Pro; 1. You have more control of where you go and when. 2. You have less oversite as a rule from a company watching your every move. 3. You get to choose what type of truck to drive and what to put on it or in it. 4. You will have more tax deductions than a company driver. 5. You can take as much time off as you like. 6. For a savvy businessman he may be able to grow a profitable company and ultimately retire. 7. The new o/o gets all the pay (after expenses are deducted in the case of a lease operator) without any taxes being withheld. Cons; You are responsible for all the truck expenses. This includes truck payments, fuel, maintenance, plates and permits. Then there is the taxes; road use tax filings, fuel tax filings. federal, state, local, social security and medicare. Then you have all the insurances such as workers comp, liabilty, bobtail, medical, dental, vision, disabilty and aflac. Then depending upon the company you lease to there may be other "fees" such as drop fees, preloaded trailer fees, trailer rental fees, qualcomm rental, trippak or transflow fees, escrow accounts, maintenance funds, advance fees, fees for using the company fuel card (efs, comdata, etc). Then you must be sure to set aside money for your vacation, sick days, personal days, holidays, ira or 401k. There are so many aspects and different levels of owner operators it is really tough to cover each and every item. Here are the basic distinctions though; 1st. Independant contractor with his own truck and trailer and operating authority who negotiates directly with the shipper for freight rates and will wait 30 to 90 days for payment (provided there were no claims). 2nd. Owner/operator that owns his own truck and trailer but uses a carriers operating authority and may collect after each trip delivered or weekly (it varies from company to company). 3rd. A truck owner who uses the companies trailers and operating authority. 4th. A lease operator. Basically a driver who "rents" company equipment.
