landstar/flatbed

Lot of variables is right. First to mind is rate per mile, weight of load. I hauled a 4500# 10wide load last week. It cost me 23 cents per mile less than if I had a 40,000#+ legal load. 1500 miles made a bit of a difference at the end of the trip.
I had weeks when I made $14,000. and because of repairs I have lost $10,000
Good luck.

 

Yup, you can do $1,200 to $1,600 no problem.

 

Seems like you are based out of IA and landstar moves a lot of freight from that area. We are a small carrier and we do quite a bit of work with Landstar, so i can't say for sure how i would be for an o/o but based on my experience with mercer and landstar i would say landstar is the way to go. Now i do know that you have to look for your own loads from their load board hence you are not tied to one dispatcher as a company driver would be, what kind of a system they have at mercer i am unaware of. Landstar has much better quality compared to what Mercer would have i can bet on that but again depends what broker you deal with. Also depends if you will be going for skateboard or a drop deck. In a nutshell my vote is for Landstar.

 

and your thinking is also not a true picture. what mercer brokers out is ran by the lease drivers first, basically what you see brokered is what we turn down or don't have anyone near. the agents don't make anymore when they broker to outside carriers.

landstar agents, as do several other companies, can make more if load is brokered to outside carriers rather than leased trucks.

at mercer you also pick and choose your own loads but also have the help of a dedicated coordinator. for someone who isn't used to making the decisions on loads it could be a big help.

your opinion is just based on brokering loads from landstar, far different than leasing on.

I would suggest the o/p talk to oscarkw, he is from iowa and was with mercer before he went to midwest

 

If that's the one out of Manson I would suggest that you put them at the bottom of your list of companies, reason is, I talked to them at one time, and there is some pretty shady things going on there, and there is no way in hell I would ever put my truck on there. Pape out of Dubuque would be one I would consider living where you do, I don't know if they are looking for anyone at this time or not, but a phone call never hurts.

Yep, and if I were to ever get out of doing what I am doing now and wanted to go back to pulling a flat Mercer would probably be the only company on my list.

 

Am I alone in thinking 1200-1600 a week for an owner op is nothing to cheer about ?
have you priced tires , maint and upgrading or replacing equip?

 

Nope, I was going to say something about that in my post and got side tracked. I guess it would be alright if you were home 3-4 days a week.

 

Landstar isn't the company that boasts "no force dispatch" but force you to have hazmat and twic?

 

Force you to have a Hazmat not TWIC but doesn't Force you to put your Hazmat endorsement to use...Yeah I know crazy