If you own a pickup truck, chances are you can make quite a hefty income by using it to provide services. Before undertaking a part-time or full-time job, you’ll need a driver’s license and a valid form of insurance.
For truck-based jobs that require trailers to be attached, you need electric brakes, a tow hitch, and strong wiring that connects to the lights on a trailer. It’s also worth talking to an insurance company before using your truck to make any income.
1. Food, catering, and farm deliveries
You might think that food deliveries will require you to compete with industry giants such as UberEats and DoorDash, but that isn’t the case. A pickup truck isn’t used to transport KFC meals but rather poultry, vegetables, and supplies to restaurants and retailers.
Cleaning materials, furniture, cutlery, and large quantities of chicken, eggs, vegetables, and meat are always in demand in the food industry – that’s where your pickup truck comes in. Get in contact with suppliers, create a route, strike a deal with as many restaurants as possible, and get rolling!
Your truck will need to be thoroughly weatherproof for serving the food industry. You can make some serious bank by installing refrigeration and transporting meat and other perishables.
2. Landscaping and construction deliveries
Construction happens all over the world, and chances are it’s also near to where you live. You can put your pickup truck to good use by offering delivery services for materials used for the site. Construction workers need trucks to transport the material to get the mulch, gravel, tiles, cement, and more needed for landscaping and construction projects.
Pickup trucks can serve as trailers to directly transport the materials from the supplier to the site. If you are pursuing this form of truck delivery, you should keep spades, buckets, and rakes handy. Ask your vehicle insurance company how much weight your truck can handle, especially if you will be transporting brick or mortar in large quantities.
You can also deliver things like deconstructed sheds, wood, tanks, geysers, and more to construction or landscaping sites.
3. Towing services
You can use your pickup truck to offer a special kind of towing service. This doesn’t necessarily entail you joining a towing company but instead using your truck to tow other vehicles behind it, such as boats and RVs. During the holiday season, many people love to take their RVs and caravans away from the city. A pickup truck is a good vehicle to transport a large family, their things, and their RV.
Ask your insurance company how much weight your truck can tow. If the trailer behind your truck is detachable, you can simply attach the vehicle that needs to be towed at the back of your truck and take a payment for it, accounting for mileage.
4. Garbage collection
It doesn’t sound like the fanciest use of your truck, but it sure pays well! Real estate companies and homeowners require pickup trucks to empty huge dumpsters and garbage bins.
Garbage collection doesn’t have to be kitchen trash and cat litter; it can be old furniture, junk from junkyards, dumped material from yard sales, bags from dumpsters behind large stores, and the like. The best form of junk collection services a pickup truck can enable you to perform are those that are collaborative with real estate agencies.
After a bond agreement and an exchange of $1,000, you will be paid generously for removing left-behind furniture and fixtures from homes that are being refurbished or sold. While you may be competing with other junk removal companies, your paycheck will be hefty.
You can also turn over furniture, metal, pipes, and the like to earn extra cash.
5. Moving and snow plowing services
When moving houses, most people require their furniture to be transported safely to a new location. You can volunteer your pickup truck to a moving company for these purposes or start offering your own moving services.
Before undertaking a moving job, ask your insurance company about the weight capacity of your truck. You may also need a license since you will be carrying other people’s private property.
Do you live in an area where the snow wreaks havoc every winter? If you own a pickup truck, there is a market for you to help the community and make some money on the side when the pickup business is slower during snow and hail storms.
While snow plow companies may give you a run for your money, you can operate on a smaller, more niche scale. You’ll need to equip your truck with snow plowing capabilities, such as special wiring for plow controls, a lighter snow plow made of plastic, and electronically controlled systems.
Running machinery on your truck to plow snow will take up more fuel, so you’ll need to account for that as well.
Costs to keep in mind
You may incur costs along the way when you decide to use your pickup truck to make some extra money. Keep in mind that expenses such as mileage, maintenance (repairs, oil changes, and tires), and keeping up with vehicle insurance is vital. Depending on the job you are undertaking, you might also need extra material, such as gloves or a snow plow. A lot of money is required for installations like snow plowers or refrigerators in the back of the truck.
Your expected income
When you go into any kind of earning venture, and after accounting for your costs, you should keep your income expectations realistic. On average, pickup truck drivers undertaking the jobs mentioned above make an average of $20 per hour on smaller jobs like deliveries.
You can expect to make between $30-$40 an hour for plowing, transporting large goods, and refrigeration services. Hence, not only is it a viable financial undertaking, but your truck can be put to good use instead of rotting away in your garage.
