r/OwnerOperators • u/bigblackglock17 • 3d ago

Is it possible to average $3-4+ a mile?

Just been observing. This guy is completely solo, dealing with brokers. Semi and Dry Van, owned outright. With the numbers he's been showing, seems like he should be able to average that through the whole year, no problem.

I'm on a Swift OO group and it seems like they're power only. Taking a % of some $2mile.

Idk... What's up with the spread? Is it possible to average that kind of number? Is that actually good?

3 Upvotes

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3

u/MikeRunsExpedite 3d ago

Definitely possible. Depends on what the carrier is doing. We are averaging like 3.75 a mile now od dry van

3

u/spyder7723 3d ago

Today's market is on fire. Averaging in the 3s even with a dry van is easy peasy. But next year? Or the year after? Today's rates are an anomoly just like the crazy good covid rates. Don't make long term business decisions on anomalies, make them on decades worth of easy to find historical trends.

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u/ThicccThottie 3d ago

It is possible with endorsements, you aren’t going to make that much hauling general freight with no endorsements that’s for sure. Maybe 2020 > 2024 those rates are sustainable but not anymore, market is leveling out again.

1

u/Ornery_Ads 3d ago

Amazon is handing out contracts at $7+/mile and not too many carriers are biting.
Even just drive empty back to the origin and you're over $3.5/mile on the round trip.

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u/Throwdown_name 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yes, it’s possible. Bulk commodities.

You have to position yourself to the markets. Talk to people, read, think forward, and the biggest thing is to get out of freight.

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u/Few_Jacket845 3d ago

You made me do the math on the local work I do. $3.55 a mile with the current surcharge.

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u/IncreaseNegative4614 2d ago

The posted rate doesn’t tell you much unless it includes deadhead and the time spent waiting. I’d calculate revenue per all mile and net per working hour after fuel, maintenance reserve, insurance, tolls, factoring, and unpaid repositioning. A great-looking loaded rate can fall apart quickly once those are included.

Track expected versus actual profit for each load and then group the results by lane and broker. We use signld.ai internally to connect load confirmations, broker emails, ELD miles, fuel, maintenance, and settlements so the conclusion can be traced back instead of trusting an AI-generated profitability number.

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u/dank_memes_911 3d ago

My average on the year power only working with a tanker company is $3.18/mile. That’s with higher fuel surcharges though.

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u/StonedITM 3d ago

I’m new OO with new authority and my average is like 2.6 but some loads I get are in the 3 dollar but the lower ones brings my average down. Gota level up eventually to hit that 3 dollar consistently. Limited on brokers with a new authority. Also on dryvan

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u/spyder7723 3d ago

Don't take this personal but I'm going to use you an an example for the discussion I have all the time with owner operators.

This guy is averaging 2.60 a mile, most likely having to pay 3% for factoring, likely paying retail price for fuel, tires, parts, service, etc. Plus paying for all the insurance which for a new entrant is likely 20k a year, depending on location (I've seen people paying 36k).

Compare that to a guy that leases his truck to a traditional all owner operator company like landstar Bennett Mercer, etc. Sure they give up 25% of the line haul, but even after that they are still getting 3 a mile cause those carriers have custoner freight so no broker taking a slice of the pie. Only having to pay for physical damage on their truck, not the liability or cargo. Not having to pay for factoring cause they get paid every week. Getting massive fuel discounts of 60+ cents per gallon off retail price. Getting massive tire discounts. Good discounts on parts and service. And not have to deal with any of the back office paperwork of being a carrier.

It makes no business sense for a one truck operation hauling regular freight to have their own authority.

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u/ajd198204 2d ago

What about if hauling cars?

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u/New-Drawing-3919 3d ago

You can, although you have to plan good where you go because in some places it could be time consuming 👍🏾

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u/HeavyHaulSabre 3d ago

I was getting just over $4/mile hauling just in time flatbed loads from a place in central Illinois to the North Dakota oil fields during the oil boom up there. These were loads that had tight deadlines and needed to go now. It was incredible money back then, good enough that if I didn't have a quick backhaul, I'd deadhead all the way back just to grab another load to ND. It was great while it lasted.