Can an O/O stay local and still make money?

Landstar Savings plus gives a Comdata settlement card to broker carriers and you can use the money on the card to buy fuel at Landstar pricing (cost plus as at TA/Petro).

 

1. I am an approved carrier with Landstar, Mercer and Packard. They offer either a ComData or TCH fuel card.

2. You asked, specifically, about loads out of Laredo. Most loads do not have have their rates posted. Still, $2.25 per mile will gross over $1,000.00 at 500 miles. That is one days work and you have another four to six days to make even more.

3. Experience, research, spend time on the load boards, call brokers and ask question.

4. I don't go to Alaska often, I spend almost all of my time in Texas.

5. I could, I'm not. You are asking me to prove revenue. I really don't care if you believe me or not.

6. With an attitude like this, I don't think I will answer any more of your questions. I have already seen why you aren't making more. Nothing I do is revolutionary, it is hard work and knowing my lanes and knowing the segment of the industry I am in. There is no magic.

 

grossing $1000 a day isn't bad. But it's still nothing to write home about either.....

 

The original poster wanted to gross $1,000.00 per week. All I have said, is that, that is easy. I don't write home about $1,000.00 days or five days in a row. That is just work to me. My goal is to make $1,000.00 per day that I am out. I, sometimes make more, sometimes I make less. As long as it averages out to $1,000.00 per day, I am satisfied. I am, extremely, satisfied when it works out to more than $1,250.00 per day.

 

Thats a mighty fine Texas Two Step dance !!!! The other forum called Bull Scat on your claims also and you reacted the same way as you have reacted to Board Hauler.....

 

just curious, what did u use to get those concluded figures of the devaluing USD?

 

You, obviously, have another user name on the "other forum."

Why should I try to help or even be polite when someone post this: "6. Can you provide some meaningful, direct answers to my questions or do you just want keep using that snow shovel to throw more male bovine excrement?"

Besides, the discussion on the other forum was about what I was doing as an over the road leased driver. My claims were much higher because I was driving 120,000 to 130,000 miles per year, not the 65,000 to 70,000 that I am driving now.

I will discuss thing until they turn ugly and posters start calling me a liar. At that point, I know you are beyond help. You can't imagine anything outside of your experience. Other posters on this thread are claiming to be doing as well or better, are we all liars, or is it just me?

 

I don't have a dog in this fight, but since you've been persistent in asking for examples and specifics, I'll give it a whirl.

2 and 3. Know where product that can go on your equipment is coming and going from. It takes a while to figure it out and know where the rates really are. You'll struggle at first. Then you stumble upon a few good loads and go back to those customers to do it again. Eventually you figure out the best place/time to locate your truck to scoop up more of those. Usually the best trips are either starting/ending someplace remote, or are spot loads (last minute orders, dropped loads, something that needs a truck in right now). Experience plays a factor too. When you're new to a broker, especially with new authority, they're not going to give you sensitive loads unless they're desperate. These loads are never posted on the load boards. You'll either be cold called on them, or you will know who to call when you're in a certain place at a certain time. The loads listed on the load boards with rates are crappy loads they can't cover, or have so many drops your truck will be tied up for a week. Despite that, I call them anyway and name my price. Once in a while they say ok go get it.

5. That's not going to be very useful other than to back up the claim of potential. How about $10,438 revenue on 4,430 hub miles on two trucks for a week. I drive one and pay executive management (my wife and I) an $800/week salary ($400 x 2). When I need it, the company pays me back on money I've financed the company with. We're a c-corp, so if I were to make enough profit I can pay us a dividend too. Right now I'm giving to the company until it hurts in order to get my business established and have safe equipment on the road. My son gets paid 23% of invoice as a company driver. His gross pay that week was around $1,100, not including loads he lumped and took as 1099 income to his sole proprietor lumper business. He's young and greedy enough to do that. That was a slightly busier than usual week for us, we usually have gross revenue around $8k a week. Usually out no more than 3-4 days at a stretch and usually manage 2-3 days at home each week. We could be doing 50% better if we stayed out OTR for weeks on end. Or did some sort of specialty, open deck stuff. We're hauling reefers and we're kind of lazy and like slamming doors. My son and I have each booked $7,000 revenue weeks when we were hustling and ran hard. When we do that hauling future chicken nuggets around the southeast in a hurry, it's a money maker (fewer miles). During the summer it can happen taking those ready to cook nuggets out to TX and swing down to the RGV and come back with produce. More miles == less profit.

6. I don't know how much more detail it will take to convince you that $1,000 take home or gross income after expenses is possible. It's not BS and I have no reason to doubt the claims terrylamar and some others have made so far. It's possible, probably not during your first week on your own. There will be slow weeks here and there. There will be weeks where you have down time for repairs. Every week is a surprise. Right now I'm coming off a nearly 4 day weekend "off" and getting loaded in Gainesville, GA for a round trip to Allentown, PA and back for about $3,100. This ride finals Thursday evening. I'll probably do a loop up to TN and back before the weekend and pick up another $1,500 - 2,000. I'll finish the week with around 2,000 miles on the truck. On the remote chance the TN trip doesn't materialize, I will get more days off or more likely pick up a spot load or two for who knows how much money. I'm ok either way and will see what happens Thursday or Friday.

Are we going to get rich doing this? Not at the rate we're going. But we are doing well enough to keep doing it. Could we do better? Sure. Our revenue numbers and cpm values are continuously improving. Every day brings more knowledge, better reputation, and more efficiency. Our first two summers, business fell like a stone the middle of July thru late August. This year we've been running non-stop and getting better than ever rates to do it.

 

Thanks for the reply, but I think you're a little late to the show & missing the point. My issue is not with whether the OP (or anyone else) can earn as much as he currently does as a driver, which he states is $1,000.00 per week. I understand that to mean that the OP wants an operating profit, after depreciation and capital costs of at least $1,000.00 per week before taxes. I don't have a problem with that, I think it's quite doable in a local job in most areas. (It's not really doable where I live,which is why I'm leased on where I am.) My problem is with some of terrylamar's answers in which I think he posits a totally BS picture of his own earnings, to wit;

I guess, if you want to take a tremendous cut in pay. Why are you going to settle for $1,000.00 per weak gross. Pun intended. I'm in Central Texas and I'm rather lazy, I pull in $2k to $4k. WheIn I'm charging hard, it is $4K to $7K​

Do you really want me to believe that even if we are just talking about gross operating profit, which is different than what the OP was talking about, somebody is going to put up figures like this? In Texas? While being admittedly lazy? While running off load boards? While staying in Texas 95% of the time? That he can net more than $1,000.00 per week only working one day? That he made even more when he was over-the-road? That he does this by looking for loads that interest him and are easy? You can read back through his posts and see that he has made all these claims.


The OP and the first subsequent postmake the terms of the question pretty clear. I don't think anyone should be confused about what he was asking. I do think he's asking in the wrong place. He needs to do proper due diligence and calculate his own numbers on his own best projections for a specific job and truck.


I bought my first truck in 1974. My Dad bought his first truck in the 1940's. I have a pretty good sense of how the industry works. The number of people that I have watched enter and exit the business is amazing. Nothing in your post strikes me as BS. An awful lot of what terrlamar has posted won't pass the sniff test. If he had given any answer comparable to yours, I would have said thanks, it looks like you have it figured out, and moved on.

 

Sorry for your loss man, But sounds like you have it figured out. Thats a good attitude you have there. Happiness is Key. It aint all about the money! The sooner folks learn that the better. I seen your Avatar with the Lone wolf. Thats cool Brother. God Bless you!