dispatch_from_homeOP
Million miler
Omaha, NE
102 posts, joined Nov 2025
Runsoff the truck, dispatches four owner operators
every year around thanksgiving i have the same talk with my four guys and every year one of them doesn't listen.
freight is decent right now. reefer is paying, flatbed is okay. then somewhere around january 5 it falls off a table until the middle of february. spot rates drop, brokers get bold, and fuel doesn't care what month it is.
so for the people running their own trucks. how many weeks of fixed costs do you keep in the bank going into january? and do you park and catch up on maintenance, or take whatever's on the board to keep the wheels turning?
my rule for my guys is eight weeks of truck payment, insurance and permits in a separate account, fuel not included. two of them have it. one has about three weeks. one i stopped asking.
laredo_reefer_runs
Owner operator
Laredo, TX
41 posts, joined Nov 2025
Runs2022 Volvo VNL 860, D13, I-Shift / reefer, produce north
reefer out of Laredo runs on a different calendar. january and february is when produce comes across from Mexico heavy, so my winter is busy and it's the summer that gets slow. i keep about six weeks.
what hurts me in winter isn't the rate, it's sitting nine hours at a receiver in Chicago with the reefer burning fuel in heat mode to keep a load of tomatoes from freezing. detention pay never covers it.
eighteen_speed_only
Million miler
Great Falls, MT
64 posts, joined Nov 2025
Runs2016 Peterbilt 579, ISX15, 18 speed / grain hopper
i park. every year since my second one. christmas to about january 10 the truck goes in the barn and i do the brakes and whatever else i wrote on the list in october. grain starts moving again after the first of the year anyway, when farmers sell for tax reasons.
i keep about ten weeks at the credit union. my first winter i had two weeks, ran cheap loads into Billings at 1.60 a mile and lost money on every one of them. i'd have done better sitting at home.
cascadia_126_atl
Solo
Atlanta, GA
19 posts, joined Nov 2025
Runs2020 Cascadia 126 raised roof, DD15, DT12 / dry van, own authority
first winter on my own truck and this thread is making my stomach hurt.
bought my Cascadia outright in september so there's no note, which everybody told me was the smart move. it also left me with about four weeks of insurance and fuel money. dry van out of Atlanta, own authority, no broker relationships older than three months. what's the sane move in january for somebody in my spot?
lease_onto_or_own
Owner operator
Memphis, TN
57 posts, joined Nov 2025
Runs2019 International LT, A26, automated / dry van, leased on
this is the argument for leasing on that the own authority people hate hearing.
my carrier has contract freight. in january my rate drops maybe ten cents a mile because the fuel surcharge falls with the price, but i don't sit. last january i ran 9,800 miles. a buddy on his own authority ran 4,200 and spent two weeks staring at the board in a Love's in West Memphis.
atl, four weeks of money and no brokers you trust is exactly the spot where a short winter lease onto a carrier with contract freight makes sense. it isn't a life sentence. you can go back to your own authority in march.
dispatch_from_homeOP
Million miler
Omaha, NE
102 posts, joined Nov 2025
Runsoff the truck, dispatches four owner operators
good answers all around. one thing to add, because it happens every january without fail. when freight dries up, the scam loads come out. some broker you've never heard of offers 3.10 to Dallas when everything else on the board is 1.90.
look up the MC number on the FMCSA site before you book anything. check how long the authority has been active and whether the phone number on file matches the one that called you. authority six weeks old and a gmail address, that's not a load, that's somebody about to steal one.
atl, send me a message. i'll give you two Atlanta brokers that pay in 30 days and don't play games.
