Can a one man operation really compete with the bigs

I pay like $630 for the month for cargo/liability/bt/phys damage.... How long have you been with Bill, if you don't mind my asking?

 

I started with Bill in July 2012.


All insurance (cargo/liability/bt/phys damage AND Occ/Acc) is around $620 per month.


www.sentry.com is who my BT/Phys Dam and Occ/Acc is through.

 

Hi. Yeah, if I can get $1.90 for 2200 miles coming out of New England on a Friday, and final in Little Rock I'm alright with that. I'd like to get more, but that's where the customer service comes in. Once I establish a rate that I can live with I then provide customer service that let's me increase the rate over time.....

 

Ok, thanks. I contacted Bill awhile back but I guess he's busy merging with a new acquisition.. thanks for the info. I'm toying with the idea of going completely on my own, but I still like being able to call the guys I'm with now to talk about rates and freight situations, it's comforting to have a sounding board and they have a lot of experience. We've come up with some pretty good strategies working together and I'm not sure I'm ready to leave that just yet. I do wonder if they are going to go out of business on me though as I'm seeing cash flow problems on their end of things, hence I'm looking at other situations..... anyway, it's getting kinda late... I sure hope this weather in New England blows through and they get things back to normal quickly, as I'm heading up to Mass for Mon. Have a good night/morning y'all I'm off to bed...

 

Myself,.....

my goal is to have my own authority.

Nothing wrong with Bill or F2F, just my goal. Every stage in life is a means to an end.

Me personally, I just don't like the feeling of hopelessness should something go wrong outside of my control. Even running under someone else's authority, they have "some control" over you.

I was laid off in 2009 along with 2600 other employees and in Feb 2012, told I was not a good fit with the MN / DOT.

THAT is the biggest reason I became an O/O. Working with Bill and Lauren has been a dream come true and a wonderful learning experience. It's because of past things the burn to have my own authority is so strong.

 

Agreed. I like the idea of getting 97% with factoring, and having the money, (90%), paid the next day.... I've had the good fortune of landing with a group that has really taught me a lot about brokers, and freight, and making money..... like I said, I'm concerned about their financial state, and there really is no good way to approach that subject with them. (they had an unfortunate experience with the D.O.T. and they lost a ton of money learning that the new safety regs are for real, they've been struggling financially ever since), my brother suggested I just ask them directly, I replied to him, "how should I ask them, should I ask them what day next month they're going to be out of business??", there are things you see that you just can't discuss, rather you begin making contingency plans.... I'm continuing on and they always pay me what they owe, but it's been taking longer and longer to get paid as time goes on... I'm afraid that one day I'll hear them tell me that they're out of business.... just the thought of that hurts me, they're my friends and I hate to think of them losing their business, and yeah, it would suck to lose a few grand in that process.... alright, I'm off to bed for real this time, goodnight

 

I hear these comments about drivers getting yelled at. Why are they yelling?

Are they mad that a truck showed up to pick-up or drop-off?

 

There are two sizes that are the most profitable being an o/o with one rig or having over 10 trucks. As an o/o you have an advantage over the large companies. You are the sole driver so your insurance is less, it is your rig so you will treat it well which results in less repairs, you can work on your own truck whereas a big company has to hire everything on the road out, You can run our own day so you are happier more efficient and you can cut out the cost of a dispatcher, you also won't need to run a shop, hire office employees, or pay for the upkeep of large terminals because you are one person who can run everything from your truck. If you have the money to get your own authority and can get your loads lined up go for it,it does pay, otherwise lease on with another company,you are still basically on your own and can have a say in what happens to your truck but have the security of them finding your loads. The other nice thing about being an o/o is you don't have to compete with the big companies because you can find those short loads or get loads from a small company, the large companies cannot afford to haul these short little loads because the overhead is so high,but you are one driver so you can afford to putz around with those loads and still make descent money at it.

 

Not sure why some of these people get cranky. Other than they are must unhappy with their life. Yesterday, the forklift guy was a real jerk. I told him if he didn't like his job, maybe he should get his CDL and become a driver. It's a better life on the road. He got my meaning. We had fun joking after that.

 

I tried that similar thing one time and was told to F-Off. I almost starting laughing but figured that would not help the situation any.