how?

Hope this works out for you.

 

I hear ya and understand that. But the freight and the rate is the freight and the rate. So some guy coming out of NM for a carrier is going to be on the road away from home for a minimum of three weeks if not more. So if you are going to have to run profitable lanes for a company, why not do that for yourself.

Not sure of your details but it is "special", "one off's" and "been here for ever" deals that people want to show as what can be done. Like you have pointed out, these are not the norm.

I don't believe there is any area that if you go out and sell yourself direct that you can't make a good living in. Good friend that convinced me that I need to bite the bullet lives in LV. Had to move to LV because of his mother and parked his truck and took a local job. In less than a week of prospecting he landed a run that takes him to SLC and back MT. Clears 4k a week. Most drivers use location as an excuss because the don't want to or understand how to prospect for direct business.

Yes, some areas are harder than others. But while I say I am lazy and do not want to drive a bunch of miles. Many O/O are lazy and don't want to do the work required to build a profitable business.

And for some reason many O/O don't understand that being in a business requires marketing and selling. In my town I know 4 other O/O. Only one has even tried to get any business from the 8 different shippers in our town. One even made fun of me for taking the guy that runs the fork lift at one of the locations to breakfast. For less than $10 I know everything, including rates, about their shipping operation.

 

I tried it for a year and now on my own I clear more money with less than half the miles. One of these weeks I am going to try to stay out more than 2 or 3 days

 

Don't do it. I am at the begging of my second week out and GRUMPY as hell. Plus I picked up a load for Monday from NC going to ND and going to have to drive 600 miles a day for three days in a row. That sucks. I kept going back and forth on if I would do it or not and they kept offering more money. I love desperate brokers and curse my greed.

I don't know how I did it before. I had a dedicated gig that I did 500 miles a day for like 6 weeks at a time. It was the perfect route if you wanted to maximize miles. Never had to reset.

 

I know the tradeoffs. I helped run between 4 and 10 trucks of my dads from the late 80's to mid 90's on his authority. I ran myself under our authority for the first few years. I just know better then to jump into it with no money. I'd already be out of trucking if I had done it right away. I also have enough friends with authority who I could run under and just pay them enough to cover the insurance increase. but once again all it takes is one electrical glitch to leave you stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to leave you with a tow bill I couldn't pay much less the repair bill.
one day I hope to get back to that place. but I have a family now and can't take the risks I once did.

I made 168k last year leased to my produce guy. but at the same time my expenses were through the roof. I took home 90% of my gross but my insurance was $750/mo because he back charged us for his cargo insurance, and like I said all my fed ex fees and everything else were real high.

 

MM, I read what you post and see you as being one of the guys that understands the trade offs. You are correct. If you don't have the bank roll then this can be a very risky business.

Funny, read another thread about a guy saying you can get 10% deals. And the only ones that I have found seem to nickle and dime you on the back end. Seems you had one of those.

 

Medicine Man, just make sure you give it at least 6mos to learn their system. Not sure how much you plan on being gone, but the Pumpkins rates are not good our of Texas. But if you run to the IN/IL area you can stick to 300 mile runs and avg 600 a day, then grab a load to Detroit and then get a GM load from Pontiac to Dallas that they do everyday for about $1.79 w/5,000 lbs of plastic bumpers.

If you ever need any help just shoot me a PM as I became very well versed with their loadboard.

 

you're only going to find 10% from small guys. My guy was a produce broker who also had a trucking co with about a dozen guys leased on. it was a good deal up untill the rates started not keeping up with fuel. almost all potatoes and onions. all under contract so the rates were stable year round for the most part. so in the winter we did better then alot of guys but in the peak seasons when rates were way up, we were hauling for less. brokers bid on large amounts of loads then sell them and average it out.
the insurance thing did suck. they are required to carry cargo but there is nothing saying they can't charge you for it, just that most dont. but then again most keep 15-20% or more.
most the other expenses were my fault. when I was doing good last year I would send in my trip paperwork every two or three trips and overnight it to them. they would always whine and cry if I tried to fax it in to get paid. however since the beginging of the year it's been rough. put a few grand into my reefer and a few more into my truck and base plates came due. I got broke and couldn't afford to run two or three loads without pay so I was overnighting my bills after every load. $20-$30 1.5 times a week. then he didn't have direct deposit but he would do a bank to bank transfer but it cost me $22 in fees every time. like I said, my fault but it's like a catch 22 ya know. not enough money to live more then a week but spending twice as much to get the same amount of pay.
finally it came down to where I paid off my reefer and the boss wanted me to put it in my name but it needed a bunch of brake work that had to be done first because in TX you have to be inspected before registering it. I had no money to do it. my truck needed new windshields, new drive tires and a bunch of other work. I had no money and if I barowed it from the company i'd probably loose my house and truck because he hits me for big deductions til it's paid back. like $500+ pr check when alot of my settlements were only that much on one load after the high fuel costs.

So I rented the trl to a buddy who is putting brakes on it and i'm going to try this. I replace my broken windshieds, hopefully pumpkin passes the rest of the truck. I have two drive tires that have a flat spot I'm worried about. the rest are legal but barely. after i'm signed I can put tires on it and pay it of over a period of time

 

i'll do what I need to. I want to be home more but that's not saying much. right now i'm out for 2-3 weeks. I saw some of the rates within tx aren't bad but I tried that at landstar too and the deadhead between loads was killing me.

I have to give it at least 6months. I had to gaurantee a min. 6mo rental on my trailer to make it worth while for him to put brakes on it. lol at the 6mo mark we decide if I want the trl back or if his rental payments turn into lease payments and he buys it

 

'08, '09 and '10 I did 164k, 166k and 160k. I pulled a company reefer hauling meat out of Wi. and paid a % of the gross. I would usually do two turns a month to the West Coast and back then pop home for 3-4 days....wash rinse repeat as often as life allowed anyway.

You did 168k and owned the trailer. I would say that sucks, but I know I am missing certain information, like how hard you ran or didn't run to make that 168k.