Another Level III Inspection

Tonight with 12 only miles to go, after running 10.5 hours or 630 miles, I get pulled over in Indiana on I-70.
I was going east and planned on stopping at the Petro at mile marker 156. I got pulled over at mile marker 145, I know because I stopped on the exit ramp. The police wrote up mile marker 135 on his report but that is incorrect because there is no exit at 135.

But that is beside the point. He wrote me up for speeding. I might of been speeding slightly but not by much.
I had my cruise set at 68 mph and the speed is 70 MPH for cars and 65 MPH for trucks.

Because traffic was heavy I was unable my use my cruise and was floating between 65 and maybe 72.

There was a lot of traffic including truck traffic with a lot of 63-65 MPH company trucks so I was passing and trying to stay out of the left lane and at the same time keep up with flowing traffic.

That's when I spotted the SUV doing a U-turn in the median. He flipped around about 2 truck lengths in front of me and there was a lot of car and truck traffic passing so he got into traffic back behind me somewhere.

When he pulled me over he had been riding beside me for about 3 miles when he eventually dropped behind me and turned his light on.

My speed was fluctuating between 60 and 70 keeping up with all the traffic. The whole time he was beside me. I was aware he was there but because there was so much traffic we basically all just kept rolling.

The issue is he only gave me a warning but wrote me up on a CSA form.

The other issue for me is these reports. I have had 8 inspections in 2 years, 9 including this one. When compared to larger carriers they are averaging 1.2 inspections per driver compared to my now 9. Of the nine inspections only two had violations the other 7 were no violations found. It just seems to out of balance.

June's Monthly Report

June's Monthly Report

June is over and so is half the year. So this month I am showing June's totals along with my Year to Date.

June I ran 9297 miles for an average $2.47 cpm.
June I grossed $22,925 and netted $10,640
That leaves me with a net of $1.12 cpm to me.

All expenses for the month are laid out to the left.

Just because I have a high net profit this month don't really mean much. Anything could happen from loads dropping off to large breakdowns. Money will be needed to cover those future things.

Remember...I have a new truck and a fairly high truck payment. A truck down in the shop means no incoming revenue for those days plus money pouring out in repairs. So I'll take these overly high income months to make up for poor income months to come.

Oh, I did get fined this month for being over weight. I loaded out on Long Island. There are no scales out there. I loaded up about 2pm and by the time I got to NJ it was already after 4pm.

Tolls to go back would of cost more than the fine not to mention it would of been Monday before they reopened. Sometimes it's better to cut your loss. However in my defense, I did request extra pay but was denied. Since this was scrap and the shipper is paid by the ton, I should of got extra for the extra weight.

May's Report

May's Report

In May I took a week off at the first of the month and a week off toward the end of the month but still managed to clear $3775.

Total gross was $14,720

 I ran 7240 miles for an average of $2.02 to the hub.

After some minor truck repairs and having a steer tire replaced I managed to net $3775

April's Report

Aprils' Monthly Report

April was another good month.
I ran 10,478 miles for an average of $2.11 to the hub.

I earned $22,213, spent  $8288 leaving me a profit of $8288.

Would of been better but I put money into my trailer fixing minor things but those minor things add up quickly.

March's Report

March Income and expense

My income and expense report for March
My third month under my own authority.
I ran 10,128 miles and earned $23,022
An average of $2.27 to the hub.

No major happenings this month.

February's Report

My second month out as a complete Independent O/O and I had the most impressive Net.
 This month I was left with $9041 out of $22,400 gross.

Last year I did $22,000 two different months and once I was left with only $2000 new out of that, very depressing.

Again I have a new truck and many repairs was done on my old truck last year and my trailer, I had put new tires on the old truck and new tires on my trailer and new drums and brakes. So much happens and this years is starting out well but I keep reminding myself that it's not over til Dec 31st.
But still, In two months I done netted more than half of what I did the whole of last year.

This month I ran 10,306 miles for an average of $2.17 to the hub.

You can look at how I gauge what I need on loads by checking out this post Cost to Operate.

I stayed up in the North East just about all of February in snow, ice and winter storms. I think things got backed up and the way I hit the storms I was able to get in and get out and keep moving and freight was so backed up freight rates just skyrocketed. I might could of done better if I negotiated better, who knows... March is going well to but I don't think I will do no where as good a Feb.

January's Report

In January  I ran 8412 miles and grossed $17,775 for a grand total of $2.11 per mile to the hub. 

 
This is my first month of my new year. Some months last year I did well and other months I had a deficit so even though I'm ahead this month I need to remember it's the end of the year that matters.

Last year I only netted $25,000  after all the effort I put in.  I'll have equipment for sale or the bank will be taking it back with another year like that. I won't continue putting in long hours day in and day out with that kind of return,

This month I started operating under my own authority. Time will tell if it works out.  So far so good.