Looking to make a change, need information about Landstar.

If you buckle down, learn the system, and make it work for you, you'll love Landstar. They will nickle and dime you on some fees, but all in all, if you don't become a premadonna and refuse to haul anything and everything unless it fits your every single guideline, you can easily make over $65k a year and in some cases, far more.
Hey I resemble that remark! No fair hitting below the belt!

 

Welcome To The Jungle!! L/S is what you make of it,if you want to and work for it you can do quite well.There is a learning curve when you start,especially if you've always worked in a forced dispatch type of operation.Remember,it's not how many miles you run,it' how much you make per mile!! You will see a lot of laughable loads on the board but good ones always come up also so be patient,you only need one.When you book a load forward the posting to your e-mail and if it doesn't have the breakdown(l/h,fsc,acces.,etc.)have the agent e-mail it to you and keep it until you get paid for the load.The majority of our agents are very helpful and honest but theres always a few bad ones and sometimes just mistakes are made so cover your butt.Try to find a few good agents you work well with and do as much as you can with them as they can help you a lot as you learn the system and what areas are good at certain times of the year,etc. Keep your equip. up and keep safety above all else as besides common sense there are no gray areas with l/s when it comes to that Enjoy the freedom,listen and learn.I just passed my 5 year mark a couple of months ago and plan on staying until I retire. Good luck and if you have any other questions just throw them out there!!





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I have been trucking for 40 years, leased on to Landstar for 15 and all I can say is DON"T
Landstar was a good company but..the ones who built it are gone and the ..I think the word is "corporate raiders" have taken over..sucking up every dime, cutting staff, subcontracting everything, giving cheap and shoddy service with no one in charge or responsible until the only thing left is a core of lawyer-type "suits" who are looking to get fat on the backs of BCO's.

 

If not Landstar where else would you recommend for an O/O who doesn't want to go on the own authority route?

 

Dewey:
I have a list of companies I would lease to and Landstar is not on it...not even the bottom.
Look, if you have to have an attorney on retainer to double check every document Landstar want signed and a bookkeeper to double check the mess Landstar makes of paperwork..I say, you might as well get you own authority and save yourself their upfront percentage and all the hidden percents they are taking on such things as insurance..
Do not..Do Not sign up for their insurance. Landstar makes a profit by taking a premium from you, selling you an insurance policy that looks good..Then Landstar guts the policy but does not lower your premium so if you need to collect, you get to argue with a New Landstar attorney type who is wearing a suit you paid for..and he will be sneering at you all the while (dumb truckdrivers!) 1% of Landstar profit is reinsuring..taking your premium, buying cheap insurance and and pocketing the change.
Now what kind if scum does that? And if they do that..where else are they skimming? I don't trust Landstar and until they honor their contract with me...I say, watch yourself..and if you have to watch yourself..then why do business with them?

 

Ok..and I hope everyone reads this:
If a driver breaks down and the load has to be repowered..here is how it works
I got a call one night to repower 100 miles. It was an outrageous rate $$$! When I got to the Dealership where the truck was being repaired and picked up the trailer, I met a very tired and depressed owner operator who had hauled that load many miles only to break down within a few miles of delivery and home. I gave him a ride home and delivered the load. Then I accidentally discovered that all that $$$ was every dime the load paid from where that driver picked it up..and I called Landstar..I said, I will take $100 dollars for delivering the load and I want all the rest of that $$ to go to the driver who hauled it over 1500 miles before he broke down.
I know one driver who had a load repowered and Landstar not only gave every dime to the repower, even though the original driver had hauled it 1000 miles already but charged the broke down driver money on top of it..So watch this..Don't repower a load and take everything a man earned just because Landstar does things that way

 

Yeah, we got offered 19K a month, as a Landstar BCO. We're doing the job and don't see the money. We still have our trailer and we can always leave.

 

TruckFam
I have never been able to figure out why some drivers make money and some don't. I don't know what BCO utilization is and I called customer service a few times, can't remember what about.
Agents were strictly business to me..They had the customers, I had the equipment.."How much, how far and how heavy" is about the extent of any relationship with agents.
I made as much money as I wanted but I know some people who didn't make it at Landstar who worked hard and were experienced
There isn't any formula except I acted as if I were operating under my own authority, Landstar runs the office and the agents are the salesmen. If it were my authority, seems like it becomes an attitude to make it work..I don't know..Just have to wish you luck.

 

The people who do that, make Landstar work for them. Some people just don't have that in them, and that's ok as there are plenty of different types of carriers. After having my own authority for 6+ years, LS is a gravy train because of everything I learned the hard way under my authority.

 

How were you offered 19k?