So we are home for the week because the truck had a bunch of smallish problems.  I can call even expensive repairs smallish after the expense of replacing the engine last year.  Some of the problems were serious such as a coolant leak I could not identify and the oil pressure gauge was not working.  Both of those issues could kill the truck.  There was also a “clunk” when we turned the steering wheel hard at low speed and a small oil leak on the side of the engine and the emergency flasher switch was not working …and….and….and.

Like I said, mostly small stuff but it ran into the multiple thousands of dollars to fix.  The radiator needed to be replaced and the part alone was $1,160.  The really good news is that we can afford to fix the truck.  We just had an epic paycheck following an epic week.

I had breakfast this morning with Bill Hood who is the owner of Farm2Fleet.  Right after breakfast I ran over to the Volvo dealer to find out what was going on with the truck and that is when I got the bad news on the total.  After a bit of sticker shock I told them to fix our baby and said, “it is what it is”  I called Bill and his response was spot on, “at least you can afford the bill, you could be running for mileage at $1.30 a mile and have this repair bill”.  Since William was not feeling sorry for me I called Anne to break the bad news and what do you know, she said “at least we have the money and we can make it up quickly”  This from the people who call me optimistic.

We make a percentage of the the “line haul” so when rates are awesome like they are right now we can, by negotiating and running hot freight lanes, basically give ourselves a pretty sweet raise.  I really do feel sorry right now for Owner Operators that are leased on to companies that pay mileage.  They are getting $1,30 to $1.50 a mile and we are getting $3.00+ a mile.  These rates will probably not last but we can usually make well over $2.00 a mile anyway.  After running on a percentage, we will never work for mileage again.

Hopefully the truck will be ready to roll by Friday so we can get out over the weekend and be home for the 4th of July.