How long will it be before Owner Operators get paid more?

The problem is there is ALWAYS someone looking to get home/backhaul. Even at 1.50 per mile a O/O isnt making that much. Futhermore, it seems that 75% of freight is moved by us guys living in the south, ever noticed how cheap freight is moving EAST? Thats us trying like hell to get home, until this paradigm is changed then we are all screwed. My business model/BEP with 10k cash reserves paid for equipment for annual maint is 1.25/mile. I need 1.50 average per mile annually to make it work, and thats not much of a living.

Its all about enconomies of scale, you can run low margins if you have a mulitpler of 10x-1000x of trucks. The single O/O is screwed unless you have good paying customers. Running broker freight off the boards, good luck.

 

This is a "cliche" that business truckers use. And I don't use it when I see someone with chrome but to describe the guy flying down the road, leaving his truck ideal when out of it, hearing them grab 5 gears out of a parking lot to have to stop in 300 feet, tailgating,etc. And this describes all drivers, hood or no hood, that are wasting fuel and driving unsafe. I know a lot of drivers wtih pretty trucks that I would not call a super trucker. And actually learned that name from them.

I agree and understand. But my 780 may not have as much room as you but it drives as nice, if not better, than any of the Pete's and Kw's I drove.

I was going to spend $15-20k more for a Pete compared to what I bought. As they get older the spread lessens then stops. And the gap narrows. So if you can afford new and only keeping it for 3-4 years then what you are saying holds some truth. But when you are looking at the used market, and was the case for me, I hold more value as related to purchase price than a hood. And a 450 isn't good for hauling anything FAST. Have never been unable to pull a load because of my equipment. But I will admit I pull a dry van.

Wow, never considered any of that in my business.

You must haul in a different country or planet. You think that would be the case but just this morning in OH, never got below 30 last night, was 45 when I got out of the truck to go eat and just about every truck was idling. I guess they didn't get your memo. I have driven a truck with no APU and installed one because I hated bundling up in the cold and figuring out ways to stay cool in the heat.

You know, of all the things that are not making sense, this makes the least amount. What does my equipment have to do with you being able to make a profit? So if I get your logic here because I run a better business than you do it is my fault?!? Why are you taking the load to point B if you can't get back at a profit? I didn't book that load, you did.

No, by my philosophy, you do what you want to do. Still a free country for now. But don't whine to me about price of fuel, rates, or anything else when you had an option to have a more efficient business but wanted to impress yourself.

And here is a tip for you. If you spend $20k more than me on a truck and then can resell it for $15k more than I can sell mine for, I am not only ahead of you on lost value, you either paid more in fianance charges than me or lost the opportunity to invest that $20k.

Other than Western I see very few chromed, speeding company trucks. Safety is not the only reason they govern those trucks.

 

Here is what BigBadBill posted in another thread.

"My '06 780, with new APU, is 19,300 with full tanks. I need to get more info on this running more than 12,000 on steers because that is my issue. Off to check my rating."


Yep.......this guy is a top shelf Businesman,been in the truck for several months according to the same thread. But doesn't know what his rating is.
Obviously,it's his first truck or he would know what the rating is.


Billy,you gotta share all your "business" tips with us other brokers so we can make the big money too!!!

C'mon big man...........let me hold a dollar!

 

This is your rebutal, eh?

Well, yes is is my first truck as O/O. And because at that point couldn't remember if it was 12.5 or 13 (looked at a lot of trucks) that makes me a bad business person?

So I am clear, does it take me a year as an O/O before I understand how fuel economy effects my bottom line?

Maybe it is 2.5 years before I understand what is costs to idle my truck.

Or is it a 5 years that I learn the Super Trucker handshake and suddenly 75 MPH is the sweet spot in my truck and I start getting 7.5 mpg.

Never said I knew it all. And know that I have a lot to learn. But who here has made a valid case that the fuel wasting, unsafe habits are making you more money?

It is an arrogant attitude like this that will keep you from looking at changes and making your business better.

 

Billy,fair enough. None of us know everything.

Drivers that use the word "super trucker" are usually the super trucker themselves. That's what so ironic about it.
It;s just a derogatory term used to describe a driver that knows it all,been there,done that and got the bumper sticker to prove it. There could be a few guys on here thinking that about you.

My arrogant attitude?,hmmmm.

I wasn't the one that came into a discussion in regards to "When will owner operators get paid more?" and contributed nothing more than berating the readers with this:

"So if your are getting left behind and making less money, slow down, stop ideling and stop thinking of your truck as a status symbol. It is a tool. And Pros get the best tools to do the job AND MAKE A PROFIT."


"Slow down and stop idling"..........Buddy.....You're preaching to the choir.

If you ever say that to a group of drivers in the truck stop,you had better say it under you breath as your runnning out the door to the open arms of a policeman.

You don't think the OP and the rest of the brokers chimming in haven't already done everything they can to "make their business better" by scraping every penny out of every day?. This industry is aproaching rock f$%^ing bottom.

I know now that you're new to this O.O deal and I'll let this topic go.
There's no point in beating a dead horse or for that matter there is no point in beating a foal either.

 

Cool your jets fellers. OK rates suck. Tell you what, they sucked in 1986 to hear drivers tell it. They sucked in 1991 and 1995 and 2011 and so on. O/O's been griping about rates since I've been in this business. Yeah, I'm retired now but it still doesn't change things. In 1991 I had one of the best years ever. A friend who started a new haul in 1991 doubled, yes doubled what he did the year before. Course he was leased to company in 1990 so it wasn't all that hard. This thing has been going on since before some of you were born. I was leased to a company in 1990 and grossed $102,000. Did pretty well for 1990. Know what I had a friend or rather acquaintance who grossed $100,000 and griped and complained that he couldn't make any money and ###### these people needs to get the rates up. Know what, we didn't know how lucky we were. Same things probably gonna happen 20 years from now.

 

Fair enough all, and for the record I don't think the rates are fair and we can all see some of the issues. In terms of this thread regarding FS, for the the loads that I have that I see the FSC I am making more money as fuel increases. I can't say that I have never understood why people are loosing money when prices go up but we are in an age where there is pleanty of comfortable, quality equipment that can get you a better MPG than what the FSC is calculated off of.

So when will O/O start making more money? I think the biggest factor is knowledge. It seems simple but I have talked to enough drivers in areas asking about rates that don't seem to have an idea. So if they are in a $2.25 a mile lane and they accept $1.25 (won't get into the ethics of the broker here) because they are affraid they may sit MT for a day then that broker is going to keep that up. I knew this going into this business and in three months I have had two days that I second guessed myself in turning down a cheap load.

 

What the hell is a back-haul? I know it's going t o be just as expensive going back.