landstar drivers

as a general rule of thumb... ya either get to be home or make money...

the list they sent me didn't show many van loads over 2 a mile and they were all short runs.

the common spread on van was 1.30 - 1.80

as for the plan... it's a good one alright... just might need that plan b for "back-up" also..

 

What you can haul for depends on you. How much your payments are, how much insurance is, what your fuel mileage is, etc etc divided by how much you want to work.
your pulling there trailer so you are looking at 65% so that $2 is only $1.30 to the truck. then you need to figure out how much of that goes to you.

 

Exactly! Before you even think about pulling a load, you need to know what your cost-per-mile is. Spend some time running the numbers. Then, make every effort to minimize your costs. Run 60 MPH for fuel mileage, never idle, get tires with low rolling resistance, etc.

Once you know what it REALLY costs you to run your truck, then and ONLY then can you make an informed decision as to what you require per mile to be profitable. Obviously, you want the most you can get, but until you know your cost, you simply can't know what is profitable and what isn't. 1.30 might make you a profit, whereas the guy who has a $2000/month truck payment on a wind-pusher tractor and only averages 5 mpg and idles 24/7 might need $1.85.

You also need to know your freight lanes for the type of trailer you are pulling, and learn when big deadheads can pay off and when it makes sense to take a short haul for peanuts to get to the good load.

Lots of variables! If you don't know your cost, then you are...ahem...pulling yourself blind...literally.

 

you pay $100 a month for insurance? What does that cover?

I may go with Landstar, then again I may just put it on hauling chips or something locally. I don't know, still working on that part. I have about $2500 worth of work to do to the truck before it goes to inspection and I'm unemployed at the moment. Last I heard from Landstar they were working on it waiting to get all my checks verifications back. There is a chance, depending on how they figure it that I may not be able to qualify for there 1yr in 3 or 3 yr in 10 of OTR experience. I drove almst exclusivly OTR from Jan to Sept last year but before that I did local and otr, it was a small co and I did what needed to be done. I was there for 7 years like that. I did OTR a few months here and there before that mixed with some local too. My solid OTR produce running days when we owned trucks was 10 to 13 years ago so they won't count them.

 

there is a few around but to be perfectly honest you are asking for someone to answer questions that you really need to figure out for yourself. Only you can answer those questions unless you want to pay someone to run the numbers for you. We are up to our ears in math trying to figure out our own numbers

 

First off; I am NOT and NEVER have been affiliated in anyway with Landstar other than hauling a FEW of their loads on a brokered basis. I didn't even sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night. With that being said, since I run a fleet of 11 company owned trucks and 5 owner operators leased to me under my authority, I think I know a thing or two about freight rates, trends, tendencies, and the supply and demand factors that effect rates.

You said you live in Ohio and want to run the great lakes states and the southeast. The good news is; the great lakes area(OH,IN,IL,MI,WI,KY) is traditionally a very good freight area. If I were in your shoes(1 truck o/o running on percentage pay), I would run short to medium hauls and never leave the states that I just mentioned. If you do that, find a few GOOD agents to hook up with at LS, and develop a reputation as reliable and trustworthy with said agents, you should be able to average $1.50 or better to the truck. If you decide to run south to GA and FL, keep in mind, you can easily find loads going down there paying $2.50+(before LS takes their cut), however, you will eat your butt trying to get back north. Example; You take load from OH to Orlando,FL paying $2.50 before LS cut, then you haul a load from Jacksonville,FL back to Ohio for $1.00 before LS cut. I see that as $1.75 round trip before LS cut and thus not worth it in my opinion. Not to mention, there will probably be 10 trucks fighting for one of those cheap loads. Some may say to deadhead out of FL, but the fact is; the loads out of GA going north won't pay much better.

There is a span of about 3-4 months during the year when it makes sense to go south. In march and april, you can haul potatoes out of FL. These loads pay by the hundred weight and pay quite well($2.00 + to the truck), and they can be hauled in a dry van equipped with produce vents. In may and june you can haul watermelons out of south GA in that same vented van for about the same kind of rate going north. Landstar has some of each of these loads although the last few years they have been getting the tater loads from CH RobbingSome thus meaning the loads are double brokered and therefor cheaper than they should be. Just keep in mind that your agents with the frieght up north also know these facts and will often times drop the rates on the southbound frieght because they know why you want togo south at that time of the year.

Frieght rates and frieght sales is just a big game. He who has the most skills, knowledge, and experience will always win the game.

I was just feeling benevolent tonite or else I would never had posted this much detail publicly in regards to this topic. I normally figure it is better to learn things the hard way, then you tend to remember the lessons. Don't expect any more detailed lessons from me. I did my good deed for the year on here.lol. The truth is; the information i gave is no big secret. Most owner/ops know these simple facts already.