The path to o/o?

This lesson here is one of the hardest to learn. Know when to fold'em, know when to hold'em, know when to walk away and know when to run - Kenny Rogers.. You should be using time in the company truck to learn about fuel mileage also. Cheaper to learn on their dime than yours. I also asked old timers lots of questions and I have an ace in the hole, my father in law with over 30 years. We arent trying to hold you back, just trying to help you learn so you dont fall flat on your face. This board has lots of useful info and people with good knowledge and of course some turds on here. BUT you have to do whats right for you and run your own business, nobody is going to hold your hand and a lot of the stuff we do is like autopilot.

My first truck was a lease purchase from a company that I worked for. I thought they would take care of me since they wanted truck gone and their money, WRONG! They werent forced dispatch but started "suspending " you for refusing a load. There was loads that if you took them you would owe them money for doing it, sucky deal. I ended up losing everything as it slowly bled me out. I then smartened up after getting several "I told you so's" and got my own truck and trailer and am leased on to a company. BUT can leave and take truck whenever I want or need to.

 

i only have 3 months with usx now about 1 more with an owner operator hes got 4 trucks he tells me to run mine like an o/o i get 60% of each load on my card through the broker like this load now from nj to lewiston, me quick load not so quick unld at the walmart in lewiston me butits getting me to maine were ill dead head 120 miles to labrees bakery for a load at 2.46 a mile the second i cross into each state border I write down my odometer because at the end of the month i count mileage for each state his wife sets money aside for ifta etc i want to buy my own truck and reefer but i know its not the time my broker said hell take me when im ready but i wanna save up buy a 11g truck cash and a reefer then have atleast 12g in the bank to back me after dot # mc ifta registering all that its about 1800 just to register a rig man im 22 at 35 cpm bring home about 1100 a week and its great but at the same time im pulling loads i know hes making 2500 clear after i take the 60% for fuel etc my boss pulled me aside and was like i know your not like my older drivers i know you see the numbers and i can guarantee you i know what youre thinking he said ill let you use my dot # until i get mine and run through him or just wait and hell teach me everything i need to know before jumping out there hes a real nice guy hes willing to train me to be successful he also told me frieght is real slow right now and fuel is to high save up til you have cash dont finance anything and ill have no problem right now im 22 4 months experience and about 8500 saved up hoping this time next year or the spring ill have a rig i still live at home so saving isnt a problem but if i went from usx even if i had 5 years exp to being an o/o i wouldnt be able to even breathe it really is that much to take into account my boss needed to buy drives for my truck got a quote 3600$ went on craigslist found a guy selling a used set about 9/10 got all drives for 1200 another thing is paying more for fuel is actually a good thing if i fuel in maine were its more pricey and drive alot in low tax states he gets money back if i fuel in virginia were its cheap and drive alot in maine he has to pay uncle sam i didnt know this sorry about the run on sentences tend to do it alot to avoid loss of focus lol

 

my last home time was a 34 which was only 24 hours really if u catch my drift its brutal out here a day late and a buck short everytime

 

Most of my driving has been for Owners with two trucks or team with owner, 3,700miles/week might sound like a lot to you but its not, but I do that a lot and what your not taking into account is when you get home it isnt park the truck and kick back, there is servicing the truck(tires, lube, oil changes etc. etc.) Then there is also the honey do list your gal wants help on, mowing etc. I average 1.5 days off a week and still do well over 3000/week. It gets easier, with goals to help you stay focused. We all dont do this so we can sit in a truckstop and brag about the chrome on our trucks, the most important thing in life is family.

 

Also once or twice a week find another O/O that has NOTHING to do with you and offer to buy him/her breakfast,lunch or dinner and pick their brain about there operation, financing, fuel mileage, maint. Authority, Etc. I used to find the guys with the cabovers or 359 that were completley overhauled, like show truck quality and ask a million questions, I still talk to one today, good ole flat top pete 310 wheelbase, almost make you drool..

 

Labrees Bakery, lol. I was just there last week, that is up in middle of nowhere as they say.

 

. Heading back there as we speak