Father and Son Company

Person, it cleary states that Denis has his authority and insurance....That would imply that he (he and his father) are a Carrier.

Denis, find A customer that can load your truck. A customer is NOT a broker, they are a manufacturer or grower that actually handles the product being shipped.

I like your business model/idea BUT as an O/O why would I give you 10% of MY fsc? You are stealing off the backs of those that you wish to contract with! The equitable way to do the settlements are to take the gross and deduct the fsc FIRST and then deduct any items such as insce or plates. You then would do your 10% calculation. Run the numbers on a spread sheet. It may not be as equitable for you BUT it may show some integrity on your side when courting other O/O's.

 

Post some more info on your venture. Where are you based out of?

 

Wow maybe I should start charging guys 10% to find there loads instead of the $300 a month I get now regardless of the number of loads hauled. If you are indeed a carrier and you are only keeping 10% of the gross revenue you will not be in business long, the overhead you will find out is more than that. unless you have plenty of your own freight and not freight coming from brokers, you really have nothing to offer. you must have some kind of incentive to attract quality O/O's like discounted insurance, paid base plates, or quick pay. How do you propose to pay your trucks? Do you have enough operating capital (at least 60 days worth) for the trucks you propose to lease on? Do you plan on giving any kind of advances or do you want them to operate on their money until they get paid for the loads hauled. Are you going to do all billing or are you going the factoring route (5%)? there are a lot of things to consider, I really hope for your sake that you do a whole lot of research and take your time before you rush into any kind of venture that you are basically clueless on. I do not mean to disrespect you here, just trying to get you to look at the whole scenario before you commit to something that can adversely affect your bank balance. and when you get down to it it is all about the money anyway. Good luck to you my friend and I wish you well.

 

If you are the carrier, you must provide liability and cargo ins, keep driver files, audit logs, drug test etc. 10% won't cover it.

Do you have customers are you just another Internet load board dispatch service?

 

Wow. I really messed up on my reading. I gotta go slower and quit jumping around from thread to thread. You definitely said you had your authority, like was pointed out above.

Hate to even think about having 5 O/Os. But good for some. Would take all the fun outta it for me but others no doubt will succeed, as they find a way to make it work and turn a decent profit. Maybe you will turn into a o/o-only mega carrier and be filthy rich.

 

Denis...

3500 miles per week? In THIS economy? Maybe on team loads or cross country freight. But in a 5 day business week that's 700 miles per day... sure there are runs over the weekend but a 3500 mile week is a pretty tall order.

And there are always guys who miss appointments and lose a day, guys who need home time every week, vacations, breakdowns, etc. Never assume anything... especially that every week will be a home run.

Do you have the $$$ to advance to drivers who need it? Have you set up a fuel card program? Most O/O's need those programs to run as margins are tight and running money is scarce.

Right now I run on my own money with the carrier I'm with. I fund my fuel and expenses out of pocket... but I couldn't always do that. It takes a lot of $$$ to run a truck everyday.

Example... I loaded Friday for Michigan...I have two stops Monday then reload Monday night for Georgia. I deliver Tuesday evening then reload in South Carolina on Wednesday to head back to Michigan. Then I have a reload in Michigan going back to the customer in Georgia. I'll be doing MI to GA for the next two weeks. I'll leave home Sunday with $4,000.00 cash to fund my fuel and have some extra for an emergency.... I don't get any advances. I am setting up a fuel card program with Fleet One but i haven't set up a separate bank account yet to handle the transactions that fund the card... I don't like carrying all that cash but it's really necessary.

I wish you luck but you will have a very steep, and expensive, learning curve. If it was easy everybody would be doing it.

 

make sure you have a good business plan if you don't feel confident doing it yourself get some help the local sba is a great resource and thatere some great programs for vets and small businesses if you don't have a marketing plan i would advise getting one as well. they seem like a little bit of overkill but i see alot of people start businesses and lose thier shorts fast but the ones with plans are by far more likely to succeed pm me with any specific questions good luck