Becoming an O/O after SAP

Difficult situation tbh.

First step is to complete the full RTD process with a SAP. You can't shortcut that

Re: Becoming an OO afterward, it is definitely possible but some hurdles. You'll need to do random drug testing. Biggest challenge will be getting insurance. A failed test on your record makes rates extremely high

My advice is complete the SAP program first, then start getting insurance quotes. The response from insurance will tell you if the OO path is realistic right now

 

That's what I would do if I were still before 40. Still time to start the trade journey.
From what I see, those plumbers must be doing good, they charge a lot of money for the simplest of tasks such as unclogging pipes and then they can afford boats and date pretty women.

 

Once an individual is notified to test it cannot be changed; drug testing 101.

 

The carrier can notify whoever they want.

 

Lol! No way I'd done the supervised route. It's so demeaning. Like they're getting off on embarrassing you. I got caught once because the temp was too low. Told me I had to let them watch. I laughed and walked out the door.

 

Ten4. Do have a carrier willing to take you through the process lined up?

 

Go get a VIN number off of any truck and run it through a few agencies to get quotes and see if you can get insurance. You don’t need to own a truck to get quotes, just a VIN # and you can use any truck VIN.

I disagree with some of the other comments…yes, rates are down, but they should start to go up soon. It’s expected that 10-13% of the drivers will be out of the game in next 6 months because of crack down on English proficiency changes as of June 25th. That’s an estimated 300k drivers out of work moving forward. Brokers are already asking companies if all their drivers speak English because they don’t want their freight getting stuck on the side of the road. This alone should start to drive rates up because of the crack downs.

Your biggest obstacle is not rates, but brokers wanting more time under your belt as a new owner operator because of the amount of cargo theft, combined with the market being saturated with people desperate for loads because the freight market is generally down, and people taking garbage rates out of desperation, so they have been able to cherry pick more. But if the above is true about 300k drivers being put out of work, this should change the playing field.

If you are serious about this, you need to “cook your books” on insurance and getting your authority so it appears like you have more time as your own MC. There is plenty of information on YouTube about this and how to do it as a new authority. You can check out this guys videos on it, and even speak to him about insurance quotes on how to do it if you are serious.

There are a lot of folks closing shop this past year, and because of how low rates are, there was a bit of a mass exodus. So now is a good time to buy a used truck. If you are going new, I would wait and see if the feds drop interest rates next time, or buy now and refinance then. You could get a good deal on used or new trucks right now versus the last few years.

The real battle is going to be Trump and fuel prices. If that stuff keeps getting out of hand in the Middle East, that will be the biggest problem moving forward is rising fuel costs.

The last thing is that FMCSA also started doing facial recognition for new carrier applications. Prior to this year, new MC’s were at about a 60% approval rating. Since they started doing facial recognition this year, that number dropped to 30’ish%, which is a good thing.

That means all the scumbags that were closing their doors for problems and just going out and getting new authority again, can’t get away with doing that anymore either.

So between 300k drivers for English proficiency, coupled with it getting harder to just jump back in the game when you mess up, combined with everything I mentioned above, my 2 cent forecasting opinion is that this is a good time to get in the game “if” you can afford to ride out the general storms for a little while.

That rates will go back up, as long as one thing, and it’s a big “if…” we don’t slide into a major recession. With Trump, anything is possible and that could be the one thing that messes everything I said up. If we don’t slip into a major recession, interest rates drop, and consumers don’t stop severely spending, then I would get into my own authority right now because of everything I said.

However, that’s all just an educated guess based on all the things I mentioned. There are no major economic numbers that support what I said, just educated guess and my own forecasting. It’s worth 2 cents literally.

But if I was in the position you are, that’s what I would be doing.