When is the best time to go into the trucking business?

Disclaimer: Never been an owner operator, always been a company driver.

Well luckily for the OP he already bought himself a truck and became an Owner Operator at the perfect time with just dumb luck, which everyone before 2021 (and especially before 2020) was able to do with still low prices but also extremely low interest rates and a once in a generation economic boom (no disrespect meant towards OP with that comment, of course). So he bought his truck low and can now sell it high and he probably made good money running freight on the ride up to the peak in late 2021.

That's kind of what life is all about, is a combination of effort and just dumb luck. And that can apply to anything in life. So to answer the question, in my opinion there's no "best time" to go into being an Owner Operator, but you can do enough research to not go in at the "worst time" either.

And that's the middle ground. Don't try to time the "best time", just try to avoid the "worst time" (which is a doable goal).

 

"OP" @D.Tibbitt isn't asking a question. He's making a statement. And considering he payed off his truck in less than two years, worked like 346 days last year, and understands the market, I'm going out on a limb and saying his situation isn't "luck". It's hard work that payed off.

If there's anyone on this forum that can outwork @D.Tibbitt , I'd like to know who it is.

 

He made a post asking a question and then stated his opinion. So yes he was asking a question. The title of this thread is literally a question.

From what I remember he's been sitting at home for most of 2022 trading stocks and has barely worked this year, I could be wrong if I'm not remembering correctly though. Doesn't sound like hard work to me. If you work the whole year for 1 year and take the next year off, well that's still only working half the year on average. Nothing wrong with that of course (it sounds like a great situation to be in if I'm being honest, that's really good that he's able to set himself up like that).

And no, I respectfully disagree with you. Anybody who bought a truck prior to 2021 and especially before 2020 was succesful because of dumb luck. That was an incredibly unique experience in world history that will probably never (or rarely) be replicated. You didn't even have to work hard if you bought a truck prior to 2020, you just had to show up. Anybody could have been successful in trucking or anything other industry if you just showed up the past 2 years, that's literally ALL you had to do. Just show up. That's it.

However, I will say I could have phrased it better. "Dumb luck" sounds a bit like I'm insulting someone, which wasn't my intention. I probably should have phrased it "right place at the right time" instead of "dumb luck".

Same for the "Gold Rush" back in the 1800's in the US. Yes, they worked hard. But, right time in history, right place in history, it was dumb luck. All they had to do was show up and dumb luck would take care of the rest.

Hopefully you can see what I'm getting at.

Look I'm not trying to derail this thread and my main point still stands, that you shouldn't try to time the peak but rather you just need to avoid the bottom. I think that is good advice.

 

Did not read past the stock quote. You are talking about someone else. This guy is not super something or another that sold his truck and trades stocks. Before running all off at least have the right person you are talking about.

 

No, I am talking about the right person. I'm pretty sure I remember him saying he made more money with trading stocks than he did with his salary at his trucking company, and then he said something about not working much in 2022. I remember that because he's been on the forum for a while so he's not some troll, so I thought that was pretty cool/really impressive that he was able to do that. I think I'm thinking of the right guy.

 

I am sure you are talking about another guy. Sure he will come on and tell you the same thing. But not my fight or care other than pointing you in the right direction.

 

I think I know who you're talking about. His username was superguy or something like that but he was a newer forum member who went on multiple threads talking about how he was making $10,000 per day daytrading or something ridiculous like that, all while spending time on a trucking forum. That's not who I'm talking/thinking about.

The forum member I'm thinking about said they made more money in a fiscal year trading stocks than they did driving a truck. I remember the person who wrote it had been a forum member for a while so they weren't some troll/recently joined forum member. You might be right though, that might not've been Tibbit and if I'm remembering wrong, I apologize.

 

Well to be fair when you talk about playing armchair quarterback, that's why I put a disclaimer on my original post in this thread so that people knew I had never been an Owner Operator before.

But to answer your question, there's quite a few reasons why I don't put skin in the game and become an Owner Operator. I can be honest with myself and I know my strengths and weaknesses. I am terrible mechanically. I've never been good at fixing things and not just on trucks, but even stuff around the house. I can't change oil on a car, much less a truck. Someone could rip me off mechanically and I would never know the difference.

And do I even want to learn new things to become even a novice mechanic? No, not really.

Also, I don't know if I'll drive a truck for the rest of my life. Owning a truck and trailer seems like a big commitment. Too much stress. I think I would fail outside crazy boom years and even if I succeeded, I would never want to expand beyond one truck and judging from posts on this forum and YouTube, with a one man truck outside of the boom years (which have passed by now) I don't think I'de be making much more than a company driver.

To be quite frank, I'm probably the definition of a "Steering Wheel Holder". And that's ok. I accept that. We all have different interests.

In a way I can see what you're saying though, about me being an armchair quarterback coming into this thread since I've never been an Owner Operator. So maybe it would've been best not to post in this thread, but, I still think my main point of avoiding the bottom rather than timing the top is good advice and that goes for many things in life.