Already I'm ranting about trucking

It's been a week since I reported how my trucking idea was going.

I had a truck picked out in Atlanta for $25,000. They were/are working on getting $13,000 financed for me. Since I have not worked in the industry for 5 years and I'm out of work currently lenders are skeptical about lending money.

I'm not worried. It's not like I have to go back to trucking tomorrow. In fact that is exactly what I don't want to have to do. If or when I go back I want it to be on my terms.

So in the mean time I signed up to "Internet Truck Stop" to start watching where loads are at and how much there paying. It's pathetic!

Right now there are 957 flatbed loads posted in a 60 mile radius of Augusta, GA.
Of those loads some actually post the rate. For example:

AUGUSTA GA - T0 - COURTLAND AL $550.00 410 miles
That is $1.34 per mile.

If I averaged 55 miles per hour it would take 7 1/2 hours to get there and that ain't including going to get the load, getting it loaded, strapping/chaining or tarping it down. That would leave me $341 after I took out fuel. Take out meals, insurance, maintenance, internet service so I can book loads from on the road, $3 per page for faxes that truck stops charge so I get the load in the first place, then another $9 to scale out my truck to make sure I'm under my legal weight limit.

If you don't have a truck payment you may be OK with rates like that but so many driver have new trucks or lease agreements so after they take those things out and along with their high truck payment they are left with nothing but their truck they live in.

The last company I worked for was not a trucking company.
I drove a standard GMC van that averaged 18 miles to the gallon and cost about $12,000 used when they bought it.
When I made a service call they billed $1 per mile plus $65 per hour while I traveled to and from the site and time on site.
So if I went 50 miles to make a service call and was on site for 1 hour they charged
$100 mileage
$195 labor.
___________
Total of $295 for 3 hours. That is if I didn't use any parts.

Now - Back to driving. Driving an 18-wheeler with a commercial driving license brokers try to dictate how much I should make. Many drivers take loads like that and they are driving down rates or keeping rates low. It pisses me off.

Not all are that bad. Here is another load going from:
MODOC SC - to - MOUNT MEIGS AL $450.00 for 299 miles
That breaks down to $1.50 per mile.
No load in my opinion should pay less than $2 per mile.

I found another truck on Ebay that was repossessed. It's in West Virginia. Actually it was a flatbed trailer I was looking at. When I called about it I asked if they had any trucks that they were looking to get rid of and he told me yeah, the one hooked to the trailer. He said it is a 1999 International with 1-million miles. He said he would let it go for $7000 and the trailer for $5000. Then he said he could let the package go for $11,000.
He gave me the phone number of where the truck was and when I called about it the manager woman said there not selling trucks on the internet so I sent her the link to the trailer off Ebay and gave her guy's name and phone number.

She said she would get back to me and send me an Email to trucks there auctioning so I could bid if I wanted to. So in the meantime I thought I'd write about it.

Also since I signed up with Internet Truck Stop I have been getting calls to haul loads from brokers. Right after I signed in I accidentally listed my truck in Augusta and a lady called within 2 minutes for me to haul 1 of 3 loads she had. I asked her how much they paid and it was about as much as the loads listed above, not to much. I quickly took my truck listing off and have received 2 more calls from the some man, one last night and one today, asking me if I had a truck available in Augusta. I said no, I don't have a truck listed. I checked and it's not listed.

Now I almost want to buy a cheap truck and trailer just so I can sit home and list it and cuss out someone wanting me to haul for for a crappy $1.30 a mile load. If it wasn't for having to pay $130 a week for insurance I would.