Owning a cargo van
- Thread starter tcdriver
- Start date
Might take some doing, but i'll come up with something.
Murraycroexp
Veteran Expediter
$1.25-$1.75? That would be nice! Unless you're DHing too much. DH policy is a BIG factor. BIG!!!
Murraycroexp
Veteran Expediter
Yes. Shorties at this rate would be good, all miles. But anything with miles to it for that rate? Including DH?
Daffyduck528
Expert Expediter
If it's that rate then you have to compete with the big trucks too.
I would guess in the $1.70 - $2.00/mile range, depending on the customer. The more hands the load passes through before getting to the carrier, the lower the rate.
A lot of headaches.
Instead of asking how much to charge a customer, sit down and figure out how much it will cost you! What are you paying for vehicle insurance, cargo insurance and liability insurance? What is your cost per mile for fuel and maintenance? What are your van loan payments if any? How much money do you need to set aside for repairs and buying another van down the road? How money do you need as owner and driver?
Once you have your costs figured out you will have the minimum price you will need to charge a customer. Now that you have that minimum price come back here and ask if x.xx/mile is a reasonable rate to charge.
Once you have your costs figured out you will have the minimum price you will need to charge a customer. Now that you have that minimum price come back here and ask if x.xx/mile is a reasonable rate to charge.
Might take some doing, but i'll come up with something.
Work faster, gotta be sumpin good.
.
When Jimmy was a lad he and his sister had a Kool-Aid stand. They could charge any price they wanted and still make a profit. 3 cents a glass was profitable because mom supplied the Kool-Aid, C & H pure cane sugar from Hawaii, fluoridated water, pitcher and cups. No overhead or other expenses meant 100% profit.
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When Jimmy got older he combined his growing Kool-Aid business with religion and it became very prophetable until he lost all his customers.
DRIVERDUDE
Seasoned Expediter
I have my own customers and I charge between $1.25 and 1.50 / mile.
Too many headaches for my liking. I could possibly get my own customers, but with only one van to service them there are bound to be problems. So, running under another carrier's authorities makes good sense for me anyway. I negotiate a contract with ONE customer, namely the carrier I drive for, and the company handles the rest of it from there.
One thing that I notice in talks with my guy, is that it's not just how much per mile you're making, but when are you gonna get paid. Some of these customers have as much as 100 days between when you performed the service and when they pay you for it. That's a lot of time to sit on a receivable, and while the money may be coming the problem is that you have to pay for fuel, maintenance, tollway fares and all the rest of it up front. You need a huge amount of money behind you before even thinking of opening up as a one-man carrier, just to get you through the first months of having to spend money like it's water and getting paid in--- a while. It's hard enough driving for somebody else as an IC, but at least when you're driving for a carrier rather than as one, you have somebody else doing the work of getting/keeping customers, getting those customers to pay and so on. The good ones get you insured as well, so you have that monkey taken off of your back. That's something to think about.
One thing that I notice in talks with my guy, is that it's not just how much per mile you're making, but when are you gonna get paid. Some of these customers have as much as 100 days between when you performed the service and when they pay you for it. That's a lot of time to sit on a receivable, and while the money may be coming the problem is that you have to pay for fuel, maintenance, tollway fares and all the rest of it up front. You need a huge amount of money behind you before even thinking of opening up as a one-man carrier, just to get you through the first months of having to spend money like it's water and getting paid in--- a while. It's hard enough driving for somebody else as an IC, but at least when you're driving for a carrier rather than as one, you have somebody else doing the work of getting/keeping customers, getting those customers to pay and so on. The good ones get you insured as well, so you have that monkey taken off of your back. That's something to think about.