Containers as an O/O ... help me decide..

Pardon me....a slip of the keys........

 

From what i've seen container rates out of the norht east suck big time. I would not pull a can for any amount of money, the waiting time at the ports and dealing with all the junk chassis and most of the o/o's i see cant even speak english and there trucks are junk.

 

Can you be sure? You may want to do a periodical check

 

rbht do u know any oo in phila area

 

I lasted a whole whopping 6 months hauling containers out of Savannah, GA... I had to run my tail off to make $1200-1500 per week... doing 3000mi. in 5 days... heavy all the time... logs...hahaha what's that?

The guy shagging trailers out of the port for us made more $ than us and he only went 4mi each way in & out... The trick is he knew everyone in the port.. he could pull 30 trailers in and 30 out per week, at $35 going in and $35 out he would make $2100 a week and not go anywhere! BUT if me or you tried it we could "maybe" do 25 or 30 per week total!!! for $1050 tops... Those jobs arn't easy to get and man you pull your hair out ALL day waiting in 1 line then another ALL DAY!!

Most container companies rip you off.. BTT was in court with OOIDA for some shady stuff recently.. They are always trying to charge you for tires saying "driver abuse". And every steamship line has a DIFFERENT tire policy.. some want new tires only but you need a P.O.# and they go home at 4:30.. your flat's never happen during working hrs.. so your waiting forever to get ahold of someone on call to take your breakdown call.. Other steamship lines want you to return the casing or NO they will NOT pay for a tire, others don't care.. There are others that want only used tires..

Then there is the chassis..Steamship lines are suppose to be held liable for the maintaince on their chassis.. BUT on the back side of the interchange agreement it says YOU are accepting the chassis as bieng in good condition.. You just waived your rights that the steamship line is responcible for say lights, tires, and brakes.. Now you are .. SO you don't sign the interchange, you don't get the load out of the port.

All steamship lines have some agreements with other steamship lines to borrow their chassis.. Say you have a China Shipping box and a Mediterranian chassis.. if you blow a tire you have to call Med.. and go by their tire arrangement..

I spent $140 in lights in 6 months and I even scavanged lights off of other chassis whenever I could.. They hardly ever work.. I hated containers.. I'll never do it again as long as I live.. That's why every truck you see doind cans is usually falling apart. They cannot afford to fix them!

 

It’s been a while since I hauled cans or pigs. Most of our work was drop and hook in the St. Louis area, so didn’t have to deal with ports, mostly railroads. The job wasn’t to physical, just had to make sure the container or box was fit for the road (No nails in floor, tires holding air, all lights working) or rail before it left the yard.if it was an empty.

If it’s loaded take a close look at the tires,brakes and of course the lights. We seldom went more than a couple of hundred miles from St. Louis, didn’t have to worry about layovers. Took home on average around a thousand a week(after expense) but that was fifteen years ago, don’t know how they do now.

 

A variation on the theme would be to haul piggyback to and from railheads instead of ports. Triple Crown, numerous others in the business.
I have been an o/o for 35 years over the road, don't know of ANY operation that allows for frequent home time that also generates enought revenue to justify the business model. Everyone wants to be at home, the companies hiring in that area know that, have no problem finding o/o's to buy trucks and haul freight. supply and demand.

 

This guy has it nailed...