West of Mpls MN about 50 miles on Hwy 12 | Freightliner, the efficient machine. :)
At one time in my life I had 4 to 6 trucks on the road full time depending on the season. I have my own authority, I haven't needed it in quite awhile. I'll still go to the city and pull someone else's side dump once in awhile if I get bored. I know full well what it costs to run a truck for hire with drivers in them, and what it costs for the farm to own it. There is a difference.
My great uncles and grampa first started driving by the local elevators to the Port Savage river terminals to prove a point in the 40's driving a 1934 Ford with a 85 HP flat head V-8, it's name was Ben Schular...don't ask me why. It's about 75-100 miles round trip further for us to prove a point.
During the 70's and early 80's when the whole trucking de-regulation thing was going on, dad had to get a grain dealers license and be bonded to haul our own grain to the river terminals. I used to get verbally abused pretty bad by the super truckers and union grain shovelers. They didn't think Farmers should have the right to haul their own grain to the terminals...whatever, they're all gone, I'm still hauling my own grain.
Just this morning I locked in a $0.21 better basis on my remaining bushels for river opening than what the best local had to offer. A dime maybe twelve cents, I would have made the same decision. The bushels I sold last summer got delivered closer to home this winter. It's nice to have delivery options available.
Doing your own trucking amounts to a poor paying part time job most of the time when it's all said and done. But it sure beats working for the man.
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Distance vs price
