Starting up pros cons and rates

gingerfold:
Please let me know what you think and what I can expect in real life

You asked in your original post. Several posters have replied and apparently you don’t like what they say. Being good with numbers is one thing, being good at road transport is something else entirely. To put it at it’s most basic the job is on the bones of its arse, and I go back to 1968 when I first started work, so I’ve experienced good times and bad. Nowadays it is bad. No doubt you will be aware of the current Stobart saga; I can name another dozen major companies that are in a similar predicament. At the other end of the scale smaller companies are struggling like never before. All of these are factoring their invoices the minute they get PoDs back from drivers, just to keep cash flow coming in daily to meet weekly wages and fuel bills.

There was a new start up on TN about 12 months ago. He was “good at figures” and had spread sheets for anything and everything. I never bothered to post any replies on his thread because from what I read I knew that he hadn’t a prayer of surviving. He didn’t last 12 months before failing.

I’m terrible at numbers, my entire financial strategy was wage plus fuel should be 50% of costs. Unlike the chap gingerfold mentioned with his spreadsheets, whose posts I could only just follow. I was quite good at operations though and went from a van to a mixed fleet of 20 vehicles, various trailers and 25 staff. I put it down to hard work, luck and moving into specialist work.

At one time haulage was the second most likely to fail business sector and I wouldn’t he surprised to find nothing has changed. People come into the business, find the money isnt stacking up and in desperation run at sub par rates and the circle continues. You need to find the rate at which you can make a decent living and then find someone to pay it. I can tell you what my rate was before I retired but without context, the sector I was in, the set up of the business, it doesnt tell you a thing.

I cant say dont do it because I did, and it was a good company, but the truth is you are highly unlikely to do anything more than make an average wage with a lot more hassle.