Coming in as a so-called "owner/operator" with NO experience at all, you should be happy with that $1.26 a mile. I would argue with the FSC though, that's something that should go to the truck 100%. $1.26 isn't horrible for a first timer though, ya gotta get your feet wet SOMEWHERE. My first gig was pulling a stepdeck at $2.00 a mile and 85% (supposedly) of FSC.

 

How much is the FSC? If the FSC is $1 per mile and you get 74% that's a different story.

 

I don't know how much the FSC was and I'm sure that's something they would say would be different for every load and I would take the short end. I guess it doesn't matter in my case since I was able to get my insurance. I applied to www.dotauthority.com yesterday and have my MC and DOT number and it should take less than 6 weeks for my authority to be in place. My offer on that nice red Western Star was accepted so I'll be heading to Oklahoma next week to drive it back to New Hampshire. I'll also be wearing Depends for the ride as I'll be having a fit on my own for the first time!!!

 

Yeah,that is a bunch of hog wash when companies rip the drivers of the FSC. Is the company buying that fuel,or is the driver? Hmm. There should not be any reason why any company should get an ounce of FSC. I'm not an owner opp,but I have friends that are,so I cant say a whole lot,but if I was,and if I was driving my truck,if I had one,I wouldn't touch anyone that didn't pay 100% on FSC.

 

Exactly! 8)
It's just shows, what kind of people, you'll be dealing with! :x

 

Im sorry,yall are gonna have to excuse me. Sometimes,I have a few bricks shy of a load,and it took me a minute to realize what Steve said.

Thank you Steve for the information :shock: :P :lol:


Seriously,Congrats on the new ride,and hittin the big road

 

$1.26 per mile is not enough in my opinion. All you will do is wear your truck out and never take any time off until you go bankrupt.

You need to consider all the expenses, and your expenses may be different from the next person?s. I recommend the Ooida cost per mile spreadsheet available at http://ooida.com/trucking_tools/CPM/cost_per_mile.htm or SteveBooth?s spreadsheet (perhaps he would post a link to it). It is not possible to say if $1.26 per mile is a good deal without more information.

NoProblem: Am I understanding correctly that you are going to pay $1.25 per mile to owner operators? I am guessing that $1.00 per mile plus fuel surcharge will come out to about $1.25 to $1.30. No pay for deadhead up to 70 miles? And you are going to charge for trailer rental, plates, insurance, etc? Not for me thanks. :roll:

I will start off with a few basic costs that may or may not be correct for your situation.

Fuel at $3.50 per gallon and 5.5 miles per gallon will cost you $0.63 per mile for every mile traveled. Consider that you may only be paid on HHG short miles for 90% of the paid miles and you run 10% of the time deadhead as well and the fuel cost per PAID mile will top $0.73.

Driver wage should be $0.50 per mile for a self employed person. A self employed person is responsible for all taxes, social security contributions. If they can earn in the mid forties as a company driver then they ought to be worth $0.50 self employed.

Tractor payment will run usually about $2500 per month. Divide that payment by an estimated 10,000 paid miles and that is $0.25 per mile.

So before we THINK about the trailer payment, Collision/cargo/bobtail/health insurance, business liability insurance (separate from truck), licenses, permits, accounting and legal fees, fuel, tires, preventative maintenance, repair, telephone/internet bills, tolls, fines, cargo claims, ? the list goes on, An owner operator needs a minimum of $1.48 per mile to think about leasing on.

Echo the sentiments about the truck should be getting 100% of the fuel surcharge.

 

Rawlco, thanks for your reply.

I agree that $0.50 / mile is a fair rate for an O/O.

A few differences we have is........the national average price for diesel this week, it's only $3.06 vs your $3.50. We use 6 mpg in our formula vs your 5.5 mpg.

The national average changes weekly, which of course will change the fsc weekly.

We are basing our fsc on the O/O paying $1.50 per gallon, as such, this week the actual fsc paid to the driver this week is .26/mile for a gross pay this week of $1.26 per mile.

Based on 2500 miles/week -

Insurance, plates, etc. is about .08/mile
Truck payments seem a bit high @ .25/mile, but perhaps that is a good average. I figured .20/mile as a good average.

So we deduct .28 per mile for those expenses and .51 for fuel for a total cost to roll of .79 per mile.

That leaves .47 per mile to the driver - pretty close to .50/mile.

Thanks again!

 

Neckster, the only one who can really say whether you can afford to run at that rate is you. Personally, I think an owner operator leased to a carrier should be making at least $1.50/mile with fsc.

 

Steve, I thought you were going to run your own authority. Are you thinking about leasing on to a carrier? It kind of defeats the purpose of having your authority if you lease to a carrier. :?