Straight Truck - Class B

[chuckwagon]

I have an earlier post, but either I am not asking the question correctly, or I really must be an idiot and do not understand the answers.
But, my question is simple, at least I think it is and that is how much can I expect to make under the following situation:

I have a class-b cdl.
I will be driving a straight truck.
I have chosen to not get the hazmat endorsement.
I will be out 2-3 weeks at a time.

Now, here is the tricky part - yes I know the hazmat endorsement will cause be some hassles and loses, yes I know that ALOT of this has to do with who the owner operator is and what expediting company he is signed up with.

ALL I am TRYING to do is get an ROUGH BALLPARK of what I can expect as the owner operators I have spoken to say I should be able to pull in, prior to out of pocket expenses, about $800 per week. That figure comes from those who have offered me a job.

So I am wondering if that is a honest BALLPARK or could I be looking at making in the range of say $800-$1500. Now that is a ballpark!

Thanks for the input!

 

[LDB]

The problem is that your question is similar to another question, "how high is up?". There is no specific answer to the question. I just read through the answers to your other post. Basically everyone said if there's no reason you can't get it to have your hazmat endorsement. I agree. With it you have the entire pool of companies to choose from. Without it you have a bucket full of choices.

As to money, it just depends on too many variables. What company the truck is signed on with, what season it is, what your arrangement with the owner is, whether there are any incentive bonuses in your contract are all things that will affect revenue. We can reverse engineer a wild guess but it will only be that.

You want to know if you can make $800 a week. The most common arrangement is a 60/40 split with the 60 side buying fuel and getting 100% of the fsc money. At 40% $800 requires $2000 gross (800/.4) and if the rate per loaded mile is $1.20 that requires about 1667 loaded miles per week (2000/1.2). On the 60% side it's tougher because you are paying for fuel which is a changing variable not fixed but you can use the same weekly miles and be fairly close.

If you run 1667 loaded you'd have maybe 2000 miles a week total to buy fuel for so let's say 270 gallons or $800 fuel expense. We'll say 25cpm fsc overall for $415 of fsc coming in. 1667*1.2*.6 is $1200 plus 415 fsc is $1615 minus $800 fuel leaves $815 or about the same. Now, if you are getting 100% of empty move pay, which is basically some fuel money, and you are getting 100% of d/h pay, which is basically some fuel money, that number will go up some. If you are getting good loads with fsc in the .3x range like many are now that number will go up another $150-200. Generally, with good load selection and sensible driving style, the 60% side comes out ahead.

Please note, I am not saying you can do $800 per week, I am illustrating one scenario of what would be required to do so.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5507, 5508, 5509
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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[Turtle]

Well, I'll come right out and say it, then. Yes, you can do $800 a week. How's that?

Some weeks it might be $600, some it might be $1200, but $800 is a good enough ballpark figure to deal with. Then, adjust it based on the variables you'll be dealing with.

For example, instead of making plans to be home every 2 or 3 weeks, stay out until you just happen to get a load close to home, and then take a break at the house. The more you stay out, the greater your chances are of hitting $800 (or more) on a consistent basis (or certainly averaging that over a long period), and will lessen the sting of less revenue during the time when you're at home. If you live in an areas where you are likely to get loads out of your driveway, then that's not as much of an issue.

But when a lot of drivers go home for a weekend, they wind up missing out on that last load of the week, and then they miss out on that first load of the next week, which often results in a weekend sandwiched in between a couple of $400 weeks, for example. If that happens, then you'll need a couple of $1200 weeks to break even on your $800 average per week goal.

Getting your HAZMAT can be a real boost to your revenue, but if you latch on with a company that doesn't pay any extra for HAZMAT loads, then it will be of only a marginal help, in that it might get you a load or two that you wouldn't have otherwise been offered. But if they don't pay extra, then, IMHO, the load isn't worth the extra risk, anyway.