Fuel for Thought

Death And Taxes

Death and taxes. At least I have the taxes part down. The photo is for John Elliott. Last year he showed his conference room table covered with the paperwork from his tax filing. This is my 2013 submission and all supporting documents.

I’m still not sure how I got here, but 2013 was my best year in expediting. The last two years have been my best two years. I was grumbling most of the year. Early in the year I had three-digit months. In July, a couple forum members let me see their progress on the year, and I was way off pace. From the beginning I could see a weakness in the pay rate. I tried not to over analyze, but by the third quarter my rough estimates were showing that I was losing about three cents a mile compared to 2012. It was better than I thought, but the three cent drop held through the end of the year. Going by pure, detached math I grossed four percent more than 2012, and I netted 6.5 percent more. I’m glad I didn’t drag others into my misery; I would have looked silly.

The numbers that moved the dollars in my favor for 2013. About 4000 more loaded miles with nearly identical deadhead miles. Also, 2600 less roaming miles on the odometer. Fuel and maintenance costs remained balanced around $15,000 and $6000, respectively, on a greater number of miles.

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