The ugly truth about Landstar

Ok, this is going to be long, but honest. This post is for the o/o who is thinking about coming to Landstar.

First off, I had high hopes when I came to Landstar. I heard about their load board on their advertisements, and I checked it out at the great American truck show in Dallas. I had visions of booking my loads for two weeks, or even by the week. I saw those big numbers by the rate per mile. I was very excited. Then I got here.

First thing that happened: I had to wait two weeks for a trailer. No bt to get one, just wait. Trailer utilization was the department that kept telling me to wait.

Second thing: the BCO advisors are a joke. Ignore them completely. I listened to them for a month after finally getting a trailer and I averaged $300 take home per week.

Third: after deciding I couldn't survive if I kept listening to my now second advisor, I scoured the load board. I literally spent two full days on it planning, checking, and rechecking the loads I wanted and the dates. Finally, I started booking my loads. I started making more money, how could I not, right? But then I learned another ugly truth about Landstar. They let their agents post loads that have less than fifty percent chance of going. The biggest offender is CGI. They have some of the highest rates on the board, but they cancelled on me a full fifty percent of the time. This caused me to have to cancel my next load and all my careful planning and due diligence was for not. When I spoke with Landstar about it? Don't pull for them, better luck next time.

Fourth: the rates are ridiculously low, and the only decent rates are going into "dead end" areas. No loads coming out. Wyoming, Montana, Florida, etc.

In closing: look, I have nothing to gain by bashing Landstar. These statements are facts and are an accurate reflection of my short time here. By and large, the drivers who have been here over five years like it here. The longer they've been here the greater the company is, it seems. I am not going to sit here and call a bunch if guys I don't know liars. Maybe Landstar was a great company to work for several years ago. Maybe it still is a great company to work for if you've been here long enough. All I'm saying is that I've neither seen nor heard anything to suggest that it is a good company to come to now, from other drivers who have been here less than two years. Oh, and the first time you talk to your advisor about not finding anything decent on the load board? They tell you straight away that the load board is complete garbage. Those are all the loads that nobody wants. The "good" loads you have to get by load alert the day of the load. Don't take my word for it. Swing by your nearest Landstar "terminal" and take a look at the drivers lounge. It's full of drivers just sitting their pushing the refresh key on their laptop, trying to be the first to get the newest load posting, on the off chance it will be decent. Go in around lunch time and look at the line of drivers lined up for the free lunch. If we were making so much money over here, why would so many drivers want to eat at the terminal? They don't want to. They have to. There is no planning over here. It's catch as catch can. They have way more drivers than decent freight, so the agencies know that they don't have to post the load until the day it leaves.
If you want to try this place out, by all means, come on over. At least now you will have realistic expectations based on truths that Landstar doesn't have the decency to provide you.

Alternate options to Landstar: OOIDA. Call them. They provide all the same benefits that Landstar does. They'll take care of getting your authority and everything set up. You can send them your logs. They'll get you on the national drug test database. They'll sell you access to their load board. I think it's $40/mo. You can send them your paper logs, or they can guide you on getting set up with electronic logs.
I've heard good things about company driving for Walmart.
I've heard better things about Mcclane company driving positions.
I have a friend over at Oakley who absolutely loves it. It's all owner op, though. That's most likely where I will be going.

Good luck to you and be safe,
Jeff

 

As for finding how long I waited for a trailer, what would be the point of being dishonest? That was the tamest of my experiences here. As for the rest, I'm giving a personal account of my experience here so far. It was honest and not embellished in any way. I posted it for those drivers considering coming to Landstar. If any drivers have had a different experience at Landstar, then by all means, offer your counter points and an account of your experience here. How long have you been here? How long did it take you to start making good money? How long did it take you to establish a relationship with these agencies? Which agency codes have tou had the best experiences with? The worst? Anything prospective drivers would need to know. Again, this post was about an actual experience, not opinions. We have no shortage of driver opinions and pontificating all over the place.