why does landstar pay alot more

We pull a Flatbed conestoga trailer

 

Ya i had forgotten schneider opened up an actual finance company since the truck manufacturers no longer give guaranteed trade in credits to the big carriers. But don't they also still have the no credit check zero down lease purchase thing going on for the instant gratification crowd?

 

All the ICs I know that are getting their trucks through Schneider had to go through a credit check, and they do expect a down payment, generally in the $3-6K range. They do, indeed, turn people down.

 

Per regulations, to use your truck for work at a company, the company has to have control of the vehicle. This is accomplished by leasing the vehicle to the company.
On a lease purchase (as it typically applies to trucking), the driver is leasing a vehicle from the company who already controls the vehicle. This type of driver has very little control over anything where the previous type of driver typically controls or has the ability to control everything.

 

If a lease operator is treated like a company driver then that company is in violation of law for independent contractors.

 

Technically you are correct, but in every practical way, a lease purchase operator has no more control in there day to day operation than a company driver. And the settlement checks reflect this.

 

There is certainly a large quantity of freight that is below the $2.00 per mile line haul here at Landstar. Every Sunday I like to sit down and take a look at rates for both flatbed and dry van. Here are some of the results from last Sunday. The rates have been holding steady for the last month and a half, with the exception of a slight spike in March:

500 top paying loads for Flatbed: $2.50 per mile and up (gross pay)
500 top paying loads for Dry Van: $2.70 per mile and up (gross pay)

Flatbed loads paying $1200 or more in gross revenue @ at least $2.50 per mile: 218
Dry Van loads paying $1200 or more in gross revenue @ at least $2.50 per mile: 150

Flatbed loads/trailer ratio: 2.4 available loads per trailer
Dry Van loads/trailer ratio: 1.4 available loads per trailer

When people speak of gross revenue at Landstar, their are a several variables to consider that help dictate why a Landstar driver may do "better" than others. Percentage of line haul, accessorials (tarp, lift gate service, loading/unloading, etc), and fuel surcharge all have to be taken into consideration. It's not as cut and dry as "65% of the load goes to the driver" and while the percentage of the line haul is set in stone, the other factors (often including the line haul itself) are negotiable and this is one of the reasons Landstar drivers have additional earning potential. Many agents will break out much more than the national average of fuel surcharge. For example, there was a flatbed load on the board today that was paying around $1.00 per mile fuel surcharge (versus $0.18 per mile) on $1,500 of total revenue. So with my own trailer, I would've received 80%, instead of 73% or 65%. I'm under a load right now that pays over $550 in accessorials and fuel surcharge. It'll pay $2.60 to the truck on all miles, loaded and deadhead. I'll be making 78% of the gross revenue.

The difference between Landstar and most other lease carriers is a lot like the difference between Android and iPhone. iPhone is very functional and user friendly right out of the box, but you can't really do any tinkering with it whereas the Android phone has a lot of additional potential to people who are savvy and willing to invest a little time and effort.

 

Cool break down but why in the world did you do it on a Sunday when there's nothing but crap on the board and loads posted out for 3 months in advance??

 

1. 3 months out or one week out. It doesn't matter. Loads on the board now are quoted using current rate information. It wouldn't matter what day I picked. Advanced loads would always be on there.
2. There tends to be a lot of variance through the week. Sunday evening is calm and gives a chance for whatever loads are going to hit the board over the weekend to come out.
3. I'm generally very busy throughout the rest of the week, so this is a convenient time.

All in all, the data offers a decent, general snapshot of what is happening with freight at Landstar. I could offer up the last 7 weeks of data, but that would probably far to boring for most. (Too boring; didn't read)

 

Lol it does matter. Well maybe it dont but majority of the loads I can guarantee wasnt scheduled to pick up from a month or 3. I mean if you booking yourself or your trucks out 2-3 weeks in advance i guess that's ok but the drop off from Friday at noon to Sunday at Midnight has always been 4-5 thousand loads on the board. That's not really a general snapshot because even when things was really rolling if you didn't have a load by Friday night you was usually sitting until Monday afternoon. And of course you know the pretty good loads don't even last no more than 3 mins if posted within 3 or 4 days of pick up, especially on the weekend, but to each it's own...