I speak from having 3 HD routes and a forced supplemental in a semi-rural co-lo. Mgmt also REQUIRED me to drive 50 miles each way from one route to another route whenever that driver was overloaded. and they thought I had less than 11 hours of work. Try to make money on that when mgmt doesn't care if you make money. Sometimes as few as six packages, but as many as 44. 6 packages didn't pay for gas, let alone time, and 44 packages after 7 hours servicing my own PSA plus the 100 mile round trip was impossible. I ran a supp during peak, but they kept assigning the same extra area after peak. I needed to have 4 drivers plus myself available everyday, in case one was sick. I paid $12.50 an hour, plus a bonus per package after what I calculated as an 8 hour day. My drivers made about $125 a day. No benefits. I made less after all expenses, including actual depreciation. I kept my vehicles maintained, and replaced every 2 years, always owing more that value. In rural areas, you can't use an unreliable vehicle, and 200+k miles is pushing it.
Others feel fine paying as little as possible, but they don't get my respect as entrepreneurs. In addition, I always had to have extra drivers ready to go. To give everyone enough work to keep them available, I had to drive less. But I still needed to be at the terminal, even earlier than when I had just one route. Then I had to be available to train, interview, rescue, replace a driver any time.