Owner Operator vs. Driver

My main goal with CRST is to get the best/most experience possible with the least amount of risk, eventually owning the truck. By then I should have enough money saved up and enoough experience in the industry running a truck to take the plunge into getting my own authority without the worry of breaking myself if I have 1 bad month.

 

Skateboardman, if the England comment and shots at Bill's "inexperience" are not digs what are they? Impressive is the fact he completed a lease at England yet realized there must be a better way. You straight jacketed yourself is the way I see it hauling exclusively direct. But I've only been at it a year so what do I know. I know 100% brokered freight had me at $3.58 loaded only a mile 2nd quarter to the truck leased on turning down freight I was so busy. I'm over $4 loaded now in a slow for me quarter. That's dry van. How does direct flatbed compare?

 

$3.58-$4 a mile dry van is great, but what is it? Short haul? I was doing a lot of short runs for a while, making good money too, but there was waaay too much sittin around for my liking, so I gave up the 200 mile trips for the 2000 mile trips.

 

I have my own authority and drive my own truck and trailer. I wouldn't have it any other way. I research the best (most profitable) lanes and only go to places that I can get out of.... unless the pay is enough to go back empty. I average $2/mile including deadhead and drive 2800-3000 miles per week. My truck is a '96KW that breaks down as they all do. I used to own a new Freightliner, but after the first year the payment stays, but the warranty on most things (except drivetrain) is gone, so you're spending just as much time in the shop and just as much money on repairs. Totally not worth it. Best thing about being in business for yourself is being able to tell the shipper/receiver/broker what you think and if need be, turn around and leave. You don't need to take sht from anybody. If you're able to do the math and negotiate with brokers, you're truly your own boss. For me, not being afraid of getting fired tomorrow and having full control of my life makes it all worth while.

 

Great thing about being an O/O. You have control over what you are doing. Everyone's tongue is hanging out over $7-8k gross on 2,000 miles. But you have to have the stones to sit and wait on the load or dh 500 without a load to get out of a dead area. Most drivers are going to go for miles.

 

Yeah, that kinda money for 2k miles would be awesome, know who's passin those out??

I always get my rate, but it takes time, patience, and a good reputation with brokers/ shippers... But I'm not one of these drivers out here sayin "my truck don't move for less than $2.50 a mile".... I take everything into account, I plot the trip on google maps because I can drag the route around and plot my actual trip. This mileage, with my deadhead taken into consideration, is what I base my rate on. Then I check transcores rate index and decide how high on the index I wanna price myself, I use it as a guage of what to expect a reasonable rate offer to the brokers will be. Figure up how much fuel I'll use to complete the trip, including deadhead fuel, maintenance cost on the trip, and (from experience) toll money I'll spend... I've got a spreadsheet with formulas built in, so all this only takes seconds, and I input a pay amount and it spits out my total profit from the run.. If that profit number isn't in the ballpark of where I wanna be, I don't take the load... If the broker rejects my offer, I'll entertain offers, input their offer, and I'd that profit number isn't acceptable to me, I say no...

All this jibberish being said, I know how to say no to cheap freight, I stick to my guns until I'm fairly compensated for my work. I've never sat longer than 1 day, but I just turned it into my 34 hour restart to take the sting out... 95% of the loads I book are between 3:30-5:00 pm because the brokers are gettin desperate to move the freight, they were cheap on the loads all day, and now they don't have much choice but to risk pissing off a customer, or paying me fair market rate or better.

 

Must apologize, realize my first comment came across a little harsh. Was trying to get across that drivers are conditioned for miles, miles, miles. And the thought of passing up what looks like a good load for that great load is impossible for most. It was for me. And most can experience it once or twice and still not be willing to take the risk. And some really can't afford to take that risk.

No dig on you.

 

My truck doesn't ever move for less than that. I get consistent miles at those rates week after week. A bad week was like last week I worked 4 days turning 1059 loaded miles at $4.33 a mile to the truck with another 1050 miles deadhead. Typical week is 2,000 to 2,500 all miles in like that. Posting numbers wasn't my point - the point is a veteran, experienced fleet owner seems to think brokered freight is a waste of time and is bragging about 20 years of never hauling a single brokered load. That's great only it seems to me he's overlooked something, the relationships I have with brokers provide me with just as steady freight as his direct, maybe not as stable and secure, but I've managed and maybe he is leaving money on the table by refusing to believe brokered freight is anything but garbage. That's limited thinking - need to think about things a little differently. Furthermore, Bill was pointing out how 90% or likely more of drivers and even small fleets out there just are not business minded at all and dont treat trucking as a business. "Don't listen to the drivers they don't know business" He was not ripping his own drivers or anyone here in particular. He was pointing out an indisputable fact and I can guarantee you he doesn't think that about a single one of his operators.

 

I wasnt taking it as a dig, i took it for what it was, and simply responded with what i do out here day in day out... Personally, I'll do short trips for a while, then do long haul for a while, just to mix it up. One week in particular that i remember, I filled up the truck, $590... Ran 4 days of short runs... $4600 gross, $590 Diesel, $70 tolls.... I'll do that for a little bit, but EVERY DAY haggling with brokers gets tiresome, because like I mentioned before, I hold out, and will spend half the day on phone calls, and run at night, but thats what works for me, and I do pretty well.

 

I really don't miss haggling with brokers. Some of our drivers are still just running typical OTR freight but enough are doing what Rollin is doing. Best part is it is a text or email - here is my rate - most of the time the response is load details.