What's the Point in leasing on to a company like Landstar??

mostly because most guys don't have enough money to run for a month or two before they start getting checks coming in with their own numbers. I did landstar, I'm no fan. pretty much everyone knows that

 

So you think you get the same freight at the same rate? The broker board has maybe 7000 loads listed the company board has 20000 listed. The good stuff never goes to the broker board. (or the company board)


Agents can take as much off the top of the broker loads as the want, they usually go for 80% of billed price. On a 1000 load with 150 being fuel surcharge a BCO with their own trailer would get about 770, a broker truck would get 800 or less.Factor in quick pay and advance charges you are about even. That does not include fuel discounts which today are about .30 less than cash price at Petro and T/A

 

now my friend the friends you were talking to were in fact telling you right when they told you to get our own trailer and your authority you wont believe the difference it makes , you can be truly independent and most of the time name your own rates ,
good luck southernpride

 

This is why being leased to L/S is worth it vs one of the outside carriers doing business with L/S. The top dollar freight is never on ANY board.

 

Top dollar freight is only good if your costs to do it are low as well. I have no experience with Landstar, only in talking with those that have been or are currently leased on with them. There is a lot of little costs from what I understand. Fee for using a Landstar trailer, etc.

I may not have the greatest deal, but I do have variable freight rates based on length of haul that works out well, considering I prefer to stay in the Upper Midwest. I have relatively cheap physical damage ($60), Cargo liability ($27), and bobtail ($26), get pretty decent discounts on fuel below the cash pump price (sometimes at or above 20 cents a gallon off the cash pump price), and get a better fuel surcharge than most I have seen (adjusted weekly with last week being 31 cents a mile). Those costs I mentioned are the only costs I have with the company I am leased to (oops.. forgot about qualcomm... $10). They pay for my tags (my tags, not theirs) and pay all the fuel tax and ad velorem tax. I do not have to use their insurance, but the cost is good. I stay loaded for the most part. It is a very rare occasion I sit for more than a few hours before I am heading for another load, and usually I am preplanned on something so I don't sit at all. I have a real good working relationship with my "travel agent" and she keeps me loaded and moving. Meanwhile, I dropped 138,000 miles last year and was home virtually every weekend and all holidays. Usually by the house at least once during the week. I could turn down any load I didn't want, but virtually everything is right so that has only happened a couple of times in the last 2 years and I didn't get any static for doing it. I use only company trailers and there is no fee. I can request any load or customer, and if available, will get it. Only rare occasion that I get handed a broker load, but it pays the truck the same.

Some like the challenge of basically doing everything like an independent. Nothing wrong with that. It is all in the numbers though. If it works well, it can be a good thing. Some prefer to be just a company driver that owns a truck. Nothing wrong with that either. I like playing the middle ground. More security like a lease on with some of the big carriers, with a little flexibility like a person on with a company like Landstar. The numbers work well and I am profitable. A guy I worked with at a previous company went with Landstar and seems to like it. I went another direction and stayed with a smaller carrier that would let me have a lot of freedom and had a good customer base and wouldn't take advantage of me like some of the mega carriers sometimes do.

 

Broker trucks get the same fuel discount, tire prices, etc. as leased trucks.

Paddletrucker is right in that working various boards you have a larger selection. The advantage of ls is they do have some national accounts that have to be loaded on ls trucks. Most of these never get on any board and are usually available only to a select few.

 

Hey ;
When did they start hauling high paying freight ?
Many of our agents are dual agents My company / L/S...
Many of our agents will load a L/S truck before they will load me .. Why ???
That L/S truck will pull the same load for less money... This is a fact and has happened to me many times.
The last agent goofed . He thought I was a L/S truck . He told me the load paid $2500.00...... Wow! I said that is funny 20 minutes ago it was paying $3095.00.... I am sure he knew then that he should have asked who I was.

That insurance you mention is not soem great deal. My B-tail is $11.00 per month . I insure my tractor with them and it runs me $27.00 / mo.
$5.00 per load for cargo.
And NO Qual Com to deal with..

 

One thing not mentioned is that I haul for some defense contractors and aerospace company's and several other well know companies that don't allow their freight to be brokered, also if you want to haul AA&E you would have to lease to a carrier that does that type of work. You will never find brokered loads that require security clearance.