in the right time and for this you have to move your truck ,and sometime you dead head home (understandeble also),but how do you control or how do you aprove the deadheading (home or moving in a different board).Do you have a rule for this? For example our average (5 units) percet is 53% meaning we have do 10 000 driven miles and 5 300 loaded miles. Is this reasonable?
Thank you for your aswers and have a productive next year!

 

[jjohnson48]

i dont know the company you are with our there standerd practices if your company is telling you to dead head that much to pick up loads or that is relocations to get where loads may be better I used to work for a guy that no matter where we dropped it was never a good place and he would tell us move here move there. now that i have my own trucks i tell them go to your #1 offer for layover (we are given opptions) give that 48 hrs then we will talk about moving. it works well for us. If you are dh as part of the run if the run pays enough to cover the dh that works if not i use 15% if its your drivers always wanting to move. work out the details above for a 48hr set one thing ive work out after 20+ years of trucking nothing works all the time.

 

[nightcreacher]

THis is my rule of thumb and it works for me.sometimes the overall money per mile might seem low,but your never taking you the money that you would send home to do the load.

I take the dead head miles add to loaded miles and then add where I wat to layover,not where they are going to ask me to layover.add all these miles together.then divide by (in my case a tractor)5 mpg( i do get much better,but you never know when this could happen).multiply the gallons by 3 dollars a gallon,and divide by the 45% I would get for an advance.It works like this:I 'm doing a load staurday,220 miles to pick up,199 loaded miles,and 421 miles home.thats 840 miles.I divide this by 5 mpg which means im needing 168 gallons of fuel.This would be 504 dollars.divide this by the 45% for advance,load would need to pay $1120,it pays 1100,and because co -driver not needed,going be home after delivery,and basically im bored,i said I'd do the load.The load will actually cost me $266,so I'll have after advance a couple of hundred dollars,and over 600 bucks going home.This is how I figure all my loads.The plus side would be if getting loaded after delivery,I then figure the same equation.

 

[mjolnir131]

yea i build in heavy over cost swag in my milage calculations as well 8 mpg for a ST and ussually 25 -30 higher than what i just paid to fill upbecouse that area could be low compaired to there you might end up

 

[charlee]

Generally 20% of the loaded miles or less is a no brainer. 20-30% depends on what they are going to do for DH. Over 30% will cost the carrier too much to make it worth their while in most cases.



-charlotte

 

[Tempest]

My drivers buy their fuel so I have no "rules" But I do recomend that they observe the 20% as suggested above. This has been working quite well for them. I tell them before they climb in my truck that a computer generates the empty moves and suggested moves and these should only be considered if they were going to go there in the first place

 

[iceroadtrucker]

THis is my rule of thumb and it works for me.sometimes the overall money per mile might seem low,but your never taking you the money that you would send home to do the load.

I take the dead head miles add to loaded miles and then add where I wat to layover,not where they are going to ask me to layover.add all these miles together.then divide by (in my case a tractor)5 mpg( i do get much better,but you never know when this could happen).multiply the gallons by 3 dollars a gallon,and divide by the 45% I would get for an advance.It works like this:I 'm doing a load staurday,220 miles to pick up,199 loaded miles,and 421 miles home.thats 840 miles.I divide this by 5 mpg which means im needing 168 gallons of fuel.This would be 504 dollars.divide this by the 45% for advance,load would need to pay $1120,it pays 1100,and because co -driver not needed,going be home after delivery,and basically im bored,i said I'd do the load.The load will actually cost me $266,so I'll have after advance a couple of hundred dollars,and over 600 bucks going home.This is how I figure all my loads.The plus side would be if getting loaded after delivery,I then figure the same equation.

Somebody copied somebody as the above your using steve is what wayne Jirsa showed me how to figure. So when I started driving for Williey that is what mostly Ive been doing.
but to try and explain that to a cubical Jockey and getting them to see you need moniey in order to take the load. Especialy if their are tolls in volved Geesh its like pulling the teeth on a full grown Boar HOG so to speek.

 

[nightcreacher]

kevin, if it were coppied it was me doing the copying,ive figured my loads for 30 years that way,even before expedite.

 

[iceroadtrucker]

kevin, if it were coppied it was me doing the copying,ive figured my loads for 30 years that way,even before expedite.

Well you know it works as it does for me.
So I copy it.
If it aint broke leave it alone, air, grease and oil and top it off and its good to go. (dont forget to check the Anti Freeze.
Belts I always have a spare. Tires too.