Which is better to work for a company or be a independent operator?

Work for a driver staffing service. They provide temporary drivers to some trucking companies. Also, once you start driving a truck ALL of the work hours you spend trucking, and working ANY OTHER JOB counts toward your 70 hour in 8 day limit.

The Hours of Service rules for truck drivers count your work for ANY employer at ANY job toward your 70 hours/8 day limit. If the non-trucking job pays any compensation it counts toward your 70 Hour clock. No Job Is An Exception. For example, if you are a cashier in a convenience store, sell sea shells at a flea market, play professional sports, drive a car for a NASCAR team. ANY JOB counts against your 70.

 

Some companies need drivers so bad, they are now offering part time positions. I worked on Fri and Mondays delivering frozen food to a grocery chain, with a day cab. Out and back the same day to New Jersey or New York.

Depends on where you are located and what the demand is. Go the company route to learn the business.

You will make more money as a firefighter.

 

The OP currently does not have a CDL and is only 18. I recommend the OP wait on getting a CDL until they are at least 21 and in the meantime work local in none CDL required CMVs. There are tons of these jobs out there. Then when they are 21 go get the CDL and move up. Maybe by then, the OP will have made a better decision. i would also add that the cost of CDL training will be an issue later.

 

18 full of piss and vinegar ... What do you think you will be doing during your 24 hours at the firehouse? I can tell you you will be working at least 12 of that. Get a fire call and you could be working the entire 24 or more.

The last thing you need is a second job that could work you 14 hours a day ... not to mention dealing with the HOS rules.

Get on with a fire department first. Find out how it works.

 

Turn a years worth of miles first with a company. Dont let them fleet lease you. Dont believe the bull they try to feed you about more money. Get your feet wet. You will turn a bit more than a million miles in that first year.

If you still want to be an O/O that is your choice. Yet you need that first year to get a fair shake on insurance.
Which is better O/O or company? There is no difinitive answer to this. It is up to you really. Business always has costs. Its called overhead. The question is can you make more profit than the cost of overhead.

I looked at the costs to startup here in Maine.
-6-7k insurance
-Here where I live i have to pay a use of roads upfront called excise tax. 5k for an older truck. Newer trucks are around 20k
-Base plates are negligable $35
-Truck inspection (all vehicles in Maine must have inspection sticker) $150 / hour average cost $600.
-Each state you drive through are expecting you to pay a mileage fee. So plan on that. Unknown to me yet what this cost is.
-Truck purchase. This depends on you. If you like a project buy used and go through it. 30k-50k New 120k or more.
-The headache of used trucks is that you should have a buffer of the cost to replace your starter truck (ie if you bought the truck at 35k, there should be an additional 35k saved in the bank)
-A good truck that is aerodynamic will average 7 mpg. The classic look may only get you 5 mpg. (yes I am sure some of you will disagree, yet in business you want to anticipate cost before profit. So take the lower number first).
-Tires. You will use a set of tires every 200k-300k miles driven. I use a online dealer to buy tires. What you do is your choice. Tires are about $500-2k ea depending on whom sells it. 10 tires from the online site is around 5k free shipping.
-Duallies or Super Singles. Remember overhead? Super singles earn you a quarter mile + (on average) to your MPG.
-Tolls are a interesting cost unto themselves. You need to get something that is a digital pass. Here in Maine it is EZ Pass. Yet there are 3 different devices out there. No uniformity yet. This should be set up to be autopaid via credit card. The headache here in Maine is they want to be paid with in one week of you going through the toll or get a $150 penalty. That penalty is what got the company in Rhode Island in hot water as they were paying once a month.
-Pay. Yes you must get paid out of this. You need to figure on how much your job is worth.
-Bank Fees. You will want to have a seperate account and it is purely for the company. Rationalize expenses. It is not your money. It is the companies money. It will show very quickly if you are making money or not. Got a balance? Is it a good balance? Are you looking at a loan to stay in business? This is a over head you should avoid at all possible costs.

All in all a startup fee per year is a average of 50k that you will need to recoup in mileage. You will need to figure your mileage into the cost + repairs and overhead = to get the cost per mile you must get to stay in business. When I figured it out I was looking at $2.50 a mile. I posted this on a forum and some driver scoffed at me. Yet he was riding on the seat of his pants and barely making it. For him it was a roll of the dice.

Thankyou for having read through my long winded post. There are no simple answers when it comes to running a business.

Trucking isnt a matter of get in and go. This is correct if your a company driver. Yet as a company driver you are at the whim of what the company requires.

One last thing. I have said it before and I will say it again. !!!AVOID FLEET LEASING!!! Fleet leasing makes the company richer on your work. It is why they have it. With ALOT of fees!

 

I ommitted the online location due to Forum rules. They dont like free advertising of companies. If I see a post that says ok I will post it.

 

As a business owner from 1985 to present. Dont figure hi values. Its counting chickens and all that. Yet dont be discouraged by my post. You might ask in the owner operator part of the forum for examples of costs.