Friday, October 7, 2011

E-mail to a US based Truck Broker

Hello Everyone!!

The e-mail you can read below is something I recently wrote a broker in response to his previous e-mail asking me to work with them on 30-day payment terms and submitting original papers and cheap freight rates.

For anyone not aware of the costs involved in trucking, you can see what some of them are listed in the e-mail below.

>>>>>>

This is covered for the $4300 it was posted for. Thank you for the offer. Our terms are 30 days and we require "original" bills of ladings. If you can work within "our" terms, feel free to offer trucks anytime.

Thanks,

Steve D

>>>>>>


It would cost me $2,400 in fuel alone One-Way for this trip. My drivers would not work this run for less than $900, but should really be closer to $1,000 to the driver. It would take 3-4 days to make this run depending on the loading/unloading times, which means my truck could do 3 trips per month (in 30 days) with time off necessary for legalities. This means my truck would run approx. 15,000 miles per month where I would have to come out of pocket with $12,000 to pay for fuel and about $5,400 to pay the driver for a total of $17,400 out of pocket for 3 round trips. The return hauls are paying $2,700 at best, meaning a total of $7,000 for one round trip or $21,000 for 3 round trips. This leaves me with $3,600 to pay insurance $700/monthly for a whopping $2,900 per month net profit, out of which I have to pay Heavy Vehicle taxes, IFTA, Tires, Oil Changes, Vehicle Maintenance and of course SAVE UP to FINANCE more BROKERS that pay within 30 days so next month I can make another $2,900, which of course includes all my office work and salary for book-keeping. So, while I would like to work with you and send you the originals and wait for everything, I really can’t, because of the above stated numbers.

If interested, the other costs to operate each vehicle are:

$ 45.83/month - Heavy Vehicle Tax $550/year

$166.67/month - Truck Registration $2,000/year

$700.00/month - Insurance $8,400/year

$ 90.00/month - Steering Tires

$160/month - Drive Tires

$150/month - Trailer Tires (TOTAL $400/month in tire costs for all 18 tires, based on an Avg. of 140,000 miles per year)

$100/month – IFTA Fuel Taxes at least $300/quarterly

$260/month – 1 oil change per month at 15,000 miles (cheapest I know, but usually costs between $280-320 most places)

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$1,672.50/month in regular expenses (Does not include unforeseen stuff, like TOLLS, Blow-outs, Lumpers not reimbursed, Engine Maintenance, reefer maintenance and oil changes, etc…) But the customers/brokers always want best equipment on the road, best reliability, and on-time delivery as well as a good company safety rating which could very well be bought with all the money we make in trucking.

2008 Great Dane 53' Reefer Trailer with 2008 SB-210 Thermo King Whisper

2008 Great Dane Trailer with 2008 SB-210 TK-Reefer Whisper Unit with ETV Valve
This is one of my trailers that I'm selling now for $36,000 or at the end of December 2011 for the price of $32,500.

The images show here are of the working trailer and it is kind of dirty, so the trailer is not at its best appearance.





The reefer unit Runs Great!! Alignment was just re-checked on Sep 27th, 2011 and it was determined that adjustments were NOT necessary. This was about 20 miles ago as of Oct 7th, 2011.


2008 Great Dane with 2008 SB-210 Thermo-King Reefer with ETV Valve (same as SB-310 unit).




with 70% in wear still available on the Bridgestone R-195's. These trailer tires have a very low Rolling Resistance of 88 (for better fuel mileage)



This is the Hendrickson Air Suspension System. (The Best Air Ride available on the market.)


The Brakes were just changed about 5,000 miles ago in the last week of September 2011 and there is 95% brake wear remaining on the brakes.

The Shocks were changed last year in May 2010.


All 8 Trailer Rims are Aluminum



Air Tandem Sliding System.


Snow Chain Hooks on Both Sides of Trailer.
Spare Tire Rack. (Spare NOT INCLUDED)


Shiny Hiny Stainless Steel Doors with Door Grab Handle for easy access to the inside of the trailer.


and an approx. $1,500 Bulkhead (purchased new last year) which is included. This bulkhead is equipped with e-track straps, Vent, for air circulation, Thermostat Cooling Fan for Multiple-Temperature Loads.


The trailer has E-Tracks


Two-Finger Pop-Up Chute (Corner-Mounted Chute with easy lift in front).






As seen in the photos, all the interior and exterior walls as well as the floor, is/are straight.






At the time of the photo (Oct 5th, 2011), it has/had 8,449 hours on the unit.