All I wanna do is load dirt?

[crazycajun]

What's the deal with trucking companies these days? I have a job in Texas to do, haul in 40,000 yards and haul out 40,000 yards. We have been working for the same company building apartments for 5 years. They do the site work, I just bring them the dirt. The owner is a production fanatic, he wants at least 5,000 yards a day no matter what. Today the company in Texas went ride and check to route. They assured me' it would take 45 minutes a round. Then they say they can only haul 20 yards, and they want 80/hr. I tell them no give me' a by the yard price. Well they come back with $9.00 per yard! That's 240/ hr! I wonder if they know how stupid they sound!

Well all over Louisiana we have done jobs an average 7500 yards a day to him. EVERYTIME it never fails, I call for trucks, and they tell me' what I can't do. "you want 40 trucks?" then bust out laughing. EVERYONE is stuck on using 10 trucks... Any more than that they will pile up?!?

So needless to say that gets my blood boiling, but after they say I can't run that many trucks or haul that many yards, they tell me' it's going to take 4 times longer than it really will to make a round. We try to keep the haul less than 15 miles and little traffic. They all wanna work by the hour, which is the most horrible decision anyone could make. That cost u at least 2 loads per truck per day to pay by the hour.

So I ask, you wanna get paid 60/ hour, how long will it take to make a round? 30 minutes they reply. Ok how many yards you haul? 20 yards, ok so if I pay you $1.75/yard you will be making 70/hr instead of 60... "Oh no I can't haul for $1.75.?!? What's wrong with this picture?

Or you call a trucking company and they ask what are you paying? $1.75/ yard... Oh no that's not enough. Well I didn't even tell you how far you will have to go?


We usually load with 2 345's, and have a d6n dressing haul road. There is no way any truck will take more than 2:00 min to load, hell 20 yards can be done in 1 minute. They claim we can't load 40 trucks. At an hour a round. On the dumping end they will have 4 r 5 6n's pushing dirt, if they can't keep up they just stockpile it.

ANYONE have a solution to this? What is trucking like in your area? Is it standard practice to be happy with 1500 yards/day?

 

[mitch504]

I have been in construction and trucking in one capacity or other for 26 yrs, and have owned my own outfit for 16. One solution is to use 10 trucks from each of 4 companies. However, there is no way I would send my trucks to haul for $35/ load. Around here the going rate for a minmum haul is about $100, though if it is a short ride with that many loads to do, I might go down to around $80. With $4 diesel fuel, and labor rates going up, any less would be suicidal.

Your numbers are great in theory, but, there are way too many reasons probably it won't work out like that. The greatest reason is because it involves humans. The trucks will bunch up unless there is a supervisor from the trucking Co. there who is an a'hole. Most truckdrivers, if they are allowed, will get loaded and then wait for their buddies before heading out, so they can run in convoys. (Maybe they are scared of U-boats, I don't know?)

From a truck owner's standpoint there is risk in hauling by the load, (or yd, same thing), in that of everyone involved in determining if you make money or not, you have the least sayso about what goes on. There are many, many shippers who think nothing of your trucks just sitting and waiting, while you steady lose money.

From a truck hirer's standpoint, there is risk in paying by the hour, because that is the signal to many drivers to dawdle. My drivers are not allowed to stop at the store every load, etc., though many drivers would. They put what they want to eat and drink in the truck in the morning.

Btw, are you going to be hauling both ways on every load? If so, that would make those per trip numbers better.

Good luck

 

[mxridernrth]

Most truckdrivers, if they are allowed, will get loaded and then wait for their buddies before heading out, so they can run in convoys. (Maybe they are scared of U-boats, I don't know?)

LOL! Almost lost my coffee

 

[ih100]

Most truckdrivers, if they are allowed, will get loaded and then wait for their buddies before heading out, so they can run in convoys. (Maybe they are scared of U-boats, I don't know?)

Same all over the world, then. I thought it was just here.

 

[>HevyIndsMFGng<]

(Maybe they are scared of U-boats, I don't know?)

LOL you just made my day with that comment XD. Yeah everyone is going crazy though with diesel reaching $4/gal and i can only see it going up further from there. I might sound stupid saying 'environmental' things like this, but engine mfgr's and truck mfgr's really need to find alternative fuels besides petroleum-based diesel. I've been researching methods for making my own biodiesel and it seems fairly cost effective for me to do by myself. Now granted this is just for one 3/4 ton truck, but still if its just me doing it I can get fuel prices down to somewhere around $0.50-$1.00 per gallon... realistically! Now if you paid someone to do the process on a larger scale, for example a trucking company, the most i could see them charging is $1.75-$2.00 a gallon. To boot, those rates could be sustainable, if not go down given time... whereas petroleum-based diesel is already at $4.00 and who knows where those prices could rise too. To really be efficient, a trucking company could even make its own biodiesel so that you wouldn't have the extra retail cost (oil salespeople costs) and the cost for a truck to come around and fill your biodiesel tanks up every so often. There are tons of other options out there, society just needs to be more adaptive to changes and let go of petroleum.

As a little side note, you can't hate on the truckers for wanting to travel in convoys- as inefficient as it is, they're just humans and humans always like to be social. Just like when i go to eat at the cafeteria or whatever for a meal, I usually go with five or so college buddies... who likes eating by themselves?! But then I guess if the truckers want to travel in convoys, they cant bi*** about getting bunched up... it would be their own fault then.

 

[Dr. Ernie]

No they think that the U-Boats are after them,... I drive alone and I also eat alone as I do not fear the U-Boats...

 

[S.R.E.]

Hire them by the hour. Have a "Truck Foreman" who just babysits the trucks all day long. Have at least two trucks of your own or drivers you trust. Put them in the middle of the trucks and then every truck they "ride" or pass you sign off at the end of the day and tell them you don't need them tomorrow. Then get some one else the next day. It shouldn't take long for the word to get around that if they want to work for you they will have to hustle. make sure you pay them on time and if it is anything like around here you shouldn't have a problem getting enough trucks. Around here "waste only" hauls by the yard are fairly expensive. We try to round robin everything if possible

 

[stock]

Yeah everyone is going crazy though with diesel reaching $4/gal .

Jeeezz them were the days.......€2.70/gal........ over here its €1.45/liter (1/4 of a US gal) approx equates to $8.60/US gal ...................... even our rebated diesel is dearer than what you folks are paying for DERV................

 

[plantman.uk]

Why do they need to run together?...I have tried every which way to split them up...but my only answer is thats why they drive trucks...also try getting them to back under the bucket...no chance with most of them , not got a clue

 

[waterman]

also try getting them to back under the bucket...no chance with most of them , not got a clue

Iv kicked guys off the job for not being able to back under the bucket,or back up to the blade,,,,We had one truck that backed into the blade on the d8 and tried to keep going when the operator was on break. So whit thatsaid their truck driver that are good and ones that are down right stupid

 

[Dozerboy]

S.E.R has the right ideas. Back when I did lease trucks in CA we would order a couple extra trucks. Sign the ticket of the first ones to make a mistake and we had a labor counting and timing every load for every truck.

Since I moved to TX I haven't done any big inport/export jobs, but I have not had any trouble getting 200+ loads a day with 45min rounds. Which was plenty to keep up with with only a 650JD placing fill.

LOL you just made my day with that comment XD. Yeah everyone is going crazy though with diesel reaching $4/gal and i can only see it going up further from there. I might sound stupid saying 'environmental' things like this, but engine mfgr's and truck mfgr's really need to find alternative fuels besides petroleum-based diesel. I've been researching methods for making my own biodiesel and it seems fairly cost effective for me to do by myself. Now granted this is just for one 3/4 ton truck, but still if its just me doing it I can get fuel prices down to somewhere around $0.50-$1.00 per gallon... realistically! Now if you paid someone to do the process on a larger scale, for example a trucking company, the most i could see them charging is $1.75-$2.00 a gallon. To boot, those rates could be sustainable, if not go down given time... whereas petroleum-based diesel is already at $4.00 and who knows where those prices could rise too. To really be efficient, a trucking company could even make its own biodiesel so that you wouldn't have the extra retail cost (oil salespeople costs) and the cost for a truck to come around and fill your biodiesel tanks up every so often. There are tons of other options out there, society just needs to be more adaptive to changes and let go of petroleum.

Lets see you meet the production needs of a fleet of trucks for that kind of $$$. Thats nothing, but wishful thinking

 

[>HevyIndsMFGng<]

S.E.R has the right ideas. Back when I did lease trucks in CA we would order a couple extra trucks. Sign the ticket of the first ones to make a mistake and we had a labor counting and timing every load for every truck.

Since I moved to TX I haven't done any big inport/export jobs, but I have not had any trouble getting 200+ loads a day with 45min rounds. Which was plenty to keep up with with only a 650JD placing fill.





Lets see you meet the production needs of a fleet of trucks for that kind of $$$. Thats nothing, but wishful thinking

Yeah when I made the post I assumed it would be wishful thinking, but usually when you increase the scale of an operation, its labor cost goes down and its reactant (material) cost goes up. But in the grand scheme of things, it is easier to make more of the same thing, so long of course that there is still sufficient demand to meet the increasing supply. It's the same reason most of the things we buy today are mass produced. The larger the quantity of a product made, the more efficient the process it takes to make that product gets.