Truck Cost Per Mile

With the rising cost of living and the increased number of occupational options, workers in a number of professions and occupations are beginning to consider becoming small business owners, going back to school, or applying for new an different jobs. For many truckers who work as employees for trucking companies, the thought of becoming an owner-operator has most likely crossed their minds more than once. While doing something new and exciting is usually the first choice for many truckers, cost is always a consideration. For this reason, libraries and bookstores are stocked with self-help books that aim to show working people how they canbecome free on a certain budget.

For truckers that book is Cost Per Mile, Scott Elgin's financial guidebook for truckers. Unlike other business owners, owner-operators might not know every detail of their own business—every cent that comes in and every sent that comes out. Part of this may be due to the nature of the work, since expenses on the road are difficult to keep track of. Other owner-operators might find the task of keeping good business records difficult because they used to work for a trucking company that audited all of their expenses for them. Whatever the reason, owner operators aren't always keeping good business records, and it could very well be this fact, not the cost of fuel, that is causing so many to go out of business.

Elgin attempts to change this phenomenon with his book, which is geared toward explaining the cost for every mile of operating a big rig. In fact, Elgin never meant to publish the book. Instead, he gave it to the owner-operators in his fleet, hoping that some could use it to work more efficiently. It was only because of the truckers' favorable response to the material, however, that he put the book into print. Now, it is one of the most widely read books in the trucking industry.

Recommended as a way for owner-operators to keep track of their expenses on the road, the book contains chapters on tire cost, fuel cost, maintenance cost, and insurance cost, just to name a few. While the book is chalk full of formulas and worksheets to help each trucker determine his or her cost of operation per mile, the book is written in a way that any trucker can understand—even if he or she does not have a degree in math.

Although the book is a useful resource for owner-operators, those who are considering buying a truck and trying out the life of the owner-operator should also give it a glance. Knowing the information in the book will allow truckers to decide if they can really afford owning their own truck. Even if reading the book convinces some that they can become owner-operators right away, by having knowledge of their cost per mile right away, truckers can have an advantage over other owner-operators that went into the endeavor blind.

Although no manual has been written to tell truckers how to make it rich in these costly times, Cost Per Mile is a great resource for truckers who want to know what they're really making and operate a more organized business.