Originally Posted by quadbob

i mean really whats the point! if you have to deal with the agents and brokers all the time to get anything good or to at least get a line on sorta decent freight! then whats the point of landstar? you might as well just call the stupid dispatcher(know offense) and refuse the loads you don't want. i mean first off, at landstar you have to call all of them,everybody, then you have to pay for everything! the whole point of landstar is freedom! there are companies out there that will pay for your base plates,permits,detention,layover, he** you can get them to pay for most anything! the big drawback is the fact that you have to deal with a dispatcher,driver manager, etc. who has know idea whats happening out there on the road! BUT IF YOU REALLY CAN'T JUST PICK THE LOADS YOU WANT, AND PICK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.
THEN WHATS THE POINT!

You can pick where you want to go........ from the limited available freight they have.
I don't know what gave you the idea that they dispatch you. Cuz they do not.

Originally Posted by stranger

That's the kind of answers I have been looking for, but not finding. Thanks.

It shouldn’t be that hard to Understand. Around Feb of 09 the rates and freight portion of Landstars board changed drastically.
Those BCO’s in the rolling houses and driving the big Petes, W-9’s were making money just like all of us were. They are hauling the cheap freight now just to get by or through this economy situation.

If you don’t know how to meet and greet an Agent then your business is going to suffer.
Almost no Agent has any sort of loyalty what so ever. Just like no BCO has any loyalty what so ever.
It used to be that you could just run the LS board and make good money by getting decent loads. But those times are gone. Now that Landstar sees what BCO’s will haul for I doubt it will get back up there soon.

I don’t blame BCO’s for hauling cheap just to stay afloat but it’s not helping the situation.

If you could make 8K per week and keep 4K, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind buying an Agency lunch or dinner. Simple math, make 8K and pay your expenses and keep 4K and spend $100 per week to buy the agent lunch.
Everyone wants a piece of the driver. And as long as the driver can make some money he’ll keep giving money away.

As for the Net and Gross. If you haven’t figured your running cost and Landstars cut into the deduction before your net, then you’re just fooling yourself. Net is what you keep after you paid for your boat and net to throw it into the water to get your gross.

And you haven’t found the answer that you’ve been looking for because you haven’t understood that what was so yesterday is not so at Landstar today.

Landstar has lost many drivers, and it is prolly real easy to get leased on right now.
However that only allows Landstar to keep the freight rates down because they need the new drivers who don’t know the system well enough to know the difference.

LS needs the new drivers now more than ever to keep the freight rate system perpetuated.
All these big companies love to see a driver buy a new truck. It helps guarantee less breakdowns, and that the freight most likely will get there on time. Plus it assures that the BCO needs to run to make the payment. Then after 3 to 4 years they are looking for another new driver.

You want to take advantage of the good freight here at Landstar. Make some good money and then go home and enjoy.

Problem is, there is not enough good freight to go around here at Landstar.

Originally Posted by quadbob

hi brickman, nice to meet you! i didn't say landstar has dispatchers! i said you might as well work for a company that does. simply because if you have to deal with only a few brokers or agents then you might as well just deal with a dispatcher because it's basicaly the same thing. you call them and they tell you they have some crap paying a nickle a mile! and that weighs 100,000 pounds
anyway my point is if you have to call everyone and can't do it yourself, you might as well go somewhere that at least pays for something. i'm sure there was a time when landstar was the way to go! but now i'm really starting to think that it's just like the rest! maybe worse. AT LEAST RIGHT NOW to bad because i'd really like to dispatch myself, and do what i want, when i want. but i'm not willing to go broke to find out. if i was i'd get my own authority and make all the calls and contacts needed to make that work.

Back in the day LS was a great place to be. I enjoyed my time there from 05 into 07. Some days it was so easy to book a load it was almost a crime.
Now days from listening to my friends still there its difficult.

Originally Posted by Brickman

Back in the day LS was a great place to be. I enjoyed my time there from 05 into 07. Some days it was so easy to book a load it was almost a crime.
Now days from listening to my friends still there its difficult.

Right, two years ago up until feb of 09 I thought I new I'd be there until I retired again.
Local has been so good in these times lately that I'm thinking about pulling my lease. It's ashame, I really like dirving OTR. But only if I have to do it half of the year. Not really worth it to be gone 12 months out of 12.

It's not just the lack of freight and the low rates. Landstar is trying to use tatics to force the BCO's to haul the cheap and heavy loads.
They must be hurting pretty good to allow the agents to attempt some of the lies that just a few months ago Landstar wouldn't allow.

Seems like they have the Logistics mentality of haul it or leave.