New rule or I guess a New Years resolution. 100$ minimum to get me to drag either of these out to help.

[mexicanyella]

I like your truck! Year? 350? 454?

(If it’s a 454, I think your $100 comes in as “friend pricing”)

 

[Harry Styron]

Unless you have a commercial liability policy for your hauling and towing activities as a business, if you have an accident while working for money--even if it's not enough money--your insurance may not cover you.

 

[runstendt]

This is one of the reasons I drive a Miata. I’ve never been asked to tow or move anything.

 

[Controller]

I am an IT professional. If I decide to help someone I will NEVER take money. Usually I refer them. Once they pay me, they consider me to be their IT support for life.

 

[SuprHtr]

I haven’t had this occur for a while, but a coworker called me on a Sunday afternoon once, since he knew I had one of those Harbor Freight tire changing stands. I hadn’t bolted it to the floor or anything since moving in, but he wanted me repair a leak in a motorcycle inner tube for him in a big hurry. He had someone coming to buy the bike and figured it would be easy for ME to fix his flat. We had little history and I suggested he run to the nearest Cycle Gear store. He was a little bit miffed that I wouldn’t just drop what I was doing to fix his problem. I later learned of his legendary thriftiness, to put it nicely.

 

[monkeybanana]

And also who looks at that and thinks you should help them for free. It clearly takes big boy gas and you probably can't double park that thing for 'a quick one'. Man I am mad for you! haha

 

[trandy9850]

And make sure and get the money up front.

 

[Dan German]

It’s like the old bumper sticker (which I once had on a pickup, and in general I shun bumper stickers):

Yes, this is my truck.
No, I won’t help you move.

The problem is partly that because people don’t own this type of vehicle, they can’t wrap their heads around what the use of said vehicle costs. Of course, the required head-wrapping is a long way from rocket science, so anyone who can’t do it when asked to is kind of a knob.

 

[57joonya]

So around a year and a half ago or so I bought a pretty decent older one ton dump truck. I really wanted a dump trailer but about the time I was ready to pull the plug steel prices went through the roof and some of you know how that effected trailer prices. I found the dump truck for a fraction of the cost, ideal was to start some side hustle but my main work schedule screws with that in the nice weather months. Don’t get me wrong this truck has made me some money not trying when I’ve had the spare time. But to fully commit isn’t something I can do as of now.

I’ve hauled some sand and rock for the guy up the street, couple jobs I found on FB ect. I’ve used it to help some close friends. I also have a 20 foot 10k trailer with a winch on it.

I’ll give a couple examples of what’s happened the last few months….

One buddy bought a new/different house a while back. After a couple weeks they got settled and had a piles of trash. Moving boxes and bags of crap they went through and a privacy fence they tore out. I get a text, hey bud how much to haul a some trash? I told him dump fees are 50$ a ton plus my fuel. So I fill the truck up (50$) go over and he loads it up to the top with crap and trash bags and the privacy fence. I go to the dump. Dump fee was like 10$. I go back and he said man I’ve got one more load….. ugh ok he piles it up again. He said how much was the dump fee? I said 10$ for the last load. About this time his wife is coming back from McDonald’s with a couple bags of food for the kids ect. He looked at his wife and said hey you got ten bucks cash on ya?

She goes to hand me a 10$ bill and I said well that was just the dump fee not counting gas and y’all are filling it up again. Dude said well we’ve got some mc chicken sammiches in the bag go help yourself. I said ugh I don’t need that. She ended up handing me 40$. I said heck with it and ran to the dump with the second load and didn’t go back and won’t do that again.

Trailer example….

Recently a gal I know, friend of a friend asked my buddy if so and so still had that trailer in his yard and if she could use it. My buddy said well that’s not some random trailer it’s his but what in the world would you tow it with anyway and why?

Her young daughters car broke down about fifteen miles away and she needed it towed. Said buddy texted me and told me what was up and said he gave her my number. I said yea I’ll hook up the trailer and we can go get it 75$. I turned that around in about a hour and when we got back her daughter was there. She said thanks for the help. I said no problem is your mom paying or you…. Huh? I said I told your mom 75$ before I even hooked up the trailer and killed part of my evening. This gal kinda huffed and puffed and then regretfully gave me the money. I said hey id be more than happy to haul it back down and drop it off where i got it, call a tow truck and see what they’d charge.

Maybe I’m a Richard? Maybe some of you will say I need better friends? I have a couple Buddy’s I will help at the drop of a hat as do they and don’t play these games. They’re free to use or borrow what I have and vice versa

I find it funny some people think what’s yours is there’s or think you will just do crap for free. Well I bought these things with my hard earned money, I pay insurance, tags, fuel, maintenance. Don’t like it go find your own dump truck, buy your own trailer and a truck to tow it with ect.

New rule for 95% of anyone anymore, need help 100$ minimum at best to stick my keys in the ignition of the dump truck or hitch up my trailer.

Drops mic….

No doubt about it

 

[Twofingerlou]

I like your truck! Year? 350? 454?

(If it’s a 454, I think your $100 comes in as “friend pricing”)

It’s a 77 with a smallblock and four speed

 

[Twofingerlou]

I've got a few trailers that people want to borrow sometimes.
One coworker borrowed the 20' flatbed. He way overloaded it and blew out 2 tires, then kept it another 2 months while trying to find some tires as cheap as possible to put back on it.
Now I'll hook up a trailer to my truck and help someone, but it never gets unhooked from my truck.

No doubt I’ve never “loaned it out” and won’t.

 

[mexicanyella]

It’s a 77 with a smallblock and four speed

My first road-legal vehicle at 16 was a ‘77 K5 Blazer with a 2-barrel 305 and full-time 4WD. In retrospect it was a good move on my family’s part; the fact that full throttle made the fuel gauge needle move faster than the speedometer needle imposed a pretty effective driving radius limit. I learned to soft-pedal it more than I might have done otherwise.

Miss that bodystyle and SB Chevy motors in general.

 

[MickM]

It’s a 77 with a smallblock and four speed

That truck looks like it's in great condition for being 46? years old.

 

[Twofingerlou]

My first road-legal vehicle at 16 was a ‘77 K5 Blazer with a 2-barrel 305 and full-time 4WD. In retrospect it was a good move on my family’s part; the fact that full throttle made the fuel gauge needle move faster than the speedometer needle imposed a pretty effective driving radius limit. I learned to soft-pedal it more than I might have done otherwise.

Miss that bodystyle and SB Chevy motors in general.

No doubt, not sure if it’s a 350 or 305 but I know it’s not a 400. It’s a cab and chassis truck and I’m pretty sure it has 4.56 gears out back. With the SM465 four speed it’s not a Hot Rod but I think it would pull a damn mountain with that granny low. With that combo it is a bit thirsty but it doesn’t have a very big tank.

 

[Twofingerlou]

That truck looks like it's in great condition for being 46? years old.

It’s been repainted at some point which some of the clear is flaking off in some spots. Looks like it’s had cab corners and rockers done. But overall for a Midwest truck it’s pretty solid. Wish it was four wheel drive though then it would be a really bad unit.

 

[telekaster1999]

I work part-time for my brother doing bush-hog work. $175 first hour and $125 after that. Only thing we can do for nothing and break even is nothing.

 

[P-Nutz]

You. Are not. A Richard ...

"They", however, may be a bag of them ...

 

[mtglick]

OP, definitely not a Richard. I have an 87 F350 crew w/a 460, and I mastered this dance years ago with my 4-banger Ranger.

Friends get a freebie a year, give or take, but never on command. If it fits my schedule, happy to do it. Will mention gas prices, no offer=no more trucking. If somebody's stuck and needs help, not going to beat anybody up but will ask for gas money. If it's a casual demand, services are paid up front and in full.

 

[swervinbob]

I’m a HVAC/R tech. People think that I want side business and call me all of the time. I used to do a little, but it would always turn into worst case scenario. And the friend and family thing is even worse. Unless you’re one of the two or three friends that would drop everything to help me, don’t expect me to drop everything to help you.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

I've had some great friends help me over the years, and I try to return the favor. I don't own any fancy equipment, but I have some skills. If a real friend needs help, I'll always help if we're talking a day or less. And I mean help, not me just doing it all for them. If it is more than a day's worth of work we can talk about a price, and I'll give a decent price to a friend.

I do have a couple of friends for whom I will go way beyond that--but in those cases they have also gone way beyond for me in the past.