Landstar home time

Back when I worked for LS they would not like their trailers to sit more then 2 weeks without a load. They would call and ask if I was going to use the trailer or not. If not they would send someone to come get it. So if you want more then two weeks off they may call. If your pulling your own trailer you can sit all you want at home. You can sit all you want at home pulling their trailer. You just have to give it up after two weeks and they would have to find you another one when every want to leave again.

 

Im with landstar and they never called me about my home time. And i stay home a lot some times up to two months

 

Wow

Get this ...

Landstar does not have home time.

You might as well start getting the verbege right and the company driver crap out of your head.

As an owner leased to ls, you make your own schedule as long as you pay the fees every week, you can take six months off.

I recommend one thing, use their trailer for a bit and save for your own, get it and increase your percentage of the gross.

 

hometime? dont you wanna run 600 miles a day 7 days a week untill your back cant take anymore?, i mean thats where the money is, in the miles right? lol if your not keeping the door shut and running like a slave your just a slacker, and you dont wanna be a slacker do you? come on you should know better than to ask about hometime, if thats your question then you dont belong in trucking because your not a super trucker. and if you dont get miles who you gonna blame at landstar, the brokers or the freight gods?

please note that is sarcasm and i was quoting all the rubbish you will hear from company drivers. good luck driver.

 

I've been with LS since march. Pretty happy with them so far, but I think hometime is the least of your worries with them.

 

Why is that

 

Yeah why is that?

 

Home time is the least of your worries because you can take any amount of time off you want to, but only if you can afford to park your truck. That's the problem you will probably find the amount of money you make will not even let you take the home time you want. So you can't go home, because you have to make money. It not like your going to make $80,000 and say I'll just stay home more because I'm happy making $35,000 a year. You might find yourself struggling to make $35,000 and not going home just to make that, because the profit is so low. People think the company is screwing them keeping the big money. When in reality their is very little profits to be made. So you don't go home as much as you would like.

 

If you become an owner operator you become a business man/woman. You CAN set your own schedule and be your own boss, but you will realize that you have traded one boss for many bosses.

One "boss" is going to be finances. You may want to run two weeks and take two weeks off, BUT that will depend on whether you are making truck payments, have a mortgage, etc. If your truck and home are paid off then taking lots of home time can work for you.

Another set of "bosses" are customers and brokers. You may need to be willing to run more frequently if you find good paying loads from a shipper that wants your service. Not showing up for weeks at a time may open the door for your competition to get an opportunity to be the reliable driver they are looking for.

It will take time to figure out how to run smarter, not harder. You need to figure out your target rates to make a profit, not just paying yourself to drive, but to make a profit on top of paying yourself. Don't just buy a job. Find loads that pay enough to to make a profit and service the hell out of them.

Develop good relationships with key brokers in the LS system, the ones that handle high tariff freight. Good paying loads exist. Develop relationships and a solid reputation and work your way into those accounts. You aren't getting dispatched like you were as a company driver, you have to work to find your loads. Don't just rely on the LS load board.