Do you go through a company to keep your truck working, let each individual business know about your business, or do you have to bid on spesific jobs?

If you have a company keeping you loaded, how do you find them?

If you are talking to individual businesses, what sort of info do you take to them?

If you are bidding, where do you go to find out about each job?

Thanks, Phillip

 

Wow, 75 views and no replies. :?

-phillip

 

It ain't worth getting into that business right now.

There have been several other threads on here about this lately.

http://www.classadrivers.com/phpBB2/...ic.php?t=23704

http://www.classadrivers.com/phpBB2/...ic.php?t=24021

There are 2. I'm sure if you search there are more.

 

Why is that? Are fuel prices the only reason????

-phillip

 

It is a tough business to get into. Most if not all dump trucking is somehow or another connected to new home construction,and we are hitting some hard times. All my work comes from word of mouth what you could to do is go out to some job sites and talk to other truckers,try to make a few friends,ask for help & advise. Even if you already know everything act like a newbie, truckers love to give advise. Don't come off like you are out to set the world on fire and you will probably get some brokers #'s and be sure to pass out your # as well. It takes a L O N G time to get in a position where you can work your truck every day,so be patient hang in there and roll with the punches.

 

But if construction is strong, then so is the dump business???

Thanks, Phillip

 

Even when construction is strong, the dump truck rates are oh, so weak.

(and the paychecks are sometimes very late too)

 

I live in SC and I stay busy through a broker. I have to pay them 10% of my gross but they keep me busy and I don't spend time looking for work,,just a local phone call once a day and I usually gross upwards of $90.000 a year. I do live in an area where lots of construction and road work is continuosly going on and I think thats the difference between you and me. All I had to show was that I had at least a 1 million dollar insurance policy. They assigned me a truck number and the rest is up to me. Good Luck.

 

I also use a broker, here in Sacramento, CA the broker fees all seem to run the same in this area which is 5% of your gross. Many brokers will "lease" you a dump box (10% of gross) or a transfer set/end dump (20% of your gross). Hourly rates vary from broker to broker but seem to average $80 to the truck, and there are some brokers who bid the job by the ton (I've made anywhere from $3/ton - $6/ton).

I did not choose wisely with my first broker, I have not been working as much as I should have been for this area. I am in the process of trying another broker out, if this dosen't work this go round I will do one of 2 things, buy my own box and become a independant ten wheeler operator or set the truck up to do local flatbed work under my own authority. I'll make a post in a few weeks to go into details and how I end up doing once I get some work under my belt again. If you choose to go with a broker SHOP AROUND FIRST. I did not when I signed on with the first broker, and 2 months of no work & poor pay (due to majority of work being paid out by the ton) has really bit me in the butt emotionally and finacially. Its been a huge mess and was a huge ordeal to get my truck out of there (I had to use OOIDAs legal dept to help me get the truck out of there actually, so my membership paid off at least).

There is great money to be made (at least here in Sacramento with these trucks), I know many people who are doing very well financially. Weather, company politics, and whatnot can hurt you as I have learned the hard way. I'm not giving up, and have no shame in sharing what I'm going through, I honestly feel I can turn this around now that I've done my homework and got on with (what I hope) is a good broker this time.

How to find brokers? Start flagging down other drivers and ask who they work with. Thats what I had to do once I realized I put myself and my truck into a bad position with the broker I went with (I found them because they were dow the street from my home). I have never had any luck trying to find brokers on the web or even in the yellow pages, its all been done by talking with other O/Os.

BOL to you =)

 

For sure the money is slow 60-90 days is the norm. Floored is work still good up in Sac? Down south new home const. pretty much screeched to a halt alot of the Los Angeles trucks are coming in looking for work. For the past week or so most of the transfers were sitting in our yard. I am lucky being hooked up with my pipeline guy he has 2 huge jobs back to back this year so I should do well. Word of mouth travels fast so most truckers will steer you away from bad brokers,I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket that way if I have $ out with 2 or 3 brokers or contractors there is always something in the mailbox.