money

[tomar]

hey guys, I've been reading this forum for a while now and I think I know what kind of money I can expect in this business, but recently I've talked to a guy that has been doing it for about 8 months, and he is claiming that he makes about $10K a month in sprinter.
He's home almost every weekend, and says that he is able to put away (on his savings account) about $3K - $4K a month. He lives in Michigan, Detroit area, and like I said he drives a sprinter.
Is this possible to make $10K being home almost every weeekend, and if it is, is it possible to put away that kind of money after your otr expenses, plus he still has to make payments on his Sprinter

 

[DannyD]

I'm guessing it "might" be possible. It seems like a bit of a stretch though. If he's actually doing that well every month, I'm guessing he's taking every single run offered & getting a little lucky in addition.

I'm not sure who he works for, but I definately wouldn't be buying a Sprinter with those expectations in mind. I can't speak for everyone, but my best guess is that you could be "sure" to make $4000 or so every month in a Sprinter. You'll have some months where ya might make 6 or 7. Ya might have a few months where ya hit 10. I don't truly know though.

All I'm saying is I wouldn't go out & buy one of those things thinking you're gonna clear 10K every month. To make that you'd need to make $2500/week, or $500/day. If you're w/ a company that pays you $1.00/mile, that's 500 paid miles a day. That doesn't factor in deadhead.

Also, the payment on those things is in the 700 range. Some might be a lil more, some less depending on what ya put down on it & how long ya finance it for. Insurance will be about 300/month.

So right there you've got to make $1000/month (plus the gas & such that it'll take you to get that $1000) before you put anything in your pocket.

You can do well w/ a Sprinter. Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that making 10K every month could be tough to do. Making about half that might be a more realistic expectation.

Best of luck to ya,
Danny

 

[terryandrene]

DannyD's opinion and mine are in agreement. But...there's always a but...we don't know the company your acqaintance works for. Is he team or solo. Was he trying to encourage you to join his company to get a recruitment award. He may have a rare dedicated round-trip run every day. The reality is, however, that a TOP PERFORMER in a van, even a Sprinter, is more likely to be grossing in the $85,000 range and an average would be closer to the $60K neighborhood. A far cry from $10K every month. I think your acquaintance was being a little careless with the truth in expediting.

If you know the carrier to which this person was leased, let us know. There will be plenty of EO member, and perhaps a recruiter or two, responses on this forum to confirm the reality of what you heard.

Terry

 

[tomar]

thx for your response
I know he is signed with panther, and he drives solo, he wasn't trying to get me convinced to join panther, he doesn't even know I'm thinking about getting in this business,
right now he doesn't run that much, "slow times", but he doesn't complain

 

[sunshinetomorow]

sunshine to all
your panter driver would half to drive 2997 miles a week to earn that 10
k. (10000/.77 x 12 / by 52) 24hr in day x7=168-40=128hr to play with. Is it possibble yes but maybe that is what happened to that crete driver that killed 8 people in Florida; distracted likely, more pauseable he was asleep at the wheel. Just think what you are wearing out the sprinter for .77 a mile

 

[davekc]

With the FSC and the rate, he is somewhere around $1.00 a mile. I am with the others, that 10,000 a month and home every weekend is abit of a stretch. It is possible for a month but not consistently. If one is anywhere close to that every month, they would have to book some of their own loads in addition to Panther's to hold that average in a van.
Just my opinion.





Davekc
owner
21 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[bryan]

HI
To make $120,000 a year in a van you would be killing yourself.The human body can only take so much and in my opinion that is way too much.You would be running 20 hours a day with 4 hours for sleep, showers and meals for 5 days per week.Most carriors will not let you run that hard and for very good reasons,mainly insurance liabilty and a very bad DOT audit.You would be changing oil every two weeks so there goes your weekends.
The last 10 yrs I've averaged half that amount.

 

[RichM]

Glad to see some sanity in this topic.

 

[LDB]

Running for Panther he's probably making around 87-88cpm for paid miles based on 77cpm base and a dime or so average fsc. He would have to run about 2564 paid miles per week at that rate to make $10,000 gross. With deadhead at least 3200 miles per week. That's achievable but from what I hear from van guys it requires good fortune as far as positioning etc. to get it. I would be more inclined to believe it if a guy told me he does around $6k a month but "man, you wouldn't believe this one month when everything clicked and I did over $10k". Anyone saying they do that as their norm would be suspect to me until I saw a 1099. I guess my Missouri ancestry showing up.

Leo Bricker, owner trucks 3034, 4958
OOIDA 677319
73's K5LDB
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator 1+ Years of Service
-----
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[ATeam]

>hey guys, I've been reading this forum for a while now and I
>think I know what kind of money I can expect in this
>business, but recently I've talked to a guy that has been
>doing it for about 8 months, and he is claiming that he
>makes about $10K a month in sprinter.
>He's home almost every weekend, and says that he is able to
>put away (on his savings account) about $3K - $4K a month.
>He lives in Michigan, Detroit area, and like I said he
>drives a sprinter.
>Is this possible to make $10K being home almost every
>weeekend, and if it is, is it possible to put away that kind
>of money after your otr expenses, plus he still has to make
>payments on his Sprinter

Excerpt from "Introduction to Expediting"

Revenue Potential

People researching a career change into expediting are sometimes called expediter wannabees. One of the most common wannabee questions is, "How much money can I make?" While it's a logical and reasonable question, it's also difficult to answer. That's because some expediters go bankrupt, some get by, and some do very well. Whatever the industry conditions may be, some people make it and others don't.

Whether you become a successful expediter or not is partly influenced by general economic conditions and general industry conditions. It is more influenced by your own work ethic, management skills, quality of your industry research, ability to learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others, and other personal attributes.

Full article at

http://www.expeditersonline.com/downloads/introduction.pdf

 

[guest]

Some months with 31 days where the first of the month falls on a Monday can give you a big month just because of the number of weekdays in the month (plus some good weekend runs all month). My suspicion is that he may have had one $10,000 month and figured "hey, if I can do it once, I can do it again", or something like that.

It can be difficult for a solo in a straight truck to gross $10,000 a month, and that is with a higher loaded miles rate, higher fuel surcharge and greater availability of loads than vans. I think anyone running solo in a straight truck feels like they have had a great month if they gross $10,000 (and this usually requires the truck to stay out most of the month).

 

[tomar]

thank you for your responses
I was expecting this type of answers, it was hard to belive this guy especially after reading some topics on this forum, but I just wanted to be sure. I will be joining you on the road soon, and wanted to make sure I'm not expecting to much and than be disapointed,
I will be meeting this guy again, and I will mention to him about talking to you guys about money in this profession, I wonder what he will say about that
thank's again for your responses and see you on the road soon.

 

[hondaking38]

if he is making that kind of money i need to sign on where he works.i have made 10,000 for one month in my sprinter, only one time...when the fuel surcharges were pushing 30 plus cents per mile. and hauling a lot of 3 pallet loads at 1.10 a mile.. yepp its possible but not consistent, and i sure hope i see another one of those months soon...

 

[FIS53]

Back in the late '80s I used to make great money in a van. Yes it was over $100k per year and I was home quite a lot on weekends. But that was then and now it just isn't as good. I do about 65-75k a year now. 2 years ago I did 75-85k a year with another company. There is a fellow there making 90k currently and he is home on Sundays (usually). But this fellow is fed! No I'm not making it up nor am I jealous. I know the dispatchers and they play favorites. To do the big bucks I used to chase and I did and still do a lot of deadhead miles.
Rob Fis

 

[uneasyexpediter]

place no expections on what kind of money you'll make as it varies week by week.

Bud Davis

 

[DRIVERDUDE]

I don't see how you guys can survive on .77 / mile or whatever you make in a van. I work for myself, have about 5 small trucking companies I contract to and get $1.25 / mile for my van. I also have an 18' flatbed trailer that I pull for machines and A/C units.
That pays me $1.50 / mile but if I go to FL. I charge $1.65 per mile to cover the tolls. For the 1st quarter of this year I have grossed over $27,000.00. I had authority at one time when I drove a straight truck, but got tired of all the DOT so I bought a van. I also had an IC that ran a 24' flat bed for me. The reason I bought the trailer was to cover his overflow. I paid for the trailer in 1 week. He got his own authority last year so I am struggling on my own now.

 

[theoldprof]

Maybe this guy is home every weekend because the van IS his home.

:+ :+

 

[Broompilot]

I wonder if he would let you see his actual Income Tax Return. 10K month take home, that would be impressive, but home on weekends that would be IMPOSSIBLE.

Don't get to excited you need to see actual #s.

How does a person get by without any expenses?????? I can only escape by stealing, cheating, or not paying my bills which would fall into one of those to catagories.