Can anyone give me an idea if i am in the ballpark. Can i expect to pay myself $700 to $800 per week net after ALL truck expences? Including fuel,insurance,maintanance fund,$275 per week truck payment (not a fleece payment),all taxes, and other expences that go along with it. If this is out of line what could i expect to pay myself each week? A set amount each week will work for me ,that way when (if) i have very good weeks that extra will go into the maint. fund, for repairs,truck replacement etc.

 

I guess it depends what you haul... some freight moves better than others, some companies work you harder than others etc... too many variables for a "good" answer on your generally vague question...

someone with more expertise will chime in though I'm sure...

Cheers!

 

Hard to give any advice if we don't know how much you plan to haul for? If you haul .60 cent a mile freight I would say no.

 

The salary you pay yourself will depend on the type of freight you haul, where you go and the rate for which you haul. The salary you mentioned should be doable. Keep in mind, however, that the economy is still teetering.

 

700-800 a week why not stay a company driver? Setting the sights pretty low.

 

I have made nothing in the past 2 weeks.This week I bought injectors and not very happy with Ft.Worth freightliner

 

Thanks for the replies. I do understand that "my paycheck" will depend on the rates that i haul for. But why would you think mike3fan that i would haul for 60 cents a mile, please give me some credit. It seems that too many of the members on this forum are quick to jump to the conclusion that newer or want to be o/o are stupid and do not really have a clue. That is why i asked the question about how much i could pay myself a week. I understand that i don't know all about becoming an o/o but i DO know how much money i need to take home a week to meet my obligations at home. Also chris1 i didn't set my sights low, I need that much (little) every week to make my payments at home. As i said in my post, the good weeks would be used as extra money for repairs, maintenace, truck replacement, etc. Again thanks for the replies.

 

How then can we give any educated answers? What are your expenses? What are you going to haul? van? tanker? flat? hazardous ping pong balls? see it seems that you asked an unanswerable question. In the most general terms, yes I could have paid myself $700 a week doing any of the O/O jobs I have had yet.

Find a job where you can work less and get paid more, not these McMega carriers running for .85cpm. or less.

 

Since you are looking at your income as a pay check. You should never pay your driver more than 28% of what the truck grosses. So divide $700 by .28 and you get $2500. You truck needs to run enough miles to cover your fixed and variable costs and gross more than $2500 per week. So you cant run 4000 miles for $2500 and expect to stay in business. Your next step is to figure out your costs, then start projecting your revenue and see if it is doable for you. Good luck and remember, trucks take bucks and when starting out you may not always have a "paycheck".

 

So a risk/reward factor of being able to pay your bills at home is enough?