D&S is just another factoring company. There is a link to them on ITS but it's a separate company.


http://www.dsfactors.com/

 

They are owned by the guy who owns internettruckstop. You can reach them from their load board (www.internettruckstop.com) or at www.dsfactors.com.

 

ahhh that explains why i get a monthly letter urging me to sign with JD factoring.....hes spamming me from my monthly bill to internet truck stop :-)

 

No worries,
50 cents is just an estimate, I suspect that some of the remainder will come from the balance.

 

I'm interested in the details of how you came to that estimate.

 

Doghouse, I don't know enough to comment on your numbers but of course wish you well. I hope when you get started that you continue to post the numbers. What I thought I was going to do and what I'm doing is I see two different things



Sonny, are these mega carriers pulling their backhaul from the same pool that we are all getting it from. I assume they have their contracts freight for their headhaul and maybe even contracts for their backhaul.

I wonder what they are hauling for on the backhaul? I guess they can afford to undercut the rest of us if they have good contracts on the headhaul.

 

Well when I get a load from lets say Americold I am in the minority of minorities gettting a "live load". I am surrounded by dropped trailers of Ronny Dowdy, Prime,TLC etc. I can pretty much tell I am making a move these guys are too busy to cover right now. As things slow down those big carriers gobble those loads up
There are 220 reefer loads on GL leaving Newark NJ this week
Lucky to see 75 in a few months
Like I said before refriderated shippers /recievers are the same people over and over
No surprises
with the exception of an occaisional Walmart DC
its the same people who have freezers
So it is easy to see the patterns
Its the same pool

 

I suspect the numbers will be quite different as well Merrick.
I came to the estimated earnings by figuring that I won't run for less than $1.50 per mile. I have paid off equipment.(I also already have $10,000 set aside for repairs)
I'm hoping to see at least 2,500 mile per 7 day work week. It could be less, it could be more. So far I see decent freight that will allow me to keep up no less than 2,000 per week, and at $1.50 that's $3,000 gross per week, and my major expense will be fuel @ around $900.00 to run that 2,000 miles. That leaves $2,100 to do what ever it takes to run the business and put some $$ away for a rainy day, and or a breakdown.
I'm looking to average around 10,000 miles a month @ $15,000 per month and lose about $5,000 to fuel, and like I said before, I would like to see some of that go back into the business and send myself a paycheck.
Now,....will it work out like that,...I don't know, but it has to be reasonably close.
I will post the numbers when I get out there.
If it doesn't work out that well,...I will have a really well set up truck/trailer for sale :lol: :lol:

 

I delivered to a Americold in Manchester, PA a couple of weeks ago. I never even heard of them before in my life. My appointment was at midnight. I didn't make it to a door until 8am. I was ok with that as I went to sleep but man people were hysterical. I guess you don't do produce, mostly freezer stuff? Until you do this stuff I guess you don't notice it, it's like the whole insect world that's going on around us but we don't see. In the end we get the crumbs of what these big carriers don't take. However there is a freedom in that.

What I mean is I watch or listen to Mad Money on occasion (and even read one of his books) and he made the comment one time to the effect that when he was running a hedge fund he had to produce as people were always screaming for numbers. Now as an individual investor you don't always have to worry about putting up the numbers (as long as the numbers are up in the end). These big companies need to produce.

Right before I left LCT around April the slow down on reefer freight caused havoc. They had much less work and people were quitting in droves. In the end that goes against ones rep and you are constantly only recruiting the bottom of the barrel. I asked a kid that worked there most of his life (he was a dispatcher and his father worked in Safety) why LCT had such a bad rep and he said when you go through 700 drivers a year (I forget the actual number) you get a rep and people don't want to come work there.

It seems like you understand the system pretty well so you can maneuver into this crevices left by the big companies and do well. I will learn these crevices too. Of course doing well is relative. I like you live in an expensive area but other than housing my expenses are low and the wife works too. So if I can do well during these busy months like you say than I can park the truck for a couple months during the bad ones. Not saying that is my intention but I'm just learing.

I picked up corn in Dover, DE last week (who knew corn came from Delaware) and I asked what they do in the winter and he said work on the equipment. I guess they have their money seasons like you mention.


Doghouse you estimate $5000 for fuel (you are lucky that your breakdowns will be minimized as you can do a lot by yourself) so it got me thinking for this month alone how much I've been spending. You know this guy I'm working with had another guy like me recently and he was telling me that the guy couldn't take a load unless he got an advance as he had no money for fuel. I see so many come on this board and say they want to get a truck. Even if you finance a truck how does one start out with no money in this business? It is amazing how much is needed to get going.

So just for those who are getting into this I logged on to Amex and copied this months charges. I don't know how it will come out and it has other purchases on their too and it's a pain to edit it but here's what it looks like to get going and keep the truck running on fuel. Never mind that came out confusing, it wouldn't copy and paste right.

 

When you start off with nothing to fall back on,..its truly a huge gamble,..I mean its already a big gamble, but when you're in a position where one breakdown can put you out of business,...thats not a good place to be.

It can happen to a newer truck, or my old 9400,...its a roll of the dice.