Owning a truck, Hiring a driver

You should be able to answer the question yourself. You know your costs and you should know how much revenue the truck will generate. IF you think that the truck will generate enough revenue to support your driver and your family, then you are dreaming. If it was true we'd all be sitting @ home drinking beer having a minion working for us.

 

yep i tried hiring a co-driver was an eyeopening experience ....you must take into account lower mpg higher maint expense and more than likely less motivation to work as hard as you ...i made a little more money once all was said and done but when i parked the truck in december i ran my numbers with just what it cost for him to drive the truck didn;t seem worth the risk (i made more with foodstamps with no risk than with him running the truck )

 

Trustworthy driver is only the beginning. Look at what the truck makes now. It isn't going to bring in any additional revenue just because you hired somebody else to drive it for you. However, this hired hand may not take care of your equipment the same way you do...meaning higher maintenance and repair expenses. The hired hand also has no skin in the game where fuel mileage or idle time is concerned...so again, your operating costs go up. Even if you hire a driver that cares for the equipment as well as you do (or better), you still have to pay the employer's half of the employment taxes...in addition to carrying workers compensation insurance...and unemployment insurance...along with anything else your state might require. While you are still responsible for the employment taxes driving the truck yourself, you may not be required to pay workers compensation/occupational accident insurance....and you probably don't need to pay unemployment insurance either...so again, your costs go up.

Can you afford to pay the extra expenses AND pay the driver's salary AND still save enough to pay for maintenance, repairs, and operating expenses....and still keep a little in your pocket? If not, I don't see the point in trying.

 

A lot of other variables come into play too... your cost to maintain your business as a fledged carrier, the additional insurance cost (that alone could wash your profits), as others said the change in fuel economy, also additional administrative costs. Can it be done? Sure. Will you make enough on one truck to live off of and pay the driver a fair wage, no, not likely.

 

...and if he pockets a mere $1 per truck per week, he's making $624,000/year.

 

It is a matter of volume. You can make money but you will not make much money until your reach the point where you can use other peoples money.

 

If I only had 1 truck I would never put a driver in it.No way to legally have a sustainable business with 1 truck and an employee.