Let’s argue about MPG, Wages, etc

[Electric Chicken]

Absolutely not. They have always run a clean program, with the usual butthurt feelings from folks who don't have a clue.



Prime Inc ran into financial trouble when the 2nd or 3rd Reagan recession hit right after they started an expansion. I think this was 1987. With one or the other, they would have been OK, but both together was too much. Rob filed chapter 11, killed off the old Prime Inc, and reorganized as New Prime Inc dba Prime Inc. The financing he got allowed him to keep it a private company.



That was back when 80% of their business was with FedX. And yeah, to meet their contract obligations they were dang fast. "Prime Time" was after midnight with wide open trucks spec'd for speed. They had a lot of accidents in those days. When I started with them, they were limiting the lease trucks to 76, and I had one of the last 65 mph company trucks.

So fast forward to recently... Swift got in trouble because of all of their accidents, and had to come to some sort of merger with Knight to stay afloat. Prime figured that one out, and started limiting truck speed. In '09 they cranked it down some more before fuel prices spiked.

You may not like not being able to chase the wind in a big truck, but it has its costs. A lot of companies went bankrupt after '09 because of uncontrolled fuel costs.

Thanks for clarifying.


And you're right it definitely costs money to go fast. Doing the math for my dually and comparing 62mph to 65mph, a difference of 13 vs 11 mpg respectively is only 30 extra miles of productivity on a 10 hour day. Those 30 miles will cost $40 based on my local pump price.

$10,400 a year (assuming a gravy 5 day work week) is quite a few loads you don't have to take.

These big companies are annoying but they aren't stupid.

 

[mndriver]

Thanks for clarifying.


And you're right it definitely costs money to go fast. Doing the math for my dually and comparing 62mph to 65mph, a difference of 13 vs 11 mpg respectively is only 30 extra miles of productivity on a 10 hour day. Those 30 miles will cost $40 based on my local pump price.

$10,400 a year (assuming a gravy 5 day work week) is quite a few loads you don't have to take.

These big companies are annoying but they aren't stupid.

Another one totally ignoring the value of time

 

[Electric Chicken]

Another one totally ignoring the value of time

Exploring the aspect of saving money with numbers, not ignoring the value of time.

Fuel is the biggest expense any transporter has right now, just behind labor. Everyone knows or should know that.

Whatever money you save, you don't have to earn.

Speed also wears vehicle components faster, another significant expense. Especially tires. The hotter they get, the faster they wear.

TBH as a hotshot I'm probably going to run somewhere around 62 in the 65 zones when time isn't of the essence. It's a speed that isn't as annoying as 60, and I don't have stupid programming that fluctuates my cruise control speeds wildly like Schneider does (set it at 60 and it'll go down to 55 before it applies fuel again). It saves whole numbers worth of fuel economy (not just tenths) and it lets you kinda settle in.

It's also less stressful than hauling ass.

 

[mndriver]

Actually your biggest expense is time (labor) not fuel

 

[Electric Chicken]

Actually your biggest expense is time (labor) not fuel

You literally didn't read my post.

 

[mndriver]

You literally didn't read my post.

and if you truly believed and understood that you would realize why chasing the fuel mileage economy is foolish

 

[mndriver]

Do the break-even analysis on it. You'd realize that driving anything under 65 is wasting your time. You cannot save enough fuel to justify the time expense below it.

 

[Electric Chicken]

and if you truly believed and understood that you would realize why chasing the fuel mileage economy is foolish

Your opinion. Not fact.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Do the break-even analysis on it. You'd realize that driving anything under 65 is wasting your time. You cannot save enough fuel to justify the time expense below it.

Everyone has to do their own analysis and adjust according to their business.

You don't decide for everyone, thankfully.

 

[mndriver]

Everyone has to do their own analysis.

You would be paying less than slave wages to justify that kind of speed

 

[Electric Chicken]

You would be paying less than slave wages to justify that kind of speed

Based on what?

Cents per mile, the very thing YOU always rail about not basing your business decisions on?

 

[mndriver]

Based on what?

Cents per mile, the very thing YOU always rail about not basing your business decisions on?

If you pay a driver on a percentage, that still goes against time.

If you don't pay a driver a salary, it still goes against time.

A driver has a finite amount of time each day to do his job.

If you handicapped him with reduced speed, you are increasing your time cost.

It's not just about speed. It's also about having the power (torque) to maximize his time during the day.


But you and 80% of the rest of this industry, ignore that.

 

[Electric Chicken]

If you pay a driver on a percentage, that still goes against time.

If you don't pay a driver a salary, it still goes against time.

A driver has a finite amount of time each day to do his job.

If you handicapped him with reduced speed, you are increasing your time cost.

It's not just about speed. It's also about having the power (torque) to maximize his time during the day.


But you and 80% of the rest of this industry, ignore that.

Lol and 80% of the industry is wrong.

 

[Nomad1]

If you pay a driver on a percentage, that still goes against time.

If you don't pay a driver a salary, it still goes against time.

A driver has a finite amount of time each day to do his job.

If you handicapped him with reduced speed, you are increasing your time cost.

It's not just about speed. It's also about having the power (torque) to maximize his time during the day.


But you and 80% of the rest of this industry, ignore that.

Where's your spreadsheet to prove to us that 80% of the industry is wrong? This should be simple math. I think we can all understand it when you show us.

 

[Electric Chicken]

I can end up behind a driver who blew my doors off 80 miles back. So he arrived at the gate at 0600 and I'm there at 0610. Big freaking deal. It happens a lot. In at least one case the guy hauled ass and can't even unload for 3 more hours because they're not open for lives.

Its very situationally dependent whether you should save fuel or save time.

I'm not gonna rat race in my own truck that's for damn sure.

 

[Electric Chicken]

You would be paying less than slave wages to justify that kind of speed

80k is slave wages?

 

[Electric Chicken]

Hauling ass and busting it at all your stops is pretty stressful too. So there's your health to consider as well. If you gotta go out for surgery or something, all that downtime is gonna render everything you just did completely moot.

I've got what's likely a permanently screwed up clavicle to show for that. I've slowed down considerably at my stops ever since. I'd rather just not take that extra load most of the time.

 

[mndriver]

Not the thread I'm looking for....


But I do have a post that talked about break even back in 2013-2014.

I may dig out the spreadsheet next time I fire up the computer, but that won't be until i get to Seattle Thursday.

When u should know when to stay put

I'm a independent I'm running between 460 to 500 miles daily, little to no dead head maybe 12 to 20 miles a day. I'm putting in on average 500 a day in fuel and spending on average 120 in tolls. I'm my gross a week per truck is 5750 lowest is 5000. Would a independent consider this a good...

www.truckersforum.net

 

[mndriver]

Hauling ass and busting it at all your stops is pretty stressful too.

If you think it's about running 80 mph and all that jazz with magic toothpicks, wow are we separated in context.

It's about maintaining your truck to ensure you don't break down. Your truck is setup to allow you to cruise at the speed you set it at and not slow down 8-10 mph every overpass you go over.

But feel free to make wild assumptions as is the norm for yourself.

 

[Electric Chicken]

If you think it's about running 80 mph and all that jazz with magic toothpicks, wow are we separated in context.

It's about maintaining your truck to ensure you don't break down. Your truck is setup to allow you to cruise at the speed you set it at and not slow down 8-10 mph every overpass you go over.

But feel free to make wild assumptions as is the norm for yourself.

Why are you changing the conversation to be about maintenance? Because the debate didn't go in your favor again?