I don't see how it is the least profitable way to make money. Using the rule of thirds; the driver gets 2/3's of the income, while the owner gets 1/3. The driver pays for fuel out of his 2/3's, which leaves him with 1/3 left over of pure profit. The owner spends his 1/3 in income on the truck payment, insurance, and maintenance. I see the driver of a fleet owners cargo van as the one who makes all of the money. You get sixty percent of 80-90 cpm, which s 48 to 54 cents per mile. Then you pay maybe 15 cpm for fuel and pocket 35 cpm. The owner also pockets 35 cpm. The driver is actually pocketing the 1/3 that would be what he would be paying himself if he owned the van himself. I see the cargo van fleet owner as the one who is losing all of the profit and trying to take profit from the 1/3 that is supposed to go to the van payment, insurance, and maintenance fund! I may be wrong, but it looks like there is some money to be made in a cargo van!
Yeah, I get all that. I never said cargo vans aren't profitable. In fact, the first 5 words of my post said the exact opposite of that. All I said was, splitting cargo van revenue between an owner and a driver is probably the
least profitable way to be in this business. I didn't say it definitely, is, I said it probably is, because I know some straights and tractors who aren't running profitable at all.
But let's say you have a 250 mile load that pays 90 cents a mile, so $225. The owner gets 40% at $90, and the driver gets 60% at $135. Out of that comes the 15 cents per mile for fuel, or $37.50, which leaves the driver with $97.50. Let's say the owner's CPM is 20 cents. leaving the owner in reality only 16 cents per mile, or $40.
The same load in a straight truck at a straight truck rate or a tractor at a tractor rate will yield more money and thus be more profitable for the driver. And if you owned the van, there's no way you can convince me that not pocketing that $40 net the owner gets is more profitable than pocketing it yourself.
And using the same numbers for a 1500 mile week, the owner nets $270 and the driver pockets $585 after fuel. If you owned the van, instead of $585 it's $855. While both figures are certainly profitable, one is more least profitable than the other.
And another point, if you're driving that van for an owner, you may be tempted to turn down a short load like that to wait for a 500 miler, but if you own the van then netting the $137.50 makes the short load more profitable. Panther is overloaded with cargo vans for that very reason.
