first of all you got to remember the econamy is real bad right now and freight is slow and the rates are low i no it sucks but hang on it wont last much longer.
if your finding your loads thru a broker that you dont no get as much advance as you can that way if he is a crook you wont lose as much.
as far as finding your own freight and your own custermers you have to have your own authority to do it legally and today thats a hard thing to do and if you get caught it cost you more then its worth believe me ive been doing it for years, i now have ny own authority.
cant really help you any farther then that i dont no where your at and what kind of equipment you have but if i can help you farther just drop me a line and ill give it a shot . in the mean time good luck and happy trailes.
southernpride

It's been a rough 6 months for me too, I hear you on that!

I think you're going to have to find a way to make $1.20 work for you as many of us are doing it and can even make some money, but I think the bigger thing that is killing you is the down time from waiting to get settled and get fuel money. You have to have to have to run volume at those rates.

At minimum you should find a broker or factoring company that will provide you with a fuel card so that you never have that problem.

I don't pull dry van so I don't know specific ones off the top of my head that do that but I know there's a bunch of them, maybe someone else can chime in on that. You may have to lease on for some of the broker carriers, but not for the factoring companies that offer it.

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You can always tell a trucker, but you can't tell him MUCH!

Guide to Instant O/O and Loadboards thread:
Financial settlements: 50, 68, (80), 82, 123, 166 (cumulative), 166 all repairs/maintenance, 181, 205
Pics: 3, 9, 10, 16, 24, 29, 32, 41, 61, 63, 78, 84, 94, 96, 119, 210, 326
Vids: 47, 48, 63, 74, 77, 80, 82, 96, 172, 211
JasontheRock cost investment summary: 87

Look into this..... [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

I have no personal experience. Heard about them on a radio program. Looks like a good business model, and if I had my own authority I would sign up. If you choose to use them please keep me informed as I'm contemplating going independent in the future.

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Thank you Christ & Veterans for the blood you shed for my freedom! Hope is knowing that Christ will not let failure be your final resutl.

Have a suggestion for you. I have a friend who does business with two brokers. One broker loads him out, the other loads him back. He's been doing this for the past 5 or 6 years. He gets his rate out and his rate back. One is in KC,MO. the other in MS somewhere. Believe it or not, there's some good brokers out there. Don't know where you are but start talking with your good brokers and see if they can't help you find a broker to get you back into your area. I agree with you for the most part about Broker's but I've seen it work for some O/O's here. Before I retired I only used a few broker's and believe it not I hadn't been at it long before they were calling me, and I had brokers calling to see if I was in their area. Good Luck to You.

you guys are great lol. i have been getting pretty frustrated out here. i think somone asked , ya we have our authority and 1 53 dry van. i use most of the major loadboards, and as I have been getting setup with the larger broker/carriers, you get access to their loadboard (wich really.. is a waste because if you look at the popular subscription boards, the same loads show up)

I contacted lanstar, but they require 1 year with your authority before they will sign you. oh.. that shipperpoint website looks pretty interesting, i am going to give that a serious look over.

pharm is right, the biggest pain in the butt is not only finding a load that works, but then finding one that does a quickpay, and an advance on fuel. seems more often than not one of the 3 (load rate, quick pay, advance) doesn't work out and the truck ends up sitting until something that works shows up.

right now we are at the point of if there is no advance for the load, we cant afford to move it. even had a guy at TQL tell me that all the major brokers are cutting eachother on every load, and its the trucker that suffers.

Well thanks guys, i really appreciate it, i am going to check out that website, 100 a month is less than i pay for the subscription loadboards that have little less than #### to choose from

btw, we are based out of sacramento CA. I have worked with a few brokers that have consistent weekly loads, but so far i cant find anything taht goes BACK consistently lol. I send him down to Laredo TX last week thinking "i love laredo, its a load gold mine".. NOT! took 3 days to move out, and when we finally did, load paid just under 1.00 a mile.

-Mike

Hey guys I admit there has been times that I would like to be an owner operator, but I also admit that in 14 years of driving I know very little about being one... I was just wondering if you guys could tell me the ins and outs? In today's economy can an owner operator make it?

Who are some good companies to lease onto?
Is a lease purchase truly a fraud and a joke? I just wonder because it seems the only one that anyone has anything good to say about is at John Christner Trucking(JCT)
Some of the new trucks like say a fully loaded Freightliner Cascadia with an APU can easily reach 130 grand? Is this true and if so how can someone make it at a company that pays like 95 cents a mile?

I'm all ears guys... I'm not saying I'm going to do this, it was just a thought.

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Do your part to combat global warming. EAT A STEAK!

anywhere in TX, FL or the northeast your coming out for free. Don't get loured in by the better rates unles it's enough to deadhead out. ANd lately they haven't been

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Never Underestimate the power of the Schwartz!

now first of all a lease purchase truk is in fact a fraud and a big joke, you never own it and they rob you blind.
yes you can make it as an owner operator ive been at it for almost 50 years and still going strong and i wouldnt do anything else i dont do well with bosses.
buying a truck right now is a good thing its a buyers market and the prices are at an all time low and dont let anybody kid you its much better to buy a used truck then a new truck. why do i say that well do the math, a new truck will cost you between 125.000 and up to 160.000 now thats a lot of money and your payments on the thing will be around 3000 a month now you will look good nothing looks better then sitting in that air ride seat in a new pete but what happens in 60 days when the finance company comes to get it , its a heart breaker.
most owner operators go out of nusiness because of high overhead and as a matter of fact 1500 a month is to damn high.
and a good used truck is worth more then a new one where money is concearned. and you can in fact make repaires cheaper then you can make payments on a new one.i have 5 trucks and trailers and looking for number 6 and none of them are new. to start off with high overhead is a big mistakeim looking at a 379 pete for 7000 good truck good price and its a little old but it will make as much money or more then that shinet new pete.
best of luck.----southernpride

I've also heard that the lease program at Christner is about the best you'll find out there. Aside from that, I'd stay away from a lease purchase situation. Most of the well known companies that offer LP also have company drivers. I don't think it's a good situation to get in with a company where you have to compete with company drivers for loads.
I'm learning as I go as a budding O/O. I've worked hard to keep my overhead low. Purchased my truck (2000 Freightliner Century) and trailer (2000 Wabash reefer) outright. I've used up some savings in the process of course. I'm lucky to be in the situation I'm in. I hope to upgrade the truck in a year to year and a half.
You'll soon discover if you haven't already from reading these boards, that controling your expenses is paramount.

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O/O in Western Iowa

yes you all heard it. and you heard it from a guy who has never driven a truck... lmfao

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Never Underestimate the power of the Schwartz!