Hey there, I am actually a writer and once a month publish an article for owner operaters. I want to do my next one on how O/O's are finding loads to haul and the best advice for staying in business right now with the terrible economy. Can any of you please share your thought, ideas and suggestions??

The biggest reason O/O's are going down the tubes right now is very simple.... Many have no clue to what their cost of operation is....

So what would your best advice be for getting an O/O started to calculating their cost of business/operation?

to have a solid business plan and work the figures on a spreadsheet. Although the variables are far to unpredictable for it to ever be accurate it give a good idea. I can't believe how many people run around and have no idea what it costs them per mile to run there truck. then they book cheap loads that loose money and lower rates all around to everyone.
another disturbing thing I see is way too many guys running out to get there authority and jumping on the load boards to find 100% of there freight. Sure by having there authority they get 100% of the money but 100% of $1.30 still sucks. I feel if you are going to have your own authority then you need to have around 50% of your freight coming from your own customers and the only way to do that is to start knocking on doors and selling.
At the very least you should have a GOOD solid working relationship with one broker who you can haul for regularly, they tend to take better care of you that way then when you get there freight off a board

LOL



That's just funny. Do you really think so?

__________________
Pain is weakness leaving the body.

This coming from a " shutdown supporter "........

have you received your gubbermint welfare yet ????

What IS your figure Big Dukey ? .. Please give us an example of your profitable transportatin bussines.THX.And NO Thanks for recieved government welefare, cuz US who had adjustabe incomes over 75 thousanand were disqualified for stimulas rebates. ###-wipe

Hypatetchical Example for BIG BAD Dime Dropper Diesel Dukey !! 4coils outa Middletown OH to Seward NE. Total weight 40 thousand pounds what is the gross pay Big ### ?? AK steel to walker mfg. ..very simple quote,been done over several thousand times. WHAT $ Is your rate ?

The savvy O/Os likey aint so privy to posting their secrets.

And there is some high dollar freight on the internet load boards, but you will sort through alot of chaff to find the wheat. Find that gem that loads every week, coupled with a half decent backhaul, and haul it every week, instead of looking for new/different loads all the time.

There is money in multi-drop loads. How many folks here know what a 8-10 drop LTL load from Wisconsin to NYC pays? I know.

In that case 2007 was your best year ever and 08 is online to be the alltime greatest year scince you secrectly know so much ? What is your rate secrect 379 on a single 34,000 # coil outa middletown OH to Shelby OH ? Simply done thousands of times.I know what a Brooklyn/Bronx split paid me as a Werner driver outa some roffing place in Waukegan and thousands of other loads in my and my familys lifetimes and attest ,BIG Money was NEVER a outcome.It has NEVER been any secret what side of town TRUCKERS live.