Ask yourself why the gravel hauler is shutting down? Maybe he went broke; which is what you will do with one truck. Only question is when. Been there done that. I was having problems hauling sand in one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country when D was $1.00 a gal. Was getting $1.40 a hub mile. Had an older truck and no payments so that saved $1 to 1.5k per month in net income required. Insurance was right at $1k per month and the DOT tag was 500 per year. Speaking of DOT they are always on your case and now counties and towns have their own scales so you are constantly hounded. Every time you break down (which is often) it's $500 to $1k plus you lost your income for the time you're down so it is double jepordy. And if you are on the same route it gets mighty boring. Then there's traffic. Gotta get up at 4 am to get a couple of loads before the 7 am rush hour; then about 10 am that clears out till 11 am when the lunch croud breaks out. That goes till 1 pm then you have a couple of hours before the 3pm early workers get off and that lasts till 6 pm. But the pit opens at 6 am and closes at 5 pm. And at the pit are long lines of trucks waiting to get loaded so you sit for as long as it takes you to make a lap..... .and on and on. Can't win. Mark
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