2006 Civic: 900,000+ miles! ( engine #2)

[mazilla]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

I'm a UPS driver. 10 hours a day driving a crappy 25 year old truck. Old crude stick shift, no power steering, no radio, no climate controls! A 20 year old economy car is pure luxury in comparison.

The hardest working men/women in the business from what I've seen...besides the way you guys tend to handle packages "with care" I have the utmost respect for UPS drivers...a couple hundred stops per day is hardcore.



On another note, Mazilla, I'm curious at what ultimately went wrong with the first engine in your Yaris? I don't recall ever seeing a post on that. If you don't mind me asking.

Nothing, I traded the engine for the labor to do the swap since it ran so well(the mechanic that maintained it before I bought it did the swap). I just wanted something fresh for the turbo...which I am lagging on BIG TIME.


I've always wondered that. These high mile couriers never seem to announce what they make. Lower mileage couriers don't make all that much I believe but guys that do well over 100K a year is a mystery.


Sadly, as couriers we don't make much. Our business is driven by the bottom line, since we specialized in business/business deliveries(who monitor every penny spent) we are only able to charge a fraction of what you'd see the average UPS/FEDEX/ETC customer pay. As such we generally pay a couple dollars over minimum for the small routes and about .30 or so a mile(up to .50 depending on vehicle type). For the all day, hundreds of miles drivers we usually pay minimum plus the their mileage rate...but we only put the most fuel efficient choice on these routes so we try to keep it at .25/.30 if we can hire there.


It looks light when you think "only .25 per mile + minimum wage" and it may very well be if you, as a driver, don't play your cards right.

The pros will get a Toyota truck with a shell, extended cab with the long bed. They'll get into a 300-400 mile per day route that gets them 9 or so hours. The truck can carry a lot, gets great gas mileage, and the depreciation wear/tear on a Toyota is as low as it gets.

That driver could make 100.00 in mileage(tax free) and roughly 70.00(after tax) in hourly...170.00 a day is not bad take home, but it's as good as you'd ever hope for as a driver in this business. Figure 3-5% per day dedicated to repairs/depreciation over the life of the vehicle.

They will almost always have a second driving job too.



Another question Mazilla may be able to weigh in on?

I'm writing this after getting up an our ago to deal with some delays...now I can't sleep because I'm worried about how the day is going to pan out. Good times!