iN NEED OF SOME HONEST ADVICE:

Hello Everyone,

Before I begin, I wanted to give you a brief history on myself, and what I am trying to accomplish.

I am a former OTR Driver. I started 11 years ago with Marten, and worked my way up to Watkins Motor Lines which I pulled for for seven years until my Driving career unfortunately got cut short a couple of years ago after getting tagled up in a bad wreck. My Team partner was out sick so I picked up a temp replacement Driver for a quick run. Long story short, he took the first shift, and I headed for the bunk. It was late night, he took the first shift and I headed for the bunk. Made it two hours out and he accidently nodded off at the wheel rocking the back trailer on a set of doubles and over she went at full speed, slid 300 feet, hit a guard rail, and came to rest down a ten foot embankment. He was killed instantly, and I recieved 2 skull fractures, and serious irreversible damage to my spine so at age 34, my driving days are over.

Now, I am looking at settling my Work Comp shortly, desperately need something to do not only for my sanity, but also for an income. I can get up and walk around with the use of a cane, or more often a wheelchair, but I still try my absolute hardest to set aside my personal situation, and do my very best to move forward with my life rather than give up and live off the fine State of California on their State Disability, and Wefare System. As long as I have a sound mmmmmui

So, back when I was driving for Watkins ( now Fed Ex National LTL ), their were several small fleet Owners who evidently were doing alright. Since Trucking is all I have ever known over my 11 years on the road, I am thinking about taking a good chunk of my settlment money, and looking into setting up a small fleet operation and leasing on to either Fed Ex National, or Fed Ex Ground do to the fact that I have a good history, and working knowledge of the operation. I do know they are much better at paying a premium, the freight has always been good, and consistent on miles on a strictly terminal hub to terminal hub all 100% drop, hook and gone, and the overall operations have always been fairly well organized, and smooth running as opposed to most OTR Companies out their which is a whole nother topic all together.

Now I do know right off the top, I am looking at not going into this venture under the most optimum of circumstances as:

1. Above everything else, the current economy situation is by far not the greatest time to start any Business weather it be in the Trucking Industry, or anything else, times are undeniably, and unquestionably without a doubt tough all over.

2. I am looking to Lease onto a Company, and lose up to 30% off of my cut as an Owner Operator rather than looking into running my own authority which I know, and very well understand the reasons, and appreciate all of the factors involved on both sides..

3. just due to poor timing, I am more likely to be looking into establishing this Venture in the dead of Winter when miles are down which will have a negative impact for which I will have to work through.

4. I am not 100% sure as to all the reasoning behind it all, I have heard repeatedly over the years both from Drivers, and people on the Net about how you never, ever under any circumstances want to look into being an Owner Operator based out of Southern California.


Before I get too involved with laying out some o my thoughts on this Venture, I was really hoping I might be able to ask you guys a couple of straight forward to the point questions, and see if I can get some good honest feedback from you?

1. I am in need of a net income of approximately $6000.00 per month net for personal income. First, is it possible to generate some level of income from a Truck leased to a Company, after all expenses are paid, including paying drivers to operate the Truck since I am not able to do so myself, and if a Truck would yield some income, could one Team Truck sustain the type of income required, or how many Trucks would I need to operate to provide the income I need realistically to survive, and make a comfortable living?

2. My projected funding set aside for this Venture is approximately $100,000. If I run one Team Truck in theory, it would be basically the equivalent of having two Solo Trucks My three thoughts on Equipment were to possibly:

A. Purchase outright, or Lease Privately (Not through a Company) a good late model Truck with low Millage of approx 250,000 - 300,000+ with a cost of around $45,000 - $55,000+ that should hopefully run a while longer under Team Operation before running into major problems I would hope. I have had enough brand new Trucks to know its really a 50/50 shot, and actually a good year or two in at around this mileage most of the bugs are just getting worked out and making for a good running truck with luck.

B. Purchase 2 used Trucks outright at a cost of approx $30,000 each to start. That should produce two fairly decent Trucks, but with a bit higher mileage, and closer to potentially more upcoming problems. Of course either way I would also purchase the Warranty, have no payments, and should have enough left over for other expenses, and should a problem arise before I become established. Both Trucks would be Team, and after one year, depending upon Equipment, then I could look at upgrading if need be, or so on once I am in Business.

C. Lease, or Purchase 2, or possibly more Trucks on payments, and establish a bigger footprint with my monies available.


So just a quick recap:

1. Can I make a Living off the net Income from a Truck, or multiple Trucks while I am not a Driver of any of them?

2. If it is possible to realistically generate a viable income off a small fleet, how many Trucks would it take to at least reach my income needed?

3. What would be the better approach to Equipment given the money I have available?

I apologize for the long post, thank you for your time in reading it, and greatly appreciate any insight you might be able to give me to help figure the better way to go on this one.

Go easy, and drive safe.

Candyman

 

Hey Everyone,

I thank you so much for all your replies! I sure do appreciate everything!

Yeah, though I would really like to re-enter the Industry in some form, as I truly enjoyed the job, especially being in a very comfortable top paying, outstanding position I was in, but am afraid with the economy the way it is, the timing, and with so much I keep hearing about Owner Operators making borderline, or less than many Company Drivers, I am nervously shying away from the idea. I really wish I could make something like this work, or even just get back in a Truck all together, but I recon it just wasn't meant to be, at least now at the present time anyways.

I am afraid I would be kinda lost as a good Broker without having had someone kinda mentor me as to how to do the job in a professional manner more so than my experience in Load Management would allow me to at the moment. Right now, I would be more or less making educated guesses at what works, and what would not, much like the Owner Operator side of things. I do have a good head for Business, have good Business skills, etc to run things in an acceptable manner, but it would still take some trial and error on my part to dial the things in that no one will really want to tell you about, which I totally understand. Just a bit o a learning curve.

I had even thought a little bout possibly looking into maybe getting some re-training to maybe become some type of official at a Chicken Coupe as I am about 20 minutes drive from Banning off the 10 coming into beautiful SO Cal, and am pretty good with weight, and making little adjustments on the books here and their ( from other driver's of course ) Not sure I how I would feel though working the other side of the counter, especially with the rep Banning has.

I also thought bout maybe dispatch / Fleet Manager, but I kinda remember way, way back in the day how fun of a job it really looked like after meeting up, and hanging for a bit with a few of my old Fleet Managers from Marten, as well as having had a few choice discussions with a few more, and in all honesty, I am not sure if they could even pay me enough money to put up with what they do!!! Really, if anyone ever goes and complains bout their Fleet Manager at a major OTR Company like Marten for example, most of them were in their 20's, had no idea of much of what really goes on in a Truck, and has to sit all day staring at a computer screen with 100 other Drivers who have a whole lot of time to really get the poor Fleet Manager all fired up, flustered, and on the edge of a nevous breakdown! Marten, way back used to actually send their Jr. Dispatchers out on a Truck for a couple of weeks every now and then which helped some, but still, I don't know how they do that job and keep their sanity!


As for Real Estate, That is an option I have been kicking around as well as right now Houses in my area are really cheap over in Temecula which is next town over bordering San Diego, and is in the once, and will be again someday higher rent district. Even here where I am at is not too bad for buying right now as where houses in my neighborhood in fact that appraised two years ago at $325,000 just sold a Comp on the next block for $60,000. Shows you where our market is at the moment! On the upside, the vast majority of cheap houses are foreclosures which the bank cant unload do to not only the economy, but also the resulting near impossible loan qualifications. Most just need cosmetics, paint, plant grass, and clean up, and eventually will make a pretty good mint for sure!

It might be a good possibility to look into as well. It is a possibility, but would have to learn what to do better, or find a mentor to help me figure out how to work things correctly to be able to make a living out of it. Granted, Real Estate is a pretty solid Investment in the long haul, but you need to have a way to sustain in the mean time which could become an issue if not handled right, as is with pretty much anything in life I recon. Their are good, and bad in everything, and you just got to try n educate yourelas much as possible to try n make the best, most reasonable guess, and go for it, and hope in the end, things all work out, right?

Again, I thank all of you guys for your great input! It is all much appreciated big time! I am still going to keep on pursuing Fed Ex as a small Fleet Owner for now, and just see what it all looks like on paper, and go rom their. If nothing else, just to find out once and for all if it could even have been done at all in the first place, and just how well it might have worked. I heard it was way great, and their were lots of people making lots of money, but in the end, its hard to say what was Trucker Talk, and what was legit unless I was their, and actually sat down over coffee and seriously discussed it, and even then.....well, you guys are Drivers, you know how it all works.

Either way, I will try n keep you guys in on whatever I find out in case eomeone else at some point might wanna look into something like this, or similar. Kinda sorta a bit of a learning tool if nothing else,

Heck, what I ought to do is go and find me a high output antenna, and an old tweaked and peaked Galaxy 88, set my up a good base station and chattebox with yall as you Cruise by my place coming on in to town, right? Hahaha!!! Man, you surely can tell I used to be a Driver back once upon a time huh? In good fun....big time!

I figure if the man upstairs had his hot at me, but decided it wasn't quite my time yet, then I must still have some unfinished Business here someplace. So I recon I will just buckle up, and see where the long and winding road of life takes me, one day at a time!

Yall go real easy out their, drive extra safe, be extra sure ya keep the clean side up, and that dirty side down, and the ol Candyman will catch ya a little further on down the line.

Candyman