Run Smart Trucking

12/17/2023

Well folks, I know I don't post much here, but all the info is still relevant...

If you can't come up with a Working Break Even Number, then you don't need to be an Owner/Operator...

The info on figuring out your own personal Break Even is all here on this page, you may have to skip a few other things to find stuff, but I guess I can put it all right here again...

First cost is your Fuel, that is your #1 Expense, and to figure out your fuel mileage, or for a good average you need to track Every Fuel purchase for 3 months, along with keeping accurate mileage numbers... For Example... Last month I drove 8,892 miles on 1,335.762 Gallons of Fuel, so my Fuel milage last month was 6.565 MPG... If you do this for 3 months you can get an average that will work for you very well... Now figuring your cost per mile on Fuel is a little weird, but not terribly hard... Example 4.579 per gallon devided by 6.656 MPG Equals out to$0.69 cents per mile for your fuel cost...
Next on the list is your wages, None of us work for free, and paying yourself something is always a good idea, I normally set my base pay at $0.45 a mile
Third on this list is your Maintenance, I automatically put $0.60 a mile away for repairs, this includes tires
Fourth on that list is your truck payment, if it's a weekly payment you figure it out like this... Example, $945.00 a week Devided by 7 days, devided again by your Average Daily Milage... Again we are using an average number for your mileage, but again it is a little easier to know your Average Daily Milage Example for this number is. You are running on Average 120,000 miles a year, and you are out for 300 days for the year, that puts your Average Daily Mileage at 400 miles a day. Now take your payment, $945.00÷7=135.00 now devide that number by your daily mileage... $135.00÷400=$0.34 per mile
So let's add up where we are right now not including Health insurance, or expenses at home
$0.69+$0.45+$0.60+$0.34= $2.08 a mile just to cover the basic costs for operating your truck... Not including your Health insurance, or your bills at home...

I know this seems really difficult to sometimes understand, but I'm trying to help you understand where you need to be minimum to break even, not to turn a profit,

Please remember I can work your exact numbers for you to help you understand better, these are just examples, not actual numbers that I'm running for anyone, or a particular truck payment these are just average numbers that I know a re somewhat factual...

Please remember to like the page if you find it useful, and check back from time to time of any new information becomes a ailable...

Speed Safely, Drive SANE, and Have a Merry CHRISTmas...

06/24/2023

Today is the 24th of June 2023, and Biden is STILL The ABSOLUTE WORST US President in American History...

04/25/2023

Well as we see fuel start to climb again, Where do you think it will stop this time? Remember Fuel is your #1 Expense of running your truck... Here in Tulsa I'm seeing fuel in that $3.699 level, I'm sure PA, and IL are higher, but remember to buy fuel in those states to help your IFTA numbers, Remember high tax states will lower your IFTA Bill to some extent... Also re.ember the math to figure out your fuel cost per mile... If you've forgotten, or are not exactly sure it's somewhat easy...

Fuel cost devided by your monthly MPG
(Example) 3.699÷5.5= $0.627545 per mile or $0.63 per mile just in fuel cost. Your wages are #2 on that list, you don't work for free on paper anyway... #3 on that list needs to be your Maintenance Cost, and I've always kept mine at $0.60 a mile to cover main Maintenance issues, Oil Changes, Tires, possibly an engine rebuild it all depends on your own following of some of the rules...

So let's Recap...
Fuel. .63 per mile
Wages. .45 per mile
Maintenance. .60 per mile
Grand total for just those 3 = $1.68 a mile to cover Fuel, Maintenance, and your Wages... If you add in Insurance, Tags, Phone/ Internet, Load Boards, and a little for Misc You still can't pull anything under $2.15 a mile, and Break Even... We are all in business to turn a Profit, not to work to just Break Even... I hope this helps you all, and if you have specific questions feel free to message me via email @gmail.com, or send me a message on Messeage me directly at Steve Bussone on Messenger... Or Steve Busson3 on Twitter... Take care, and more to come soon enough...

10/04/2022

Today is the 4th of October, of 2022, and Biden is STILL The WORST US President in American History...

08/31/2022

For those either following this page, or to those who know about this page I thank you... I will always try to keep the information Relevant, and Honest... Those of you that know me personally, know that I've done some really stoopid things in the past, up to, and including getting my self thrown into Facisist Book Jail... Anyway this Page is here to help people figure out a working Break Even Point. A place to get the info so you can eventually learn how to turn a profit... I've spent the last 28 or 29 years making things work to suit my needs, and I'd be a complete di****ad if I didn't share the information with the world...

With that being said, I guess the best place to start this conversation is knowing what your actual fuel mileage is. This will take 3 months of data to do it correctly... To do this you need to track your monthly miles from the start of the month to the end of the month. Next you need to keep track of fuel purchased, for the month in Gallons, not dollars, at the end of each Month you subtract your end milage from your start milage you then total up your gallons for the month and devide the total miles by the gallons for your average fuel economy... NEVER TRUST the computer read out on your dash it may give you a snapshot, but it's not an accurate value to use for figuring your true MPG...

A good example for this is this math problem... 10,000 miles divided by Gallons 1,818.181 will be 5.5 MPG if that is the number you get every month for 3 months then that is your average Fuel Milage from that you can then figure out your fuel cost per mile, and then you have your #1 Expense for running your truck...

So figure fuel is at $5.159 a gallon what is your cost to operate to just cover the fuel in this case at 5.159 your cost per mile for fuel at 5.5 MPG is $0.93 a mile...

I Hope this helps, and remember you can contact me through Messenger, or by phone from 04:30 to 19:00 (4:30 to 7:00 Pm)

05/08/2022

Like I have stated in the past I don't push products, but I do push service practices... My last oil sample was showing a 10% fuel dilution, so a full service oil change was required... I know my engine is making oil, aka fuel dilution, as soon as I possibly can get back to Albert Lea MN it's going back in the shop to correct this issue... I'm not impressed with this shop, and their practices, but they are the ones that did the work, so they will have to fix their f**k up... One other repair done by these f**ks cost me $8,200.00 on the road to fix... All because their techs don't believe in using blue locktite when installing transmission mounting bolts... Clutch explosions are kinda cool on the drag strip, not in a parking lot while trying to park in a spot... If possible, go elsewhere for repairs KW, Peterbilt, Freightliner, Yes their labor rate might be a bit higher, but the quality of work supports it... If I didn't have a deleted truck I could go anywhere, but because of my delete. I'm limited on places to get s**t fixed...
On a similar note... If I were to open my shop in Tulsa, would I be able to keep busy? I don't know at this point in time, that's why I'm asking you first...

Anyway, take care, Drive SANE, and Good Day...

07/29/2021

Steve here::: I will start my maintenance column here again... I dont normally push products, but I do push service practices... Today I am going to shine a light on Scheduled oil sampling or S.O.S. as Caterpillar will call it... I've been using S.O.S. for years, and I trust the results I get. The last 2 trucks I've owned have been on S.O.S. I use a bypass filtration system on the truck I'm in now, and what a difference... Again I don't normally push products, but I will push a service... The bypass system I'm using is the Gulf Coast Filter, it cleans your oil down to 1 Micron, along with S.O.S. the oil sample costs about 13 to 15 bucks for your sample, and results, but the results are easy to read, and understand my last sample I will add to this post, for starting this system at 350,000 miles on the engine when I started using this system. The costs a bit high, but it's well worth the the cost... The savings in oil changes alone will pay for the filtration system in a year... You will increase the life of your engine, it's normal for people using this system to go 1,000,000 miles or more without a full service oil change (a complete drain, and fill) The service interval is 10,000 miles, pull a sample, change the 2 filters in the unit, change your fuel filters, grease the unit, add 3 Gallons of make up oil, and you are done for about $253.50 versus $460.00. I believe this could help a lot of people save a lot of money in the life of their equipment I know it will be used from here on out on anything I own... For more information on this system call Gulf Coast, or email Steven A Barras
GULF COAST FILTERS, INC.
www.gulfcoastfilters.com
P O Box 11207
New Iberia, La. 70562
Cell 337.319.8240

02/28/2021

Well it still amazes me that people are willing to go into a lease/purchase deal with pay starting at $0.95 a mile +fuel surcharge... Average pay to the truck at $1.05 a mile... I made this page for true numbers figures, if you think you are going to be profitable at $1.05, you really need to know your true numbers...

So let's break this down...
Truck payment $900.00 a week = at 500 miles a day $0.28
Fuel is #2 on the list and at 6.5 MPG your fuel is going to run you $0.47 per mile,
Your wages is # 3 on this list, and that is your own worth per mile I set mine at $0.45
Maintenance is also your concern I've always had it at $0.30 a mile
Your phone bill needs to be added in, can't work without a phone average bill is about $100.00 a month $0.01 per mile
Health insurance is a necessity a good plan can be expensive $1400.00 a month $0.11 a mile.

So where do we stand at this point...

Payment .28
Fuel. .47
Wages. .45
M.t.c. .30
Phone. .01
Insurance .11

Total cost per mile to operate your lease truck $1.32 per mile... And this is not figuring in your bills at home...

So if you are in a Lease Purchase deal at $1.05 per mile you are paying the company $0.27 per mile to operate your truck that you are buying off of them...

Again this is just a rough break down using numbers that I've been told by some of these companies that do this... Think long, and hard before signing on the dotted line...

It took me 25 years to figure this all out, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I am telling you to crunch the numbers... Figure out if this is the best option, or the best path to go... Most truck payments run between $900.00 to $1100.00 a week, and unless you are running a dedicated run with big miles each day you might be able to pull 500 to 550 a day at best for mileage... my average daily mileage is 451, and I run a lot of OD freight all mileage was figured on 451 miles a day in the above calculations... Good Luck, and if you have questions my phone is always on... Call me, or shoot a message on messenger... I will answer your questions truthfully with using your numbers...

Thank You... Steve

12/13/2019

11/07/2019

Effective immediately, every employee is required to remain in the office 24 hours a day starting Monday at 5:00am.

Each employee will remain in the office and will not go home until 9:00 pm on Friday

Occasions may arise when employees will not be allowed to go home till late on Saturday.

Each employee must bring all clothing and personal necessities that they require with them.

The company will provide a storage space approximately 2 feet wide by 2 feet deep by 5 feet long for each employee to store their personal items.
The employee should be aware however, that this space is subject to inspection by company or government personnel.

Employees will be given a 6'x3'x2" mattress to sleep on. Employees must provide their own bedding.

Their sleeping environment will be very noisy and there will likely be several interruptions of sleep during each evening.

All personal phone calls and business calls will be made via employees’ cell phones which they will be solely responsible for paying for.

Public restrooms, showers will be provided, but a fee will be charged for these services.

Employees will bring their own food for the week or eat fast food. Either way, the employee will not be allowed to eat at home.

During their nonworking hours, employees will be allowed to participate in any activity they choose, so long as it is in the place they finished their last shift, and does not involve spending time with their children or significant others.

Furthermore, each employee will be required to maintain a record of work done each week

The amount of time given to complete their work will be strictly regulated and occasionally, the employee will be given more work than they can complete in the allotted

Also, you will only receive pay for your regular shift and there will be no compensation for the non working time.

Would you work for a company under these conditions?

WELCOME TO TRUCKING.

Tell me again how your 9-10 hour a day office job is getting too much for you!!