What is a reasonable pay for an O/O of a under CDL 26' box truck ?

[Andyinchville1]

HI All,

I've done lots of car / mini van courier and delivery work but I am new to operating and attempting to do delivery work out of a 26' Under CDL box truck with lift gate.

I bought a box truck for an appliance delivery gig that seems to pay pretty well ($450 / Day for 12 stops average about 125 miles travel...requires driver and helper) but was looking for something a little easier (i.e. load once......drive...unload.... get paid....no helper expenses or problems) since so many things can go wrong with appliance delivery (worry about helper showing up, banging walls, damaging appliances, not hooking stuff up correctly etc...)

Normally for courier work (small vehicle...car / , mini van) I get paid $1.00 per loaded mile for expedited work through the company I work with.

What is a fair rate to get paid for a 26' under cdl box truck with lift gate?

One company I spoke with said they Pay $1.35 per loaded mile for expedited (which includes a fuel surcharge)....

Is that a reasonable amount to get paid?...Can a person be OK making that?....of course the more the merrier but realistically what do most people make per loaded mile using a vehicle similar to mine?

An amazon gig that I could also get pays $200 to $250 per day depending on the route.....they pay by the day but they were not very forthcoming with additional info other than you pick up at the warehouse and drop pkgs at several post offices and locations after that (supposedly about 150 to 200 miles of driving and it takes about 7 to 8 hours to do.

Any other ideas on how to make $$ with a truck like mine?

I know I could possibly do better $$ if I had a CDL truck but neither I nor my helpers have a CDL and the appliance gig started fast so I had to jump on a non cdl truck (by the way my truck gets or can get 10 MPG highway unloaded driving 57 mph and on the appliance runs it averages about 8.8 mpg's).

FWIW - I do have dot # , MC #, state operating authority ,and every insurance know to man (workmans comp, umbrella, cargo, General liab, commercial auto).

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Andrew

 

[terryandrene]

Andrew, before you look for the source of enough money to satisfy your needs, you need a good a handle on your cost of operating your business. Let's assume you have received good value per mile for the truck thus far and that you owe nothing on the truck. It is still not a free truck because it still has value that must be accounted for. I suggest as a beginning of determining your business cost, you make some assumptions. A. What is the remaining life of the truck; B. what is its fair market value today; C. what will it be worth at the end of its life; D. How many miles per year do you expect to operate the truck. With these assumptions made, you can determine the cost of just owning the truck for its remaining life.

Now using the same life span of the truck, you'll need to determine the cost of operating the business with the following: Insurance, operating authority, maintenance, truck replacement down payment, fuel, tolls, communication, truck washes and clean-outs, parking, and all those etceteras that you already know. After you figure your costs for the truck life span, divide by the miles you would expect to travel and determine your business expenses per mile. Onto this figure add your realistic driver pay for your loaded miles. We can't cover it all in a couple of paragraphs; however, You should now have a minimum figure of your requirements for your business to break even. And, most importantly, you are owning and operating a business; your truck is just a tool to satisfy your business plans

Do yourself a favor and join the ranks of the professional truck driver and get a CDL. With that you may improve your earning potential with a hazmat endorsement and an increased number of customers that will take you more seriously that your opportunities will increase. A CDL will also allow you to sit at the truck stop coffee counter and swap lies with all the super truckers.

Good luck for a successful venture

 

[crich]

1k per day is reasonable if you have your own authority. but if your active don't go running for no $1.35 per mile that's insane. find the freight thats ready now and they need it now and you will be alot better off.$450 a day for 12 stops is trash you should be getting at least $600 per day in just the stop pay plus line haul and fsc. if you have to use that lift gate it should be extra for that also. driver assist extra for that also.inside delivery extra for that also.

 

[BigStickJr]

Geo Jr ?

crich, where do I find that freight with any consistency ?

Haven't you heard of deregulation?

 

[Andyinchville1]

HI,

Thanks for the great replies thus far...

As far as truck expenses, I know by far bigger trucks cost a lot of $$ for maintenance and repairs when compared to my little Jetta....Heck 1 truck tire runs about the same as 4 car tires, 1 car oil change is 4 quarts VS truck change of 5 gallons etc...

Also, commercial truck insurance and all the associated insurances relating to getting work is expensive (heck to move appliances we were required to get DOT #, MC #, State authority, GL insurance, Umbrella insurance, Cargo insurance, Workmans comp, Commercial auto etc...).....Huge costs when compared to basic personal auto insurance when running my car ( the courier co leases vehicle so we don't need any "fancy" insurance just simple and plain personal auto insurance.

While the commercial truck expenses are noticeably larger than just running a car doing small deliveries, I was hoping that the larger pay outs of a bigger truck would make things worthwhile.

In doing appliances initially, I think this is possible at the $450 per day rate....I figure about $225 out for labor, $50 per day for fuel and the rest to the truck / me....

I have not done the gig for long a long time yet (and yes of course I would like to make more but the company has the contract locked up and I'm just a sub) but about $200 per day to cover costs etc seems good to me unless a helper screws something up then there could be big problems (example scuffs an appliance or dings a customers wall or hooks up a washing machine wrong and it leaks everywhere etc...).

Anybody here know or been into the appliances and care to share things I may not have thought about?

As far as me making more $$ with a CDL etc....I had a CDL learners years ago but never did the driving part because I did not have a truck large enough at the time...Looking back I wish I fund a way to do it because, more recently, I revisited the CDL manual and man was it thicker!....I'm not sure I enough brain cells left to handle the new / thicker manual......maybe one day I'll try it again.

I was intrigued to hear that I should be making much bigger $$ with my own authority and all....

In thinking about it, once while doing my car deliveries for the courier co, I saw their invoice to the customer....
the courier company was charging $2.00 per loaded mile and was paying me $1.00 per loaded mile....
They were making what I was making but I was doing the driving and paying for auto related expenses (fuel etc)!

Soooo in thinking more about what I should be getting....I wonder what the numbers should be that I should be asking companies for....

I see plenty of ads looking for Class A drivers where the driver is being paid roughly 40 to 50 cents per mile but what is the company who owns the truck charging per mile and what, after expenses, do you think they are making on a per mile basis?

Having my own authority and all insurances does in theory allow me to solicit companies directly but many contracts (including the appliance gig I have) are taken by the big boys (huge companies that get contracts with entire chains at the corporate level) so that makes it difficult if not impossible for small companies like me to get the foot in the door...I suppose I could try smaller local concerns and maybe those companies that run their own trucks with an employee (I could sell it as no employee costs / taxes to deal with and no truck to worry about maintenance / insurance on not to mention the liability to the company should an at fault accident happen).

Anyways, for those who have their own authority....what are you doing and how much are you making on a per mile basis or time basis?....Just needing ideas on how to hunt for the bigger $$ because so far for expediting in my truck the biggest I have heard is $1.35 per mile as a sub to another co....I NEED to find their source BUT I'm sure that is already under contract.....or maybe not and there is room for an independent like myself?

Thanks for any and all help / ideas

Andrew

 

[Kip life]

The lowest rate I've ever gone with my Straight Truck was $1.4 /mile and I was in North Dakota trying to get out and will never do that again .i.e go to north Dakota and ever take a load that cheap

$1.35 is low!!!!I rather not move my truck. If you are in the midwest .. don't take anything less than $2.0 /mile

 

[hstuffope]

FOLLOWING

I can't get CDL so looking to do similar work.

 

[geo]

you need list all expense you have , fuel, insurance , maintenance/tires , helper/2man,
truck payment, etc. than you can figure out what you need to make
also check out ceva log, they do a lot of local delivery, and they pay good
check there web site and see if there is a local station near you
good to see some one thinks highly of themselves

 

[Kip life]

Local trips are a lot of work when I am at home base, I do one or two for insurance and escrow but too much work

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