Question, just starting (basics)

Your best bet is going to be to lease your truck to one of the companies hauling containers and work for them, and let them cover all the paperwork end of the deal. You will spend so much time setting up loads under your own authority that you won't have any time to drive. There are some decent companies hauling containers, but be advised that there are a lot of poor ones as well. and container hauling is not the most lucrative form of trucking.

As for local companies, if they are still in business, avoid Dons Trucking. They haul containers, and were always famous for hauling them way to heavy. Avoid Everett Express locally as well. Those boys had bad tempers and if anything went wrong, they tended to blame the drivers for it and could get physical.

 

First off, how much experience do you have? Second, get some more before "getting your feet wet" owning your own truck. Third, I was very close to doing the container thing out of the VA area, but chose to go with Landstar instead. Be careful signing on to any container outfit this time of year....it is their slow time.

 

Terrible advice !!!!!

 

Well, I'm not sure what part of the advice you disagree with, but let me expand a bit and see if I can make it a little bit clearer.

For someone who describes himself as a "newbie", just starting out, and still not having purchased a truck, getting his own authority would probably be biting off more than he can chew. It takes a lot of work, time, and effort to make having your own authority work out for you, and until he gets some time in, learns the business of operating a truck, and makes contact with customers, I tend to feel that he would be better off working under the umbrella of someone else for a while and letting them handle the office work, and all the things that he would have to do as a totally independent operator.

Unless you are reading more of an experience level in his situation than I did, the advice I gave would not be that far out of line for someone new. I also based some of that advice on his location, and since I have lived in the past in the Norfolk/Chesapeake area, I am relatively familiar with the area, the amount of freight moving there in containers, and the amount of that freight that is already being handled by established firms.

Now, if the same question came from someone who has been an O/O for the last 5 years, already leased to a carrier, and he was asking about getting his own authority, the advice would have been somwehat different. We don't try to give "one size fits all" advice here, but try as much as we can to tailor that advice to the specific person asking and his situation.

I can think of many situations where having your own authority is a wonderful asset to your business, and the financial returns will make the investment worthwhile. In this case, I don't think that having his own authority would be useful for someone starting out and hauling containers. if he learns the business, make some good contacts, and is a success on this level, of he comes back in a year or som and asks about having his own authority, I would probably make a completely different answer.

If your disagreement was with the advice about Don's or Everett Express, I would have to stand firm on my opinions of them.

(By the way, if you disagree with what I have suggested, feel free to make your own comments and suggestions. Preferably, use more than just one or two words, and actually give some advice to counter what you disagree with. Otherwise, your comments add little real value to the discussion!)

 

Burky I Think It Was Excellent Advice. You Gave The 1st Time,i"am Also A Newbee And Have Read Other Posts Saying Work For A Co. First Then Try O/o, I Don't Understand Why Anyone New To Any Business Would Consider Owning Or Even Operating A Business The No Nothing About