Episode Highlights

Tim Descript 1.1

Tim : [00:00:00] If you’re gonna do it right now, you need to be prepared to make company driver pay for probably another year or so. So as new authority, you don’t have access to many load boards as well. And if you lose those mega brokers because of, you know, you’re showing up late or doing weird stuff, you’re done.

Caroline: Tim, , thank you so much for joining us on this Week in Trucking. This is the podcast where we talk to real trucking professionals about their businesses and learn what it takes to do well in this industry. Thanks so much for joining us, Tim.

Tim : Thanks for inviting me.

Caroline: All right. So tell me, where are you at right now?

Caroline: , I see some cars whizzing by in the background. , Where are you parked and what are you doing today?

Tim : , Right now I’m actually at a Walmart parking lot and the town I’m in, is actually, , Gaffney, South Carolina. So I, , just stopped here

Caroline: are you on your way to deliver? Are you on your way to get your next load? Are you just chilling right now? What’s happening today?

Tim : No, I’m, uh, headed to, uh, Hickory, North Carolina, which is kind of a Aston Vale, uh, a little bit, uh, east of it. So I got a truckload of, uh, fabric of some sort. [00:01:00] So I picked it up in, uh, it was east of Atlanta, so it’s just a little bit east of Atlanta. I forget the exact city. I think it was. Um, kind of by Norcross Atlanta, but a little bit further east.

Tim : So I picked it up there and I’m dropping it, uh, tomorrow, uh, at zero eight. So I’m on my way there and, uh, just stopped, uh, at Walmart, went shopping, and then now, now I’m doing this. So that’s, that’s what’s going on.

Caroline: All right. Well, my team and I were just looking at the hot markets. We have a newsletter that we put out every week and we were.

Caroline: Talking about that newsletter, it’s based on information from the spotter database. They show profitability per hour in different freight markets. And it seems like right now you’re in a pretty good spot, uh, for the freight market. So tell me, uh, what’s going on in the south right now for dry van refer rates?

Caroline: What are you seeing in, in terms of the freight market down there?

Tim : Yeah, right now there’s a, uh, it’s a produce season in the south, so places like Atlanta, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida are all [00:02:00] really hot right now. Uh, I think it’s onions specifically that comes outta here.

Tim : So that’s happening right now. And in Georgia specifically where I picked this load up, Atlanta, Georgia is probably the hottest market right now. There’s a, a massive disparity between loads coming in and loads going out. So if you’re in Atlanta, you’re in a very good market, which is where I picked this one up.

Tim : Uh, so there’s a ton of volume normally coming out of Atlanta, uh, just, uh, at any point in the year. And with the pro season right now, it’s about three to one. So there’s about three loads for every, uh, truck out there. So, uh, give or take, depending on what, uh. Uh, what statistic or where you’re getting your information from.

Tim : So it’s an excellent area. And then South Carolina is pretty good as well. It’s about two to one, and then North Carolina about two to one. So the entire south is, uh, uh, very good right now. So if you’re in the south, you’re, you’re doing just fine. So it’s, that’s where I am.

Caroline: Awesome. Are you anywhere near based there or are you based in a different region of the country?

Tim : Uh, well, I’m from the, the West coast, so I live in my truck [00:03:00] fundamentally. Uh, but, uh, I got family in, uh, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. So I grew up in Oregon. Uh, so that’s, you know, that’s kind of where I’m based out of, but I run anywhere and, uh, with the south being so good right now, that’s, that’s just where I am.

Tim : So I’ve been running south, uh, the south and Texas region mostly. Uh, but when I go home, which I will do probably next month, uh, I will be going to the West Coast. So I’m based off, out of the West Coast fundamentally.

Caroline: Gotcha. And tell me a little bit about what got you into trucking in the first place.

Tim : Uh, I actually got in, uh, during, during, uh, COVID.

Tim : So I got in during the bug. Um, I was just sitting there. Uh, I was Ubering in Vegas actually. So I was living in Vegas for a couple of years, so I got outta the military and then I went to Vegas. I was doing the GI Bill college thing, all that good stuff. And, uh, just started Ubering in my off time. Uh, just, I already owned a Prius actually, so I got outta the military, had a Prius.

Tim : I’m like, oh, I just Uber in Vegas. Then, uh uh, obviously COVID hit and I was like, oh, okay. That shut down [00:04:00] everything. Sat around for a while and then just decided, uh, you know. Uh, kind of interested in truck driving. So COVID, the freight market was on fire. Truck drivers were hiring all, or trucking companies.

Tim : Were hiring, uh, anyone basically. Um, so I’m like, all right, I’ll give it a shot. So that’s pretty much how I did it. Uh, I drove for about three months, took some time off ’cause it’s the first three months were extremely difficult. Uh, so I just like kind of went bound back to Ubering, uh, there for a little bit.

Tim : And then. Took that time off, came back, and then ever since then, pretty much been doing it nonstop for, uh, about three and a half years straight now, something like that. And that’s, that’s pretty much got me into it. I just figured I’d give it a shot and here we are.

Caroline: Yeah. Why not? Right. And especially in that time when the market was really hot.

Caroline: Tell me about how you started your own business. What made you want to strike out with your own authority?

Tim : Uh, well, once I. Once I realized I liked trucking, I decided, you know, I’m gonna keep going with it. And just being the guy I am, I was [00:05:00] like, okay, I’m not just gonna stick to company driver. I’m gonna go owner operator and then maybe get my own authority and then in this next step, maybe start my own fleets.

Tim : So I didn’t want to just kind of sit there as a company driver. It just, it just seemed like a natural progression to me to just, okay, I’ll become a company driver, then owner operator, and then maybe fleet opper, uh, fleet owner in the future. Uh, and that just. Made perfect sense to me. Uh, I don’t, uh, have a fam, I don’t have kids or anything, so I can take the risks and, uh, do so pretty, pretty, uh, reasonably so, so that’s what I decided to do, and that’s, that’s what we’re doing right now.

Caroline: Tell me about your business. How many trucks are you running right now? What kind of equipment do you run? What kind of loads do you run?

Tim : Uh, I’m an owner operator, so I just got one truck, one, uh, drive van, so it’s just me right now. So I’m just running this right now. My authority is only about four months old at this point, so it’s very new.

Tim : Um, and planning on running just myself for at least another year or so. Um, just keep it that way. Just keep it simple. Just, you know, learn the ropes a little bit better, just running my own [00:06:00] authority. Um, that’s pretty much it. I run, uh, anywhere in the lower 48 and. That’s pretty much it. Again, I live in the truck, so that’s, that’s helpful.

Tim : Very helpful. So I can just run constantly. Uh, and then when I need to go visit family, I just go visit family. And that’s, that’s pretty much, pretty much what I’m doing. Just one truck, one trailer, and one driver. Me.

Caroline: Awesome. Well, I think that’s how a lot of people start, right? Um, in being a company driver then striking out on their own.

Caroline: So. A lot of what we see in the media, a lot on social media is people bragging about how much money they can make in a week. This was really popular in, in, in COVID. You’ll remember people posting about making $10,000 a month or $20,000 in a month with just one box truck or one, you know, whatever kind of equipment they had.

Caroline: It’s a lot of people talking about how much money they could make. Without talking about how much it costs to actually run the [00:07:00] operation. Um, and so because at Bobtail we do financial services for trucking companies, we need our clients. To stay financially sustainable in order for us to keep our business and for us to stay in business.

Caroline: It’s better if they can stay in business and be profitable. Um, we wanted to share the other side of it. Like, yeah, you can make a lot of money in trucking, but there’s also a lot of costs that come with it and you need to know how to manage those costs in order to be profitable. So that’s why we started this.

Caroline: So do you mind if I ask you some questions about the numbers of how much, um, you’re bringing in and how much it costs to run your operation?

Tim : Yeah, of course. Go ahead.

Caroline: Let’s do it. So I usually use, um, a tool called a trucker calculator. All right, so let’s do a week. How many miles do you usually run in a week?

Tim : Uh, I’m averaging 2,549 miles.

Caroline: All right. I love the precision. How many days a week do you work on average?

Tim : Uh, basically every week. I mean, I do a reset. I’ve taken very few days off, [00:08:00] so you can say six days a week, um, if you want, but it’s actually more than that.

Caroline: Okay. I would say, yeah, let’s do on average, right?

Caroline: Because you’re gonna have to take a reset anyway, so. On average, you’re probably, you know, some, some weeks you might six days take a little bit more than a day. Other, other weeks you might take a little bit less than a whole day, but it’ll probably average out to six days a week. Yeah. Um, tell me what, tell me what you’re bringing in on average in terms of revenue.

Tim : Uh, in terms of revenue, uh, average per week, including days off is 4,500.

Caroline: All right. And that is a 1 77 per mile on average. Does that sound right?

Tim : Yeah, mine is, yeah, 1 77. Exactly. Yeah.

Caroline: Cool. Um, tell me about your truck. What kind of truck do you have and do you own it outright or did you finance it?

Tim : Uh, I own my truck outright.

Tim : It’s a 2020 Freightliner Cascadia, um, 70 inch sleeper, pretty standard, uh, vehicle.

Caroline: And you bought that with cash?

Tim : Yes. That was, how much did [00:09:00] that set you back?

Caroline: Yeah,

Tim : it was 60,000 when I bought it.

Caroline: Oh wow. And that was two years ago that you bought it?

Tim : Yeah. Yeah.

Caroline: Yeah. Wow. Tell me how you got that deal. Uh, that seems like a, that seems like it would be a really good deal for the time that you bought it.

Tim : Yeah, so it was a steal. Um, I bought pretty much at the bottom of the market. Maybe it was more like a year and a half to 18 months ago, somewhere in that range. Okay. Uh, is when I bought it. So originally what I did was I was at night transportation, and that’s when I was a company driver. And then I leased this vehicle that I’m in right now.

Tim : Um, and then I drove it around for about six months. Um, and that, um, not only was I paying down the, uh, the payment with the lease payment, but I was also just test driving the vehicle. So I wanted to make sure before I bought a vehicle, it wasn’t just gonna blow up, you know, uh, a few thousand miles down the road.

Tim : So I was at night transportation. Um. It was 60,000, 63,000, something like that when I originally, uh, entered the lease, drove it around [00:10:00] for six months. At the end of the six months, I think I owed like 55,000 plus taxes, so about 60 on it. Um, and at that point, um, when I entered the lease, the trucking market was pretty much at, uh, the trucking, um, uh, truck prices were basically at rock bottom, so I know like six months before I entered the lease.

Tim : And even like a year before I entered the lease, trucking prices were through the roof. Yeah. But then they crashed. And I, I did time that pretty much perfectly the when I bought this thing. So, uh, the truck prices had crashed. It only had a hundred thousand miles on it, if you can believe it. Uh, so when I bought it, it had about 110,000 miles on it.

Tim : The sticker price for the lease when I to get into the lease was about 60,000. I paid it down a little, but then after taxes, I still owed about 60,000, uh, because of taxes and I went ahead and bought it. Uh, the one probably blemish. Of it was, it was a former port service vehicle. So at night transportation in, in Las Vegas slash Phoenix, they run [00:11:00] to the Los Angeles ports and back and at the Los Angeles ports, uh, there’s high idle time ’cause you’re just sitting there waiting in very hot weather.

Tim : Sure. So the only blemish was, it was a port service vehicle. It kind of gets beat up a little bit there. For, for instance, when I bought it, my fifth wheel was actually bent and I had to get a new fifth wheel. I’m guessing that’s because when they drop the uh, uh, the containers onto the truck, it. One of ’em dropped too hard and then it bent it, but that was pretty much it.

Tim : It had slightly high idle time and it was probably a little bit beat up, uh, from the port work. But other than that, it was, it’s been a perfect vehicle. 60,000 only had 110,000 miles on it, but just slightly high idle time was the only, uh, blemish.

Caroline: Gotcha. What about your trailer? Do you own your trailer? Do you rent one?

Tim : Uh, I just got, uh, I am paying off a trailer, so I financed a trailer. Uh, so got my authority active. Then I needed a trailer. I was working for Landstar and I was just using their trailers beforehand. But when I got my own authority, obviously I needed to get another one. Uh, I did finance it. It’s a [00:12:00] 2014, uh, Vanguard and it was a former land star trailer, which I always like to do this.

Tim : When I’m working at a company, I always like to get. They’re used equipment. So that’s what I ended up doing. Um, I found a place that was selling, used Landstar trailers. I went ahead and bought it. Uh, it’s 2014 and I paid 14,000 for it, and I am making payments on it. And they’re about six 70 per month right now.

Caroline: Cool. So six 70 for your trailer payment. Um, talk to me about insurance. What are you paying for? Truck and trailer insurance.

Tim : Uh, $2,000. So it’s pretty much, it’s like 2050 $2 or something like that. Uh, but pretty much $2,000 square and yeah, that’s, that’s what I’m paying.

Caroline: Who are you insured with and uh, how did you shop around for insurance?

Tim : Uh, insured with Progressive. I, I looked at a couple places, um, but I wanted to make sure that the insurance would be accepted at all brokerages and there wouldn’t be any issues. Uh, you, so that’s why I just went with Progressive ’cause I knew they were good. Uh, some [00:13:00] insurance companies don’t work with certain brokers.

Tim : Uh, for instance, OOID. Has insurance, and I did consider them, but they’re currently suing Landstar. So I wanted to haul for Landstar, so I didn’t want to do something like that. And then some insurance companies don’t have like a proper rating. Uh, maybe they just don’t have, uh, enough, uh, capital to be like a, a plus plus rated insurance company.

Tim : Yeah. So, uh, there were some other insurance companies out there, but I’m like, I’m just gonna go with Progressive. A, they work with new carriers. B they will not be, they don’t have any, uh, issues working with brokers. So that’s why I’m just gonna go with them.

Caroline: And then tell me about what your insurance covers.

Caroline: That’s, um, auto liability and, and cargo insurance. Do you have other, uh, policies on top of that?

Tim : No, just the basic, uh, $1 million of cargo and the a hundred thousand dollars of, um. Uh, liability or maybe what I might be reversing those Basically. Yeah. Let’s, the other way around basic is 1 million and then, yeah, other way around, sorry.

Tim : Yeah. 1 million and 100,000. Uh, just basic insurance that allows me to work with the, the brokers, and that’s [00:14:00] about it, and that’s what I got.

Caroline: Cool. What about factoring? Do you factor your loads?

Tim : At first I thought it would be useful to have a factoring company, and I still have them in the back pocket. But, uh, I’ve stopped factoring, uh, because my cashflow was fine.

Tim : So I, i, I don’t need to factor at this point.

Caroline: And what rate are you paying on, on factoring when you were a factoring?

Tim : It was 2.7% I think it was. Okay.

Caroline: And were there any other. Fees on top of it or what was your experience working with them?

Tim : Uh, there was like 2.7% and then there was like a $5 a CH payment if you did that, uh, fee.

Tim : Uh, but really nothing significant. It was really just a 2.7.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. And when you stopped factoring, you didn’t have any issues with them, you could just stop and, and they, they kind of let let you be in peace.

Tim : Yeah. I mean, they have to wait to get paid. So like, uh, uh, you know, they, they pay you right away, but then the broker pays them like a month later.

Tim : So they have to, you have to wait like a month. Yeah. Before, uh, you get released from them, but in the meantime, it, it doesn’t really matter because the broker will just keep holding the funds that. I would’ve went to you [00:15:00] 30 days later anyway, so it’s, it’s not an issue. I, I had no issues. Cool.

Caroline: Um, tell me about paying yourself.

Caroline: Do you pay yourself as a driver from your company or do you just kind of take whatever’s left, left over at the end of the month?

Tim : Yeah. I just take whatever’s left over at the end of the month, so it’s just me. So I have no issues doing that. Um, whatever’s left over is mine now. If I had a driver, obviously I would.

Tim : Uh, make a salary for that driver. But since I don’t have that, I just, whatever’s left over at the end of the month, that’s, that’s what I get paid.

Caroline: How do you think that, you know, you, you talked about maybe in the future getting more trucks, becoming a fleet owner. Um, how do you think about driver payment and, and how you’re gonna manage that based on your experience being a company driver?

Tim : Yeah, I mean, uh, whatever they’re going rate for. Uh, is, would be probably what I go for. I mean, most drivers right now, I think you’re getting about 65 to 70 cents per mile. So like, if I did it right now, that’s, that’s what I’d probably go for. I might, you know, try to, to attract better, uh, better drivers.

Tim : I’d probably go 70 cents would be my, [00:16:00] uh, assumption there, but in a couple years or whenever, when I started, who knows, we might be up to 75, 80 cents per mile. So I would probably go slightly above. Um, sure. What the going rate was just to attract a better driver. And that’s, that is what I would go for, uh, in terms of fir a driver.

Caroline: Nice. Talk to me about fuel. Uh, so we’ve kind of gone over all of our, our expenses, uh, you know, the fixed expenses, but fuel is a huge variable expense depending on how many miles you run and where you’re going and how heavy your loads are, all of that. So, do you know, do you have an idea of how many gallons you, um.

Caroline: You, uh, use in a week?

Tim : Uh, yeah. So gallons used is, so I burned 3,300 gallons in 11 weeks, so about 300 gallons a week. Yeah.

Caroline: Uh, that seems like a, yeah. So does 8.5 miles to the gallon, does that, does that sound right to you?

Tim : It’s probably closer to 8.1 to eight or something like that.

Caroline: Okay. [00:17:00] And, uh, so how much do those 300 gallons cost you?

Tim : Uh, I’m averaging $3 and 22 cents per gallon.

Caroline: All right. So 3 22 times 300. We got 966. Um, what about tolls? It sounds like right now you’re probably in a region that doesn’t have a lot of tolls. Right? The south doesn’t, doesn’t have a lot of toll roads.

Tim : Yeah, I have a, I do run a little bit through the toll, so Dallas, Texas, Houston, and uh, okay.

Tim : Illinois. They, they got some tolls up there, but it’s not too significant. I’m avoiding the 80 across, uh, Ohio and Pennsylvania and stuff like that because it’s kind of expensive. Um, but I think on average, I think I’m averaging probably $50 a month in tolls and stuff like that. Uh, or $50 a week in tolls and stuff like that.

Tim : So it’s not, it’s not too significant, but I do run them from time to time.

Caroline: Okay. And what about maintenance? The cost of maintenance has gone up so much just because of labor. Do you have a certain amount that you set aside every month or every week for [00:18:00] maintenance?

Tim : Uh, I don’t set aside it for maintenance specifically.

Tim : I keep just a pool of money in the bank account, and then that’s what I use for fuel maintenance and everything. That’s just sort of how I look at it. Uh, some guys have it like segmented. I just know it. There’s, there’s a big, there’s a pool of money, and that’s what I tap from when I need a maintenance issue or fuel or anything.

Tim : Uh, so that’s how I do it. Uh, normally last year I ran about 13 cents per mile in maintenance expenses. Uh, right now I’ve had a, this year I’ve had just kind of a few, um, maintenance expenses right in a row that have cost me quite a bit. So right now my maintenance expenses have been $6,500 at 23 cents per mile, but that’s not normal.

Tim : Uh, normally it’s about 13 cents per mile. I’ve just hit quite a few maintenance expenses right in a row at the beginning of the year. So it’s a little bit skewed right now, but normally it’s 13 cents per mile.

Caroline: And what about your ELD? What kind of system are you using for ELD and compliance?

Tim : I have a omnitracks.

Tim : So when I left Landstar, [00:19:00] uh, they let me take the Omnitracks device with me. So it was already installed in my vehicle. Nice. And I didn’t have to pay anything, so I just kept using it. So I’m using OmniTRAX and that runs me $37 a month.

Caroline: Okay. So almost negligible. I’m just gonna put Oops. $10 here. Sure. Uh, what about ifta?

Caroline: Are you, um, you’re going, you know, OTR interstate, you gotta file those ifta, uh, reports every quarter. Sounds like since you’re pretty new, um, in the, with your new authority, um, maybe you haven’t had to do it or maybe you just did it for the first time in April.

Tim : Yeah, I just did it in April and I ended up paying $126 in ifta, so not very much.

Caroline: 40

Tim : bucks. Yeah.

Caroline: You said you live in your truck. Um, what about parking? Do you have a, a budget for parking for your operation?

Tim : Uh, I don’t budget it. If I need to do it, I do it. So I’ve done it, uh, once this week already, so I just, 25 bucks at a ta. So 25 bucks a week, usually something like that is pretty normal, usually once or twice per [00:20:00] week.

Tim : Awesome.

Caroline: Is there anything that we haven’t touched on in terms of business expenses that you would want to shout out?

Tim : Yeah. Uh, my a PU payment is $400, $450 a month, so that’s probably something you should put in there,

Caroline: a hundred bucks a week. Okay. 110, let’s say.

Tim : I mean, the only thing I’d mention would be like permits and whatnot, but I already did those at the beginning of the year.

Tim : Uh, so my, okay. Yeah. So my startup costs for like 18 grand, which is significant. Um, but you just do it all at the front. You front load it, right? And then throughout the entirety you pay it all off. But other than the, like the DMV registration and permits, stuff like that, uh, no. So on a weekly basis, that’s pretty much what, how it goes.

Caroline: Some of those things I imagine are just things you have to start out with, and then others might be annual. Uh, fees. Right. Like UCR registration and getting all of that. Correct. Yeah. All of that stuff updated on an annual basis, um, doing, uh, your, uh, drug tests and all of that [00:21:00] for the, um, clearing house, all of those things you, you probably pay upfront at the beginning of the year.

Tim : Right? Yeah.

Caroline: I will say that, um, the way that you’re thinking about these expenses is so, uh, streamlined and we, uh. With other drivers and, and business owners that we have talked to, um, most of them have a truck payment and most of them are, are also paying themselves. So I wanna shout out those two differences here in case people are comparing, you know, this carrier, to that carrier.

Caroline: There’s a lot of different ways to do this, right? There’s a lot of different ways to manage a trucking business. This is just one of them. So keep those two things in mind. We don’t have a truck payment. Huge benefit on a month to month or weekly basis, and we don’t have to pay. Um, we’re not paying ourselves as a driver.

Caroline: We’re just, you know, taking home, um, whatever we earn at the end of this period. Um, this is for a week long period as well with other, um, [00:22:00] operators, we’ve looked at a month. So just keep that in mind. If you’ve been watching and following us for a while that these numbers might look a little bit different, but in the end.

Caroline: What is the same across all of the, the exercises that we’ve done with trucking business owners is that we have a rate per mile and a cost per mile. It looks like you’re averaging 1 77 per mile, uh, in terms of rate per mile. And then in terms of cost per mile, just under a dollar. Does anything about this doesn’t sound like any of this would surprise you since you have all of your numbers and you’re tracking your numbers all the time.

Caroline: Um, but how do you think this. Matches up with other people out there on the road.

Tim : Yeah, I mean, in terms of, uh, those numbers, I think that’s pretty much correct. Right, right there. I mean, that’s about spot on. Um, now other guys, I mean, it, it’s hard to tell, uh, you know, it’s easy to type into comment section, how you’re making $4 a mile and bringing home, you know, $250,000 a year.

Tim : I have yet to actually see somebody [00:23:00] post their numbers on that. So I’m very, very skeptical and frankly, I just don’t believe that unless you’re doing like. Uh, oversized heavy haul, uh, you know, you’re specialized, you’re hauling some sort of specialized equipment. Um, for a drive in, uh, driver owner operator.

Tim : I think that’s pretty normal. And, uh, you know, I got, I get recognized from time to time from my YouTube channels and some guys come up to me and say their numbers are about that, right. Um, about what I’m posting right here. Um, so I think that’s, that’s pretty normal. And I would say right now in this market, that’s, that’s about, that’s about what you’re gonna get.

Tim : It’s a really bad market. So. Um, just keep that in mind. I mean, a dollar 77 per mile for an owner operator is not good. Um, but that is pretty much what the market is paying right now and. That’s just the way it is.

Caroline: Yeah. And I think, um, something that we have said on this channel before is, yes, the market’s in a bad place right now, but that doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to be in a, in a bad place.

Caroline: Right? One thing [00:24:00] is how much money you’re able to bring in. The other is how much you’re able. Uh, save on your costs. Right? So tell me a little bit about some of the strategies that you have tried or are using right now to keep those costs down.

Tim : Uh, well, I’d say the biggest cost saver you can do is have an a PU.

Tim : Um, it certainly pays off, I mean, idling the engine, uh, between the fuel costs and the maintenance costs, it’s probably about $5 an hour. So especially during the summer when you’re gonna be idling that engine quite a bit. Uh. You know, if you idle it all night versus having an A-P-U-A-P-U doesn’t cost much at all.

Tim : It’s probably like a dollar an hour if that to ile. The A PU, whereas idling your engine, let’s say you idle it for 12 hours straight, that’s about $50 a night if you do that all summer. Uh, I mean, what is that, like $5,000 for, uh, July, August, September or whatever. And, you know, you ile it more than that, uh, throughout the year of course.

Tim : So, number one cost saving thing, I, I would say is yes, get an A PU. Um, even if, even though they’re [00:25:00] expensive, they do, they do pay off.

Caroline: We mentioned that fuel is one of the biggest variable expenses in a trucking operation. Are you using a fuel card or do you get fuel discounts anywhere?

Tim : Yeah, I use, uh, the, uh, so my factor company was OTR Solutions and then they had a fuel card as well, OTR Solutions, fuel card.

Tim : And they get about, I get about 50 cents off, give or take, uh, at the TAs and a bunch of other places. Um, so that’s what I’ve been using and that certainly helps. And you need to have a fuel card. Uh, you need to have a fuel card. It’s mandatory, so make sure you get one.

Caroline: Definitely wanna get a, a good fuel card.

Caroline: And tell me, uh, a little bit about, um, what your experience was earlier this year, starting your trucking business. What surprised you about the process, trying to get your operation up and running?

Tim : Uh, the biggest surprise was the cost. So I spent $18,000 to get my authority active. I was expecting 10. Wow.

Tim : So it, it cost me 18,000, uh, and it took, uh, longer than I thought. So I figured it would take a month to get [00:26:00] everything together, get the paperwork and everything together, and about 10,000 and ended up taking two months and costing 18,000. So that was a huge one. Wow. Um, and I made a, I, I personally made a whole video on that on.

Tim : Just startup costs and everything like that. And that was the number one thing I took away was that it takes a lot longer than you think and it costs a lot more. But for instance, uh, there was a 21 day waiting period. So you apply for your DOT number and then you just have to wait 21 days. They just make you wait 21 days in case somebody protests you having a DOT number, which, uh, it’s just some legal thing that needs to be done, uh, before you get it.

Tim : So. Uh, yeah, that was a problem. And it also kinda cascaded a problem because you couldn’t do anything without a DOT number. You can’t get insurance, you can’t get a fuel card, you can’t get a pre-pass, you can’t do anything. So you, you apply for it and then you wait 21 days and then you just wait. And I was, I knew there was a 21 day waiting period, but I thought maybe I could, you know, get, get some other stuff done during that 21 days.

Tim : Nope, couldn’t do anything. So, [00:27:00] uh, that was a bit of a surprise there. Uh, that 21 days kind of, uh, put me back about 21 days, so. That was one. Yeah. I’m kidding. That’s

Caroline: about a month.

Tim : Yep. So cost and time. That was, that was the two months. Whoa.

Caroline: Where did the extra cost come from? What were the surprise costs?

Caroline: Were things just more expensive than you thought they would be? Or was it, um, like additional things that you didn’t know you needed to purchase?

Tim : No, the, the biggest, uh, surprise was the insurance. So I was expecting maybe a thousand to 1500 for my insurance and ended up being 2000, so that was quite a bit, roughly a thousand dollars more than I thought.

Tim : And because the process took so long to get my authority active, I had to pay upfront. Two months, right? So you gotta pay the first two months right up front. So there, right there was an extra 2000 ’cause you, you know, you pay the initial amount and then you pay one month upfront. So I had to pay an extra 2000 that I wasn’t expecting.

Tim : And then because the process took so long, I ended up eating another insurance bill. So it took two months. I was expecting it to take one month. I [00:28:00] ended up eating another insurance bill that was 4,000 that I wasn’t necessarily expecting. Um, so that was right mostly where it came from. And then there was some other smaller stuff like registering the truck at the DMV cost a little more than I thought.

Tim : I ended up paying 2,500 bucks to get the truck registered. I was expecting more like a thousand, you know. Um, and then the down payment on the trailer that was a little bit more expensive than I expected. Um, and there was some other small stuff here and there, stuff that. It cost a little bit more, but in reality it was the insurance payments that kind of surprised me and, uh, uh, jumped the, uh, price more than I thought it was going to.

Caroline: For sure. Um, is there any advice that you would give to people, uh, starting trucking businesses right now or in the future? Uh, what do you have to say to those folks?

Tim : Uh, if you’re gonna do it right now, you need to be prepared to make company driver pay for probably another year or so. Um, that’s just the way it is.

Tim : I mean, you, you see my numbers right there. That’s slightly better than company driver pay, right? Uh, to be honest. Now the hope is that, okay, the [00:29:00] market’s really bad right now, and this is what I was expecting coming in. It’s not gonna be good, but maybe next year the market starts to improve. Things start to improve, and then I’m like perfectly positioned, uh, for.

Tim : Uh, uh, for the market to improve. But if you’re gonna come into this industry right now and you think you’re gonna make a bunch of money, you’re not, you, you are not going to make very much. You’re gonna make, uh, maybe a little bit more than company driver pay, but not much more. So you need to be in it for, no pun intended, the long haul.

Tim : You need to go for one year, two year, three years. And if you’re just looking to come in, drive for a year or six months and then get out thinking you’re gonna do well, you’d be better off staying as a company driver.

Caroline: Yeah, no kidding. I think that, especially right now, the first six or 12 months of your business at this point needs to be focused on keeping a stellar safety score and just making a really, really good impression on the customers that you haul for.

Caroline: And if you can do those two things and at least [00:30:00] you know, break even and pay your bills, that’s, that puts you in a really good position to then capitalize on. The better times to come. We know this market is cyclical. It’s always gonna have its ups and downs. Right now we’re still kind of in that down period, um, hopefully creeping back up at this point.

Caroline: But those first couple of months, it’s, it’s not about how much can I maximize my rate per mile in that, those first six to 12 months. It’s really about safety and customer relationships.

Tim : Yeah, I would tend to agree, uh, to agree with that. Um, if you’re working so as a new. New authority. You don’t have access to many load boards as well.

Tim : Right. So there, there’s a couple mega brokers out there who will work with you. And if you lose those mega brokers because of, you know, you’re showing up late or doing weird stuff, you’re done. So, uh, yeah, that’s, that’s a really good point. Make sure, um, you’re, you’re working with the brokers. Um. You know, you’re being reasonable toward them ’cause you kind of need them when you’re new, like you need them.

Tim : So [00:31:00] that’s the way it is. So that’s good. That’s a very good point.

Caroline: Awesome. Hey Tim, thank you so much for joining us on this weekend, trekking. This was really cool. You’re so organized. You got all your numbers perfectly, your ducks in a row. Uh, so good for you and, uh, I’m excited to share this out to our community.

Tim : Thank you for having me on.

Caroline: All right. Drive safe everybody.