Suppose I hire a US freight company to take my cargo across the country. I have just enough cargo to completely fill a standard 53-foot trailer up to its legal limit - in other words, I’m paying the entire cost of the truck’s journey.
How much does this end up costing me per mile? Fuel, driver’s pay, truck maintenance/depreciation, insurance, profit margin, whatever else you can think of. For example, I know that trucks get something like 7 miles per gallon, so the fuel cost (at $2:50 per gallon of diesel) is going to be about 36 cents per mile. And it appears that truck drivers earn about 35 cents per mile.
Since the driver will be far from home, are his meals/accommodations paid for by the freight company, or does he pay out of pocket?
My neighbor used to be a truck driver. Keep in mind you are getting all of this information second-hand.
As I understand it, there are different types of truck driving positions. On one end of the spectrum, you have drivers who work for a company. The company pays the fuel cost (the driver has a company issued credit card for fuel and expenses, for example), maintenance costs on the truck, etc. and the driver just gets a paycheck. The driver might have to pay for meals but that’s about it. On the other end of the spectrum, the truck driver owns the truck and is responsible for all maintenance on it and all other expenses, and gets paid by the job. My neighbor used to be the latter.
There were times when he didn’t work, because the fuel costs had risen to the point where the fuel and maintenance exceeded the income from the jobs. It’s a business with thin margins and the payouts don’t change as quickly as the cost of fuel does.
Long-haul trucks often have a sleeper in the back of the cab. If the driver owns the truck, these can be pretty fancy, and may have wi-fi, a tv, a computer, or whatever else the driver wants to install back there. This is kinda his home away from home, so some of them make it very comfortable. They park at truck stops which usually have showers available. They don’t sleep in hotels or motels.
Volatile fuel costs drove my neighbor out of the business. He now works a local job.
The costs of running a truck can be divided into two main groups:Fixed costs and running costs.
Fixed costs are mainly: Depreciation, wages (unless the driver is paid by the mile),
Insurance and overhead (head office and management - for an owner/driver it may be his home and himself)
Running costs are mainly fuel and maintenance (including tyres etc)
Because such a large part of the costs are fixed, the cost per mile will vary according to how many miles are covered. A large company can often offer lower prices because they have less downtime and empty running. If you pay for 1,000 miles, the truck will have to do 2,000. If the company can get a return load, the cost to them will be reduced by a half. (Empty or loaded, trucks cost pretty much the same per mile).
There are many different arrangements for paying for meals and accommodation. Nearly all truck drivers will sleep in their trucks and many will get some allowance for meals, although employers usually take the view that they would have to eat anyway, so rarely pay the full cost.
From what I read, as an experience UK truck driver and manager, driving a truck in the USA is not a great job.
I don’t really know. I’m on the other side of negotiations, for lack of a better term. If it’s like everything else in the logging industry, they probably cash out 40 or 50 grand a year, but your guess is a good as mine as to whether they are truly profitable. They could be leaking money so slowly it won’t catch up to them for a long time.
Jobs are spotty. Fuel prices fluctuate. Spring and fall road closures. They put in a lot of work in the evenings and weekends keeping the truck running. Not as ideal life, but its a chance to be your own boss. You can spend a half hour telling me to fuck off in the most creative ways manageable and I’ll probably have you back working the next day.
I’m guessing it could be much cheaper to put your container on a rail line.
But how much cheaper, assuming rail connects your points A & B?
What if you need (relatively short) truck hops to get your container to and from (from & to?) the buildings you want in cities A & B?
I guess I’m thinking of the commercial, and wondering - How much cheaper is rail, really?
PS- sorry if this is a hijack, it just popped into my head when I saw the OP’s question.