Landstar Questions

I agree that the process is quick but my point goes along with what you said about being slammed. If you are trying to search for loads or contacting customers to get loads, any amount of time, when you are a single person working, that takes you away from that during the hours that those folks are there becomes time-consuming. It is easier for me to send the dispatch information out in the evening, unless of course the load picks up that day. Main thing is the point that has already been made, if the agent will not get back to you with at least a freight bill number you should not sit around waiting. I learned that the hard way when I was to deliver on a Monday morning, had a load out to get me to another load. The agent assured me that these loads were good so I sat for the weekend for Monday delivery. Late Sunday I get a call from the agent that there was no load so I had to scramble to find me something that would fill the gap to the other load. That cost me dearly.

 

has anyone bought a truck from Lyons truck and trailer sales in Indianapolis? If so is it a good place to deal with?

 

Throwing the BS flag up on it takes time to get the rate confirmation out! I usually get mine within the hour, if not you get one phone call if no reply within a reasonable amount of time NEXT LOAD!

 

Dewey as long as you have enough padding to cover the load you should be good, I had a tractor that was dryvan only, I had a box mounted on the back of the tractor for storage of blankets, rigging and strapping . Just something to think about

 

Several members have posted good comments about Lyons in the o/o section. I've never dealt with them but know of at least one person who has on a lot of equipment. He says they are good people, easy to deal with which jives with member comments here.

 

How does paying for lumpers work at Landstar? I am assuming that the BCO's have to pay for them the same as tolls etc.? Some lumpers are really expensive upwards of $250. How does that fit into your business plan?

 

I lump my self and keep the money..

 

Lumpers is one of the questions you need to ask the agent about when discussing a load. I never had a problem with getting paid for lumpers. And like landstar8891 said, you often can do it yourself and keep the money. The way I have seen it work most is, if lumpers are required, once the amount is determined from the service (often you know this in advance) you contact the agent and they will either give an express code for a Comcheck or they will load the amount onto whichever Comdata card you want it on and then you take care of the check.

 

It all depends on how the agency has structured their operation. I have agents I work with who make it standard practice to do all emailing of rate confirmations at the end of the business day. And as I said elsewhere, 10 minutes is time-consuming when you are working as a single agent and are trying to find good loads to post. If the agent provides the FB # the driver has the load. Again, it goes back to knowing your agent. I have two agents I haul for regularly that it may be hours before I get the paperwork because they are setting appointment times which often takes time depending on the number of stops. Having worked both sides of this with Landstar I am not stating things which I have not experienced; I am speaking from experience here.

 

Im with you on this one but have you noticed how many recievers re not allowing drivers to unload on their docks? Kind of different from back in the days when we started.