Landstar Questions

You have to buy your own equipment for flatbedding. LS does get a discount at Tri Cities, in Granite City, IL and there is usually someone selling equipment in the LCAPP "For Sale By Owner".

You can use a company van, for A&E, however, the last I knew, you will no longer be able to D&H as the DOD requires special mods to the trailer., so you will be "married" to that trailer. I used to recomend to all teams to get A&E qualified, but I no longer do as the rates have dropped so much.

 

About what r rates now?

 

I don't know exact rates, anymore. But, from talking to friends that still do A&E, they aren't much better than general freight, anymore. Still some real good ones, occassionally, though.

 

BTW, A&E must have a Qualcomm. Required by DOD. Skybitz required on van trailers.

 

Do u know anything about doing logistics or trade shows? How well do they do?

 

I know they have good rates. We did do a few show loads. But, that is all I can tell you.

 

You got mail. May help you get more info.

 

You were told right!

 

Autocar, what can a motivated fb guy average at LS? Im in talks with Jones and Mercer right now. They all seem similar as far as the companies themselves go. But I cant get anyone to tell me avg rates for fb work. Im not asking contacts or anything, just what I can expect to avg. Im no whiner and I run hard, I figure if im away from my family I want to make the most of it.

 

Truthfully, I am short, fat, lazy and 57 years old, so I am not motivated. Last year I pulled a little over $112,000 to the truck and trailer and drove 59,700 actual total miles. I do not do any oversize loads, at all, unless you count hanging red flags off the back of a 53 foot pole as oversize. It would also help if I did not get a wild hair up my butt and deadhead home, to east central Alabam, from such exotic places as central Pennsylvania and northern Indiana.

SHC, is much younger and much more motivated, than I am. Ask him about what he did, last year and so far this year. I can tell you, even with our various percentages, on flats and steps, we generally average 75% of the gross, or a little better, to the truck.

I am not real familiar with Jones, but what I have heard would not thrill me too much. Mercer, in my eyes, would be the better, of those two. However, you still have to deal with that first in, first out dispatch they have going on. With LS, it may seem a little more cut throat, to some, as the first one to call, gets to accept the load. But, from day one, we have 60 employees, with business and marketing experience, that you can call on to help you figure out how much you need to make, how to make it and how to avoid being the second one to call on those loads. The others do not offer that education and knowledge, especially for free.
Infact, I am signed up for a Webex class, tomorrow, on how to cut maintenance costs. I may not learn anything, but chances are that I will learn at least one thing and that will be worth one hour of watching my computer screen for the visual presentation and one hour on the phone, at the same time, for the audio with a discussion.

BTW, it doesn't hurt matters that this year, LS was voted as the number one large Owner/Operator company by the TCA.

I see, from your profile, that you live in Ohio. That is a prime spot. Draw a line from Minneapolis, to Houston, to J-ville, FL to upstate NY back over to Minneapolis and stay pretty much in that area and if you don't get flat out lazy, like me, you will make money.