That should have read “there is nothing you can do with a tractor unit for a shift for £320 except park it in the yard”
Oh and i forgot road tax in my list of costs , it gets worse !!
Unfortunatly rob i disagree with your costings but im not here to argue with anyone, what i can tell you is hauliers round here are queing up to get these shifts while your wagons sit in the yard still costing you money
Im afraid that you cant change certain costs so nothing to disagree with unless you can buy 30 gallons of fuel for less than anyone else or employ foreigners on £2.00 per hour driving Fl10 volvos worth £1200 quid then its a waste of time , meanwhile my vehicles are out earning sensible money .
Your right were not hear to argue were all in the same game and merely voicing our opinions
Good Luck
Weekend pay? i never mentioned weekend did i
For example, I’ve got one out tonight doing 240 miles of easy 1 drop traction for £450. Decent-ish money for decent service.
I’ve no doubt people are queuing up at Morrisons for their £320 but you’ve only to look at the number of hauliers going to the wall to deduce that people are running their trucks just for the sake of running them and don’t want to be seen to throw the towel in when that is exactly what they should do.
If you are doing the Morrisons work yourself, double shifted with a minimum wage driver and your truck is paid for or has verly low finance then maybe just maybe you could earn a good drivers wage (bonus points for cherry in the tank) but for you to be in there every day and night you’d have to be shagging someone on the planning team anyway. After Christmas, it’ll be thanks but no thanks mate even for the princely sum of £320.
No we dont pull for any supermarkets but we do work for the large parcel companys on pre arranged work at rate agreed before we start, but there are loads of hauliers queing up for the supermarket work,
and if you travel the major routes at night you will see dozens of companies hauling for the parcel networks at £1.30 a mile. and i know thats correct as one of my long time mates is a manager for
a large parcel company.
Aye that’s true enough. Thing is £1.30 has been the going rate for about the last ten years.
i have a truck pulling a trailer on nights for a parcel carrier and i get a lot more than £1.30 a mile.
robdorling has got his sums right,if it dont pay leave the trucks in the yard, i can sit at home and watch daytime and go bust rather than work for nowt.
ive allways wondered how do truck companies make containers pay at £1.15 ppm■■?
why is that rate been knocked so much when theres a hell of alot paying less than that with either the cost of a hire trailer or the cost of your own trailer involved alot longer day much heavier loads you un/loading two days/nights at that could end up paying more than all week on local container work
I dont understand working for that , it doesnt cover costs !!, So how can anyone work for even less ■■?
If anyone works for less they dont deserve to be in business and surely can’t be much longer
Rigt lets get the calculator out (for said 400k 10 hour supermaket shift pulling customers trailer)
Truck (rough cost) £90 per day
Fuel £145.00
Wages £120
licence and insurance £38.72
Tyres £24.44
Depreciation £40.00
Accountancy £7.10
Parking (yard approx per truck) £6.00
Total £471.26
These are rough costs as everyons differ slightly and im sure ive forgotten something but to summarise to make a half decent profit that job should be charged at a minimum of £550.00 , Which to be honest isnt enough as that would only give you £393.70 profit for the truck for the week , As im sure some of you will remind me Stobart or dhl would be happy to make that for the month but we arent Stobart or Dhl so come on lads do your sums and stop fooling yourself into thinking £320 is worth queing up for and only parking up for …
I know this may appear offencive but im a realist and know that my business wouldnt survive many weeks if i werent and im only trying to offer my opinion which your welcome to ignore . . . .
rob everything you write is correct but that still does not stop hauliers working for £1.15 £1.30 £1.50 pence per mile and while they do mr big will take advantage, and when they go bust another batch of nupties arrive to take their place.
i dont get some of those figures one bit truck ,licence n insurance,tyres and depriciation mainly ,are you saying youve got to make that estimated 471 before you start making profit
How can you not get the figures ■■?
They are fact unless your euro 5 which tax is £10 per day less !! or obviously an older truck then your hp and depreciation costs will reduce by a few quid but your maintenance costs will increase !!
Why work for less and run an old truck or not generate funds to replace said old truck ?
Thats excactly what im saying which is why i make a profit and have the figures to back up such a post !!
earlier this week we were offered a brand new quality truck on a five year lease at £300 a week,
but we purchase outright and run em till they are old or knackered
i never said you dont make profit i just asked a question i aint knocking you your right everyones running costs are different i run an older truck so i can personally sleep at night .older truck higher maintenance cost not quite true always .get your costs down and you can work for less but when you do get a better paying job you make a dam sight more money out of it.
I too am not knocking anyone , I just dont like to see anyone who takes the risk of running thier own truck/trucks and works hard not make a healthy profit. When you invest alot of money and time into being a haulier or any other business you should reap the rewards you are due .
Good Luck 
In 1989 I was getting a £1 a mile with a second hand transit. It was worthwhile THEN! It’s clear that some people don’t understand the real costs involved in running a vehicle of any sort!
Well at least one thing, you can’t knock Rob for his honesty in posting some figures on here to back up his case.
Ken.
DAF DAVE:
i have a truck pulling a trailer on nights for a parcel carrier and i get a lot more than £1.30 a mile.
robdorling has got his sums right,if it dont pay leave the trucks in the yard, i can sit at home and watch daytime and go bust rather than work for nowt.
ive allways wondered how do truck companies make containers pay at £1.15 ppm■■?
Your right dave but it’s owner drivers who run for £1.15 per mile on containers, trucking companies would get considerably more.
lee mat:
why is that rate been knocked so much when theres a hell of alot paying less than that with either the cost of a hire trailer or the cost of your own trailer involved alot longer day much heavier loads you un/loading two days/nights at that could end up paying more than all week on local container work
Because the people doing it are deluded and are working like Satan’s arse wiper for a pittance and only lining the pockets of people with more sense than them. Owner drivers are some of the most hard working and committed people in industry, why should they not make a decent living for their efforts?
I am not knocking anyone who wants to do it at that “money”, each to their own but I just find it amazing that’s all. Not to mention if these chaps stopped running for crap money the rates in general would go up. 
There’s also the allure of running for the low money in the hope of getting something better down the road & to be fair this is how I started. Hope is like crack for owner drivers. If you’re running for these rates & constantly trying to get something better then maybe I can see the point.
Many, many owner drivers have gone bankrupt and lost everything running for those rates, you only have to read through previous posts in the forums to know this. I suppose there’s some people that if they can make £25 per week running a truck on top of a wage then they are happy enough but 
if theres no money in it why or how are people wanting to do it other than there is profit in it on there own costs theres a big difference in working monday for a payment towards your new truck or working monday on a older truck for a payment towards insurance, parking ,fuel etc