Rate per mile for O/Os

53k is the ones who run hard.

 

Most o/o making $53K/year didn't invest $150K into their business. They probably didn't invest $15K into their business.


It costs a lot of have low/no money down...

 

Every business is different, slightly, in operating cost. Operating costs are determined by your fixed expenses such as the truck you drive, the truck payment, insurance, maintenance, driver salary, tires, etc. You also have to include cost of the annual base plate, IRS Form 2290 ($550/yr). Add in to that cost flexible expenses such as diesel fuel. The average per mile operating cost based on American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI-online.org) is $1.65 per mile. My business is a bit less, others are slightly higher. You may want to visit Writeuptheroad.com and look at what Tim Brady has written about figuring operating cost for truck drivers.

l can say that as an independent trucker anyone running for a dollar a mile is not making a profit and won't be in business long. Even when I owned my truck and was leased to a company, I could not run for less than $1.30 per mile. Yet there are "owner operator" companies that will still push drivers to take 50 cent per mile loads. The advertisements you see for .92 cents per mile also include FSC, which today ins't a whole lot considering the price of diesel has fallen. I tend to look at operations like that as being company drivers with a truck and fuel payment.

My advice to you is to learn about operating a business first, learn about the various insurance truckers have to deal with and how much each cost. Talk with owner operators that are leased to an all owner operator company like Landstar, Mercer and such to see how they operate and figure their operating expenses. Then buy a truck and go to work.

 

Rates were actually pretty good over the last year or so but have been steadily dropping at least from what I can see. I keep hearing the same story from some of these brokers that fuel is so much cheaper now, how can you ask the same rate you were getting last summer? On average here its about $1/gallon cheaper than it was over the summer, maybe not even. In my personal equation based on an 80000 mile year that figure comes to about a .16/mile operating cost difference. I am in upstate NY. The way I look at it this slight difference in cost gets swallowed up by the harsh road conditions and excessive wear and tear you put on your truck around here in the winter with the extreme cold and frost heaves and all. Hopefully they will go back up again some in the spring. Not to worried about it.

 

in 1993 i was getting $1.10/m loaded or mt everything paid ,but fuel and repairs ,95 it went up $1.15 loaded or mt plus fuel at the time company figure .06.so then $1.21 /m but had to pay base plate when so didnt gain a thing ..lol..but fuel was also under a bucket .but had money in the bank all the time ...now 20 plus years later . on % and pay everything but insurance .now have to average or $1.95 on all miles or screwed.its not fun anymore .