The ugly truth about Landstar

I have been with Landstar now for about 10 weeks and the part about trailer utilization having trouble getting you an empty is true. I got stuck with a roller van after orientation that most agents did not want to load. So after about a week of having trouble I called trailer utilization and told them that this roller van was causing me to go out of business. Well the person I talked to did not seem to worried so I talked to his boss. After I explained the situation they paid me a $1 a mile to deadhead to a customer (300 miles away) that would load a roller van and get me to an area that I could swap out that roller with a regular dry van.

The first month was bad for me. I got myself into dead zones but quickly learned where to go and not to go. Now 2/3 of my loads are for the same agency that pays me well and I am lined out about three weeks in advance. Basically I just do a triangle from where I live and I get home every other weekend. My settlements are okay but I am continuing looking at ways to improve that. Right now I am averaging about $950/week on my settlement card but I always take the full pre-trip advance on my other card for fuel and maintenance (also saving up that money for down payment on another truck).

The only problem I see in the future is this CARB thing for California. I knew this was coming years ago and I am checking out my options now. My Wife does not want to move out of California so I cannot boycott the state even though I would love to get the heck out of there. So I will continue moving forward and hopefully, with time, my business will start making the serious money where I can take off a month at a time.

 

I only talked to my Landstar Advisor twice and that was pretty much just checking in. The first week I was with Landstar they did not even assign me one. Once I did get an advisor she told me she was going out for two weeks for surgery so I was pretty much on my own.

I would talk with other Landstar BCO's while at a shipper/receiver and get their cell number (or email) so I could call them if I had any questions. Most BCO's are very helpful and full of information among other things. Also this website was a great help answering a lot of my questions. A lot of the BCO's I talked to had their favorite agents and also the ones they hated. There was always one agency that stood out as the worst and I know to stay away from them. Networking is a big part of being successful in business and any business is a gamble is some sort of way, you have your ups and downs.

 

Once you get through the 6 months of ''paying back'' everything,it's all down hill and you will be here for life.The first 6 months is very hard.
Speaking of ''trailers''.The trailer utilization are a bunch of dope smoking brain dead tards..I lost my trailer last week and i never in my life have seen a bunch of tards running around.I finally got lucky and got my old trailer emptyed out.I had to pay the guy 30.00 to make it happen or i was doomed..Out in the field carry ''cash'' and it goes a long way..


Your doing good Dewey.Keep up the good work and trust me,you will find your ''niche'' here and you will be amazed.It just takes TIME.I see checks for 3,000-4,000 grand after everything is taken out...

T- This
I- I
M- Must
E- Earn

 

The OP describes all of the bad things about Landstar, then goes on to say, get our own authority, yet he has never done that. All of the bad things are there with our own authority too, OP, not to mention a couple more like never getting paid for a load or waiting 60 days for payment that was supped to be 30. Imagine hitting refresh on the load board with no prices and having to call 50 brokers before you find an ok load.

LS is far from perfect, and is currently based on profit for stockholders, not BCO's or agents. The load board is for hot freight or cheap freight. Your not going to see an awesome load lingering for a day. Using lane match can help newbies make cold calls and start establishing relationships. My #1 agent and I talked for about an hour the first time I called on a load. I was exactly what she was looking for to do regular freight. I had been here almost a year when I hauled that load. I make a 100k per year off that agent now. My highest gross revenue and highest profit load is shipping next week, and I was the first call, actually email, for the load. Some people aren't cut out to run a business, and that is OK. There is a certain luxury to not having to find your own loads and make business decisions, and you usually pay for that luxury, ie lower rates and less freedom. There are plenty of choices out there so find one that suits you.

 

It seems to me that no matter what you choose to do, or what trucking company you choose to lease to, the bottom line is to commit to at least a year before making a decision whether the situation is optimal for you or not. Even if I'm an excellent driver and was successful in my last position or situation, I would think that it would take at least a year to get through the "learning curve" to have most of the knowledge necessary to do the job very well.

The OP has only been with Landstar for a few weeks or months, IMHO that isn't enough to really come to an informed decision. The majority of Landstar drivers I've talked to indicate that the key to success is only pulling loads that have a minimum $3 / mile rate and be willing to wait for those loads, developing relationships with a handful of brokers, and learning the best areas to go for best freight options and which areas to avoid.

 

I just wonder, what do you guys consider high rates/good paying loads these days?

 

I have talked some old timers who ran before Deregulation....Many of them told me that the rates we run at today are the same or lower than what they got back then....Also remember....Diesel at the rack back then was way south of a buck too.

 

The LS drivers I've talked to indicate they won't pull a load for less than $3 per mile. Note that is the gross rate and the driver is netting about 2/3 of that, so they are netting $2 per mile. Fuel is $0.50-$0.70 per mile and you need about $0.25-0.60 per mile for other truck expenses. In order to make an income and be able to set aside money to replace your truck $2 per mile or more is the goal.

 

For the last 2 years I've averaged 2.11 per odometer mile to the truck, and 40-50% deadhead. I really want to be at 2.25+, but I'd have to cut my deadhead down some to do that.

 

Just to clarify, when you say "40-50% deadhead" do you mean that 40-50% of your miles are deadhead? That does seem to be a very high number. Might make more sense to take a load at a lower rate to get back to a high rate location. Is that what you mean by cutting down on your dead head?