Creatures of Habit
by Todd Dills
…and especially those whose net income ranks in
the top 25 percent — reveals highlights on the road to success. The
typical high-earning owner-operator is a little more than 50 years old
and has been in business as an owner-operator since he was 30. He makes
more than $70,000 a year after expenses and is three times as likely to
be leased as independent.

The top 25% have these seven practices in common -

Work for percentage of gross

I was always hesitant about working for a percentage, because you’re never sure about where the carrier is drawing their 100% mark and what they tell you is the gross number. I get a copy of the same confirmation from the broker that is sent to my carrier. Plus, I’m able to talk about price at any time with anyone. If a broker tells you he can’t say how much he’s paying, something’s wrong.

Buy your own trailer

Check.

Invest in an APU - According to the Behavior Report, a third of owner-operators have APUs and average $7,000 more in income than those who don’t.

Check. With all the APU’s on the market now, there’s no excuse to idle away your fuel money. Even buying a used truck, you can get an APU put on and included with the financing for the rest of the truck.

Maintain a sizable savings fund

This one we’re still working on.

Do regular oil analysis

Check

Buy new equipment

Check. On both of my used trucks, between the payment and extra maintenance and breaking down, I was paying the equivalent of a new truck payment. Now with a new truck we don’t have the downtime and major work is probably under warranty.

Keep detailed records -This is perhaps the key characteristic of high
earners, Brady says. Making money comes from an awareness of every
piece of the puzzle, from whether a shipper’s paid the fuel surcharge
you asked for, to the fuel economy you’re getting after that in-frame
overhaul, to what the level of metals in your oil means.

I made my own really big spreadsheet, I know what I make and spend per mile and per day for most everything related to the truck.

I would add one more -

Surround yourself with the best. Probably the most important thing I like about this company is that everything is out in the open.  I think because of that and the attitude and vision of the owner, this company has attracted some of the best people that bring their customers with them and are able to get more great customers. They get the customers and we keep the customers with premium hands-on white-glove dependable service.

February was really bad for everyone, we did about the same as other drivers in our company and now I find out we did better than most in our part of the industry (pad wrap).  March was a little below average, but not bad. With new customers and accounts that are coming in, the rest of the year looks pretty good.

Originally posted 2007-04-02 22:55:21.

There are so many people against this, who exactly is pushing this so hard? My thought has always been that it’s the large trucking corporations that invested and partnered with Mexican trucking companies waiting for this day ever since NAFTA came about. The only motive a large corporation has is profit, period. How they are going to get to that profit is what I’m worried about.

In a seemingly unrelated story – Teamsters are trying to take over trucking at the ports in LA and Long Beach. I also remember reading owner operators might be able to organize at the ports. So, what! Can’t you hear the people behind the Super Port and NAFTA Super highways laughing their butts off? The Teamsters will get what they want for about five minutes before the ports shut down and everything moves to Mexico. They are signing their own death warrants.

How the greedy US corporations are going to get their profits and all the drug cartel violence in the Mexican border cities and the increased possibilities for drug and people smuggling, I wouldn’t have a problem with any of this.

Finally I have a reliable source for another side of this story. A US driver that lives and drives in Mexico leaves this comment and has started another blog over here. The drive he mentions sounds like it would be`great. I know my opinion is only based on what is in the news and what I read. I’ve never driven in Mexico and honestly, would be scared to death to go down there on my own, even knowing the little Spanish I do know, I’m sure it wouldn’t be enough. Kind of like driving around Quebec (which I don’t do anymore!) but worse. One thing goes wrong and you’d never hear from me again!

I’m sure it’s a great place to drive around and the people and culture stuff are great and it would be the experience of a lifetime, maybe someday. But for now I’ll live through Porter’s stories and experiences.

Mexico’s numbers still not confirmed from  Roadcheck 2006

 North America’s largest annual inspection blitz for commercial vehicles
is scheduled for June 5, 6 and 7, but the big question is whether
Mexico will participate this year – not to mention the question of what
went on south of the border last year.

The Commercial Vehicle
Safety Alliance’s annual North American Roadcheck program involves
about 10,000 state, provincial and federal officers, and is conducted
at checkpoints and roadside stops throughout North America.

Mexico
reportedly participated last year, but CVSA’s statistics were solely
based on inspections conducted in the U.S. and Canada.

 Stephen Keppler, CVSA director of policy and programs, told Land Line Magazine that Mexico did participate in 2006, but Mexico’s data  was neither immediately available, nor published in a timely fashion.

Keppler explained that the system in the U.S. involves participation
by state and federal officials. In Canada, provincial officials make
the decisions. But Mexico’s participation, he said, is at the sole
discretion of its federal government.

In Roadcheck 2006, CVSA
inspectors in Canada and the U.S. conducted 60,357 truck and bus
inspections in 72 hours, according to CVSA.

Inspectors placed
5.6 percent of those drivers out of service, up from 4.4 percent in
2005. More than 57 percent of the cases where truckers were put out of
service were because of hours-of-service violations, CVSA officials
stated in a report.

– By David Tanner,  staff writer

If Mexican trucks are as safe as US and Canadian trucks, where are the numbers to prove it? With all the corruption in Mexico, could you trust any numbers coming from their inspectors anyway?