is it worth it to be a true o/o?

Lol, not rightly saying buy a truck without power steering. But I think a test truck with manual or air assist would be a good learning tool for new comers in the profession of trucking. If it's difficult or they gotta put some muscle in it, most will bail before finishing the class. Notice I ssid "most".

 

I hate to advocate complacency, but some people will only succeed by way of their mistakes.

There are people who can read a book and comprehend everything they need to understand. Others like me are more visual and hands on people. I can read a book,.. but I will struggle with full comprehension because I need that visual clarification.

The one advantage I had was that I started small and made many mistakes along the way to finally owning a semi truck out right. So anyone who looks at me,.. dont think I just woke up one day and decided to become an O/O. For me it started in Jan of 2009,.. and I didnt finally get to the point of owning a real OTR semi truck until March of 2014. And,... A N D!! Over the course of the last year,.. I still made mistakes and learned things the hard way. For me the only way to learn was through experience. The only way to get experience is to just go out and do it. I was smart enough to to save and start with cash,.. lots of it. $30,000 initially and then borrowed another $20,000 after I bought my truck. I started with $50,000 and only through sheer will power, stubbornness and sacrifice have I managed to beat my previous attempts and finally become debt free.

I agree,.. I dont think jumping into something as expensive as a class 8 truck with out some serious real world knowledge and experience is going to end well. But good or bad,.. thats the road/path some people need to follow. They will either learn and try again,.. or learn that its not for them.

I know this is showing my age,.. but when I was a kid I grew up in an old house that had a boiler in the basement and hot water pipes and radiators in each bedroom for heat. I was told,.. dont touch,.. HOT,.. very hot,.. bad. Some kids thats enough,.. not me,.. I had to touch the no no and see for myself just how bad it really was.

Hurst

 

Did you ever pee on an electric fence just to see the sparks?

 

I taught high school farm kids, who would see who could hold on the longest. Plus get drunk and pee on them.

 

Funny you mention that. I was at a group home for a few years in Md call the Sheriffs Boys ranch. 204 acres and the lower barn had a single electric wire surrounding the pen. Part of our right of passage was to take a wet blade of grass and hold it on the fence and who ever let go first was a queer.

My favorite act of sabotage was to grab someone's shoulder (Tank top shirts) and then grab the fence.

I got my kid brother who was 9 at the time to pee on it. It was a double dog dare. He did it,.. went to the house parents crying and I got grounded with no TV for a week.

Hurst

 

The only real truck owners are the ones with a business plan. The ones with a REAL business. Not the ******* that signed a lease contract. Not the ******* that baught a used truck and maintaining their truck is costing them everything they own, including the sale of their personal car because they cant afford diesel. Not the ******** that have payments so large the truck virtually owns their livelihood. You think think theyre a business men? What businessman lives in his truck eating sardines and sleeping at the Walmart lot. What business man shares a bath with the general trucking public. I don't want to be no sorry ### o/o cruising in a my rolling bedroom.

You old timers that have been doing OYR for years, I feel bad for u. Tell these rookies that think o/o is the only way to be a top earner that they're wrong.

Help these young guys with full life's ahead of them.

 

Not sure where to start on this kind of a reply.

You are entitled to your opinions,.. I'll give you that. But to be so judgmental about guys trying to make a go at a dream on a shoe string budget and then to have the nerve to chastise them about it?

I have news for you,.. its not just rookies living that way. Old timers with 20+ years in the industry are living week to week trying to make ends meet.

I started with a used truck. If I didnt have a wealthy mother inlaw to loan me money after I realized I was in over my head,.. I would just be another statistic that you so humbly put down.

You want to help them,.. guys like me? Try putting down some intelligent rhetoric that is not offensive with name calling. If you know exactly what needs to be done and how to do it,.. then why not share your wealth of knowledge and do some real good here. Seems you have it all figured out.


Hurst

 

Ummm.... You didn't read the whole thread did you?

 

Just remember something about being in business for yourself, you can do EVERYTHING right, you can do EVERYTHING by the book, you can work you ### off, and be smart about your money, and you can still go broke.

I would never discourage anyone from trying to make it on there own, BUT, the economy tends to run in cycles, we have been on a decent swing in transportation for a couple of years now, I DO think there is a slide coming, in business timing IS everything.

 

Yup. It was better to be an o/o last year at this time than this year right now. Big companies are paying company drivera more because they want to increase their quarterly freight volume, which increases their profit and reduces their loss factor. So, this year you'll see more company guys. Less real o/o's and an increase in lease guys because interest rates are down and the companies are telling drivers that their company is growing...because of? Take a guess.

...because they are increasing their freight volume quarterlies by raising pay to company drivers.

See the big picture?