Can I have $140,000?

[Narrock]

http://www.truckpaper.com/listings/deta ... fc5f30321c

[Nusk]

only if i can charge ass raping amount of interest

[Narrock]

I'm kind of in a quandary. I can stay with my current company and keep receiving a decent income, benefits, and an impressive profit-sharing plan, OR get this rig (for about $1800/mo) and become an owner-operator making about $1100-$1200 a day 5 days a week. Fuel runs about $200/day, and I'd have to get my own health insurance. Decisions, decisions...

[Gaazy]

Thats a pretty bad as rig ole buddy.

Theres a guy around here who owns his own rig and does his own little business doing heavy hauling and shit that does a lot of long haul freight work for me, hauls all my equipment out west to like Colorado, Illinois, or Indiana. Hes got older Peterbilt truck that he's put tens of thousands of dollars into. Ill take pictures of it next time hes out here if I think about it. Hes got fucking plasma TVs mounted in it, big ass bed, all amenities a house would have, completely custom done interior and dash work and all that, the outside is totally customized paint job and chromed out and shit. Its fuckin bad ass. But actually I dont think he even has a house. Hes single, no kids, nothing like that, and just lives out of his truck lol. All he does is drive, and makes a fucking pile of money too. I guess for his lifestyle, he lives like a damn king lol. Id get so fucking bored and lonely id probably kill myself after a while.

[Gaazy]

Just saw your next post after I posted mine lol. Have you ever thought about doin heavy hauling contracts? Theres great money in that if theres a need for it in your area. Its huge around here, but thats because the coal business, so I dunno what it would be like over there.

but then again, if you got into that, youd have to buy some expensive ass trailors too, like a nice big landall with winches or a big low boy

[Narrock]

Pete's were my favorite truck until I saw this new series of Lonestar's by International. It looks so retro and badass. I drive a 2004 Kenworth now, and it has a sleeper cab, but I'm local... not over-the-road. It's still nice to have a sleeper cab though because sometimes you get a lot of trucks in line ahead of you at the refineries. I had to wait 4 hours at the Shell refinery 2 days ago. I'm home every night and have weekends off. If I did become an owner-operator, I'd still haul propane because it's fairly consistent year-round, and SUPER busy in the winter months.

[Narrock]

Just saw your next post after I posted mine lol. Have you ever thought about doin heavy hauling contracts? Theres great money in that if theres a need for it in your area. Its huge around here, but thats because the coal business, so I dunno what it would be like over there.

but then again, if you got into that, youd have to buy some expensive ass trailors too, like a nice big landall with winches or a big low boy

I know a guy who has his own rig and low boy flatbed. When I was unloading a couple weeks ago, he was delivering some 500-gallon propane tanks to our yard and he asked me if we were hiring any more bulk transport drivers. lol We only have 6 drivers in California, and no extra bulk transfer tanks. He was bummed because work is getting scarce for him.

[Gaazy]

Yeah I figured over there it may be a little different in the heavy haul section. Unless you could get some kind of contracts with contractors or heavy equipment operators or somethin. Around here, they stay on the road 7 days a week moving equipment around shit, noooonstop. I mean, Ive got a couple guys I can put on the road 2 or 3 days a week each. And thats just my company, and theres 3 or 4 other equipment companies in this this general area. So they stay booked up all the damn time. Now that diesel prices have gone back down its a lot more affordable, ill tell ya that. Godamn those freight prices were gettin expensive back when it was like 5 bucks a gallon. Sending out a couple trucks a week loaded up was costing a godamn fortune

[Narrock]

Diesel is about $2.29/gal. in the Sacramento area. See, that's the scary thing about being an owner-operator. You can't call the finance company and say, "Yeah, um... I didn't have that much work this month so I have to skip this month's payment." They'd be like, "Yeah, um... fuck you. Pay us." It's great that the guy you know has lots of work lined up. I hope it keeps up like that.

[Gaazy]

Yeah you said it, you never know whats gonna be right down the road. Its a little over 2 a gallon here right now, at least where I filled up a few days ago, and ya never know, it could hike back up to 4 here soon and makin the payments could go to shit, theres a risk to everything though /shrug

Another guy is the same way that does a lot for me, except he has his own little delivery business and runs all kinds of trucks. He has 1 or 2 small trucks, like little toyotas for hauling small stuff for me, then hes got 3 or 4 F-350 1 ton bed trucks for a bit bigger stuff, then hes got 2 killer rollbacks that I use all the time, and then hes got 2 big rigs with 2 low boys, 2 landalls, and a big regular flat bed. He keeps all those trucks on the road most days of the week. Hes been in it a long time though and has just kinda built it up over the years, now hes got it made. He can keep his rates better than anyone else with that many trucks, and hes got a truck for any size load. One of his rollbacks is a regular 3 axle, but then hes got one that is a fucking monster, its got 4 axles, and fuck, the winches on that thing are monsters too. Its the only one in southern WV that I know of, and he can haul 100 ton miners with it. That truck had to cost him a small fortune, but wheres hes the only one anywhere around here that can haul that kind of loads, they pay for themselves pretty quick.

Theres so many little delivery services like that around here, I cant remember a time that I have had trouble finding a truck for anything. Their just dime a dozen here, and they all stay busy too with all the mines and shit here

[KaiineTN]

It'd be fun to try driving something like that, without a trailer.

Didn't realize truck driving could be that profitable, but I guess you are away from home a lot and such. Lots of sacrifices in that line of work.

[KaiineTN]

That looks more fun.

[Gaazy]

Yeah, if you do all long hauls like a lot of people, theres a whole lot of sacrifice that a lot of people dont think about. As annoying as they can be on the roads, everything you touch pretty much has been on a truck at some point, and a lot of those drivers do sacrifice a lot of family time and such to do it. Even if a lot of them dont know how to do anything else...still lol.

Trucks are easy as shit to drive. Spend 10 minutes in one going across a parking lot and youd have it figured out in no time. Even with a trailor its easy. Backing a trailor up that big is ridiculously easy with the wheel bases so long. Now what gets tricky is trying to take a 100 ton equipment load down a huge, long grade mountain hehe.

[Narrock]

Truck driving schools are at all time high enrollment levels right now because of all the lay-offs. Driving a truck isn't that easy though. A lot of companies require a minimum of 3 years experience as a Class A driver before they'll even talk to you. They don't want noobs tearing up their transmissions or not knowing what off-tracking is to negotiate turns properly. You also need to be cognizant of road hazards common to truckers, and you're constantly concentrating on the road and watching your mirrors. My 13-speed took a while to master. You don't just have the splitter switch to shift from the low to high gears, but you also have another split switch that splits each gear. It helps a lot when pulling steep grades. let's say I start off in 3rd gear (empty trailer)... I start rolling and click into 4th. Then shift into 5th, wind her up, and click into 6th. Then split the gears from low to high and shift into 7th. Wind her up again then click into 8th, and so on. If you're not paying attention to where you were at with your last gear you'll be fucked when you need to shift again. lol Then there's knowing when and how to use the clutch properly. I usually only use it to start rolling. Then after that you just shift without using the clutch when the RPM's are right. Sometimes you have to feather the clutch to get her in gear. When downshifting, you have to double-clutch or you'll grind the fuck out of your gears. You're also not supposed to use your Jakes in the rain when driving deadhead because that empty trailer just doesn't grip the pavement like a full trailer and your trailer can slide out to the side, and you'll be looking at it when you look out your window. You get the hang of it after a while, but it takes some driving to get it down pat. I also have a shitload of paperwork to do every day. Gotta love hazmat!

Oh, and at this stage in my life I wouldn't be an over-the-road trucker. They are typically out 10-14 days, and get 2-3 days in. F that! I do work 12-14 hours a day, mostly about 12, but I'm home every night and have weekends off. I just ended this week with exactly 60 hours.

[Nusk]

surprised no one else posted this

[Narrock]

"Westbound and down, loaded up and truckin. We gonna do what they say can't be done..." hahaha that song owns.

Smokey and the Bandit was awesome!

[Jay]

Mindia bro. Call me on this if you wanna talk in depth but here's my take on it.

There is nothing in this world that can match being your own boss. Financially obviously it can go one way or the other but I think in the long run owning your own deal sets your family up for a much better potential future. It's a risk, but you'll find it more rewarding. Also, as an owner and a father who's getting older, you might not want to be driving and lifting too much as the years go by. Owning your deal allows you to fill that role otherwise, take more of a desk position and spend time with the kid. That's my 2 cents.

[Tikker]

Didn't realize truck driving could be that profitable, but I guess you are away from home a lot and such. Lots of sacrifices in that line of work.

you also have to take out a ton of expenses out of that money that he mentioned

you can make good money, but like most jobs that pay a lot, there's a lot of sacrifices, responsibilities, etc etc

[Narrock]

Mindia bro. Call me on this if you wanna talk in depth but here's my take on it.

There is nothing in this world that can match being your own boss. Financially obviously it can go one way or the other but I think in the long run owning your own deal sets your family up for a much better potential future. It's a risk, but you'll find it more rewarding. Also, as an owner and a father who's getting older, you might not want to be driving and lifting too much as the years go by. Owning your deal allows you to fill that role otherwise, take more of a desk position and spend time with the kid. That's my 2 cents.

I appreciate your input Jay, and I agree with you 100%. I know I can make a better life for my family if I get my own rig. The difference between success and failure with owning your own business is largely dependent upon your attitude, tenacity, and willingness to give it everything you've got. As a trucker, that would mean putting in hours upon hours on the road, spending time away from the family on occasion, and having to "live" in your truck quite often. I've got an "in" with my company if I decide to buy my own rig and become an owner-operator. They will continue to give me work. Most of the districts I deliver propane to are within a 4-hour radius of Sacramento... so that's a big plus right from the start, and I won't be a regular over-the-road trucker. My fiance works for Blue Shield of California, and will continue working there after delivery of the baby, so I will go on her medical insurance plan. The things that I need to be concerned with are: Fuel expenses; Putting money into an account for tires, maintenance, possible breakdowns, etc; And of course... making sure I continue to get good loads that pay well. My company pays all hazmat permits, and fees for their owner-operators.

Bulk-transfer of propane requires very little physical exertion. All you do is connect a liquid line and a vapor line. The guys who have to do a lot of physical work are the Bobtail truck drivers who deliver propane to houses and businesses. The only thing you have to be careful of is static electricity, but you always ground your truck and trailer before connecting any hoses. I've seen quite a few propane drivers in their 70's. You learn a lot by talking to them.

I'm going to seriously think of a way to get this truck that I posted. I'll probably wait until after the baby is born though. The carrot-on-the-stick is the money potential. Making $1100/day sounds much more appealing than $1100/wk. :P

Here's the exact type of tank I pull:

[Gaazy]

Yeah, like tik said too, theres a lot of responsibilities in it too. Especially in the deadlines. If I need something delivered by a certain time before shift change, you better be damn sure you can do it when you take the job, because if its not and I get bitched at, I sure as hell arent paying you for messing the run up.

and like tik said, lots of expenses too. Truck maint. is a big thing. Truck parts are expensive as hell. My first summer job when I was 15 was on my uncles coal truck lot. On those rutted up roads and shit, your all the time breaking leaf springs and shit like that. They add up real fast. then you gotta take into mind having to pay people to fix it for you, unless you know how to work on the truck yourself, which is still downtime when you could be hauling and making money. Grr, bad memories now. Every single fucking day of that summer Id change at least 2 leaf springs a day. those heavy ass bastards were a bitch. I had it down to a science I did it so much. A truck would come in and Id hear the sound of a broken spring, and id go into zombie mode and change it without thinking. Gah, but I think the worst mindia was changing those godamn big ass lift jacks on the dump trailors. Then at least twice a day one of the idiot truckers would manage to not lower their trailor tarp all the way and would rip it off on a bridge or something, so Id get to play monkey boy and climb around changing those. Yeah, since I worked for my uncle, he put me through hell. Id get to do ALL the bitch jobs while the other mechanics sat on their asses. Gotta love family jobs


Just like any job, youve got to pay attention to what your doing. The truck lot I worked on, ran 48 haul trucks, and we have had a couple different trucks now (right now we just have a '96 Autocar rollback), so Ive drive around in quite a few different kinds of trucks. And for me, they were all easy to pick up on. Took no time at all to pick up on. Id say the hardest thing to get right was double clutching, and it just took a few tries and i had it. Driving a truck loaded with 100,000 lbs. of coal coming over the top was always fun~

[Gaazy]

Mindia bro. Call me on this if you wanna talk in depth but here's my take on it.

There is nothing in this world that can match being your own boss. Financially obviously it can go one way or the other but I think in the long run owning your own deal sets your family up for a much better potential future. It's a risk, but you'll find it more rewarding. Also, as an owner and a father who's getting older, you might not want to be driving and lifting too much as the years go by. Owning your deal allows you to fill that role otherwise, take more of a desk position and spend time with the kid. That's my 2 cents.

I appreciate your input Jay, and I agree with you 100%. I know I can make a better life for my family if I get my own rig. The difference between success and failure with owning your own business is largely dependent upon your attitude, tenacity, and willingness to give it everything you've got. As a trucker, that would mean putting in hours upon hours on the road, spending time away from the family on occasion, and having to "live" in your truck quite often. I've got an "in" with my company if I decide to buy my own rig and become an owner-operator. They will continue to give me work. Most of the districts I deliver propane to are within a 4-hour radius of Sacramento... so that's a big plus right from the start, and I won't be a regular over-the-road trucker. My fiance works for Blue Shield of California, and will continue working there after delivery of the baby, so I will go on her medical insurance plan. The things that I need to be concerned with are: Fuel expenses; Putting money into an account for tires, maintenance, possible breakdowns, etc; And of course... making sure I continue to get good loads that pay well. My company pays all hazmat permits, and fees for their owner-operators.

Bulk-transfer of propane requires very little physical exertion. All you do is connect a liquid line and a vapor line. The guys who have to do a lot of physical work are the Bobtail truck drivers who deliver propane to houses and businesses. The only thing you have to be careful of is static electricity, but you always ground your truck and trailer before connecting any hoses. I've seen quite a few propane drivers in their 70's. You learn a lot by talking to them.

I'm going to seriously think of a way to get this truck that I posted. I'll probably wait until after the baby is born though. The carrot-on-the-stick is the money potential. Making $1100/day sounds much more appealing than $1100/wk. :P

Here's the exact type of tank I pull:

You said it, running your own business takes a lot. You better be prepared to give it everything youve got. If you ever need any help or anything, i'll do everything I can to give ya the best advice I can. The company we started from scratch may be a different kind of business, but theres still basic business principles that I wish we would have known when we started up. Ended up learning some thing the hard way lol, the very hard way, as in it costing us lots of money at times. If I knew then what I know now, its hard to tell how much further ahead we would be, but I guess that just how it works, you live and learn. Thats part of the fun in starting a company haha. One thing it comes down to is making every single penny count

[Narrock]

Cool Gaazy, thanks. It's funny you mentioned leaf springs. I was off for a week and a half last month because upon my pre-trip inspection, I noticed there was a crack in the left side spring equalizer. I called my boss and he put the truck out of service immediately and I drove it to the truck shop around the corner. I got 2 brand new spring equalizers, 2 new leaf springs (the new 1-piece composite type), 4 new brake drums, all new brake pads, and a new king pin because the old one was so worn out it was about to slip past the jaws at any time. I missed that because it was so packed full of grease in there. So anyway, it's like I have a brand new trailer now. Last year I had 2 brake chambers crack off the axles because California highways have so many goddamned ruts and potholes that wreak havoc on your suspension.

About on-time delivery... that seems to never be an issue with propane. When we get loads for propane districts it's because their tanks are below 55%. They almost always have "more than enough" for the day. You're pretty much just "topping them off" with your load. You can only load propane storage tanks to 85% of their capacity because propane expands. Bulk-transport tanks hold approximately 30% of a storage tank's volume. So, theoretically... if a storage tank is at 55%, after unloading, you'll bring it up to 85%. Many times when the transport drivers arrive at their destination, the storage tank is over 55%. That happened to me 2 days ago. I had to sit and wait for the bobtails to come in and load up to make room for my load because their tank was at 66%. I had to wait 3 hours. It's cool though, because you get paid hourly when you have to sit on your ass and wait. We get paid by the load, plus extra money for wait time.

[Jay]

Family is important but looking at it logically, if I had to spend time away from my kid, it'd be the time in which he/she won't remember. I think if you're gonna do a lot of initial start up work to get your own rig, the best time to be absent would be in your childs infant years. Obviously i don't mean completely absent, but what I mean is that it's better to miss a few moments of drooling and non sensical gibberish than to miss a kid's first day of school, first game, first ballet thinger whatever it is that the kid will consciously hold against you.

[Gidan]

Tell that to mom.

[Jay]

Well I'm not saying completely be out of your kid's life. I mean if you're gonna take a few extra hours a day for an x amount of time then it should be early on rather than later on when your kid's coherent and wants to ask you shit or toss a ball around.