The Changing Economics of Expediting
- Thread starter ATeam
- Start date
Zoli
Veteran Expediter
The problem is that we make same money on the loded miles , but our expenses went up .We can't say anything to our carriers because it's to many trucks, cargo vans on the market.What can we do? Now nothing ,but after a lot of owners will go bankrupt the remaining owners can ask for a raise....Unfortunately this is the only way....TriState ,FedEx ,Panther ii, does not car if we go bankrupt they have enough straight trucks or cargo vans to cover the market....For example I have a cargo van leased to Try Hours the driver not refuse any load, drive 600-1000 miles per week and they still looking for cargo van owners.... It is sad....
Congrats Col!
arrbsthw
Expert Expediter
LoL...it's still better right now.. we were married for 34 years
on May 24. (sold all those trucks but one)
Broompilot
Veteran Expediter
Ice Road Trucker stated that the guy said (nickle and dime you to death) I could not dissagree more. The new truck nickle and dimed me to death going back and forth for service alone cost me a day out of service and most of those WARRANTY things well not covered to worn electrical lines that I should have detected one excuse I recieved.
I purchased this Volvo 770 with over 500K on it. So far over 150K put on it, my repair costs have been right at $3K. I would not consider that Nicle and Dimed and I did not have to take it to the dealer to get it repaired and WAIT until they decided to work on it.
The REPAIRS on my truck has so far worked out to this EQUASION READY .02 cents a mile. Yes that is TWO PENNIES per mile. Not bad for NICKLES AND DIMES.
My advice (Kevin Rutherfords also) Listen to XM 171 at midnights EST, get a Dyno, an ECM report, these two things plus a Mechanic to go over the truck will give you the map to finding a Great low cost repair truck for MILES to come. Trucks are really designed to last up to 1.2 to 1.4 Million miles of good reliability. Once a used truck starts costsing over .12 cents a mile than it is probably time to consider replacement.
The savings of a one or two year old truck with 150K miles on it VS the same model with 3-4 years on it with 500K is gona be about $40,000.00 I can pay for alot of repairs with $40,000. One might argue that he will have a higher trade in value, true but I am not trading until it gona be worth $10K so he will be looking to trade his second truck while I am still keeping my first truck so actually he is out almost two trucks and probably close to 70K or at least 60K.
I purchased this Volvo 770 with over 500K on it. So far over 150K put on it, my repair costs have been right at $3K. I would not consider that Nicle and Dimed and I did not have to take it to the dealer to get it repaired and WAIT until they decided to work on it.
The REPAIRS on my truck has so far worked out to this EQUASION READY .02 cents a mile. Yes that is TWO PENNIES per mile. Not bad for NICKLES AND DIMES.
My advice (Kevin Rutherfords also) Listen to XM 171 at midnights EST, get a Dyno, an ECM report, these two things plus a Mechanic to go over the truck will give you the map to finding a Great low cost repair truck for MILES to come. Trucks are really designed to last up to 1.2 to 1.4 Million miles of good reliability. Once a used truck starts costsing over .12 cents a mile than it is probably time to consider replacement.
The savings of a one or two year old truck with 150K miles on it VS the same model with 3-4 years on it with 500K is gona be about $40,000.00 I can pay for alot of repairs with $40,000. One might argue that he will have a higher trade in value, true but I am not trading until it gona be worth $10K so he will be looking to trade his second truck while I am still keeping my first truck so actually he is out almost two trucks and probably close to 70K or at least 60K.
sdelliott31
Expert Expediter
You almost have to go into the frame of mind that most equipment will be traded and you'll always have loans or expenses. Just figure about what your payments need to be to make a profit on a low guestimate of income and go from there. We buy our vans used, whether through Ebay or local places that we know and have them looked over by our local mechanic. We don't buy new, we try to stay about 3-4 years old, to keep our costs down. Yeah there are sometimes when repairs backfire our plans, but keeping our overhead low helps offset that. However, at this time we are really struggling, but we've been with Panther for 6 years and for the first 4-5 things have been going well, we ended up in good shape on trades on older equipment to stay under their value, so we have been able to replace vehicles and keep payments the same, plus add a couple. However our profit margin has shrunk alot because most of our drivers, we pay for fuel. Though the fuel surcharge has been fair, the loads and overall fuel expense has really hurt us. Therefore we have had more turnover in drivers than usual, and thus vans sitting, yet accruing Panther fees. Our bank is still working with us, but at some point if they stop, then we pretty much stop. I would say if we were in it a year, then we did some bad managing. However after 6, I'm sure we could always do things different, but we can pinpoint where the profit margin has shrunk, and therefore if we lose it will be disappointed, but will feel some pride that we hung in there for awhile. The positive.......we have a couple rental houses, that our renters said they will never leave, because of the uncertainty of the housing market, and also because with fuel and all, they can't afford to move. Take the good with the bad I guess.
It is interesting as someone noted above, even with family and friends you start thinking about that gas expense before you do something. We take a trip every year camping to Indiana Beach with our extended family and pull a 35' TT. However we all canceled this year and are just going to take a day trip, because of fuel and all.
It is interesting as someone noted above, even with family and friends you start thinking about that gas expense before you do something. We take a trip every year camping to Indiana Beach with our extended family and pull a 35' TT. However we all canceled this year and are just going to take a day trip, because of fuel and all.
Steven for what it is worth...ya work hard 51 weeks of the years always on call 24/7....for an extra 100 bucks or so...you shoulda done your camping trip....it's hard to put a $$ value on some quality family time.
sdelliott31
Expert Expediter
We still have a seasonal camp site in Goodfield, IL that the family goes to every weekend. We just canceled pulling the camper out this year because of the expense. Our seasonal is a Yogi Bear where the kids get to swim, do crafts and activities, and drive golf carts, so I don't think they will suffer too bad. But by the time you pull the camper 250 miles and stay in the campground there at Indiana Beach and spend all that extra money, it can add up fast over 7 kids, so even our extended family that have campers, felt the expense was too high this year. But thanks for the chin up OVM.
Home is where the heart should be....business can be heartless.
Good to see you are reaping the rewards and your kids of dads hard work!! Enjoy!
Broompilot
Veteran Expediter
I just gotta jab at this.
Phil you Actually Named your truck?
Did you not mention about ten months ago on how I might need Mental help?
Wow thats big, real BIG.
Phil you Actually Named your truck?
Did you not mention about ten months ago on how I might need Mental help?
Wow thats big, real BIG.
I named my truck...Vanna White
Tennesseahawk
Veteran Expediter
Sarah named mine Mr Truck. Far cry from Barney, which the former owner's kids named it. Barney is NOT burgundy.
