Farm2Fleet

Not sure where to post this since there is not a DAC report thread for f2f. This is an O/O only company but I know of at least one fleet owner who hires drivers here. We are a dry van team but I know there are also flatbed, straight truck and cargo van operators here. Our experience has been excellent.

A little about me. My wife and I started with US Xpress as team drivers 2 1/2 years ago. As a team, we actually had a very good experience with USX. There are problems at every company but we found that if you took deep breaths, did not over react and treated the office personnel with respect, things generally went well. I always hoped to become an O/O once I had learned a lot more of how the trucking business operates. We, of course, looked at lease programs at USX and other companies. Best decision I have made was to stick with being a company driver until we felt we truly understood our options. I come from a business background and I have purchased and operated three different companies in divergent fields. I have never started or purchased a business without a pretty clear understanding of the industry and the marketplace. My first company failed miserably (I was 25 years old and foolishly thought that if I had a great service, customers would find me) it was a great education. My other two companies were very successful and both were sold in time. So by waiting, it became very clear to me that all of the lease opportunities I had seen were nothing more than buying a job. The failure rate is staggering. Not because a successful lease is impossible (hard, but not impossible) but because most lease operators do not approach it as a business and the margins are horribly small. It looked to me like the risk/reward curve was VERY steep. It is just not a good business model. So we waited. A lot of my research was performed right here on TTR and after about a year I had narrowed the search down to Schneider, Landstar and Farm2Fleet. If you have been doing your own research you probably recognize the common denominator immediately. All three allow you to pick your own loads. Our kids are scattered across the country and one of the best parts of this career has been regularly seeing them all. We just wanted more control over that process.

We bought a truck a couple of months ago, a 2009 Volvo 780, and we signed on to Farm2Fleet. Very happy with this decision. Unbelievable support from the office and the owners of the company (many on here may recognize bigbadbill, who I noticed over and over again giving sound advice to others) I do want to caution others looking at what we are doing and let them know that booking your own loads is work. More so starting out as you do not have any relationships with brokers. After a few months we are seeing a significant change in this as we are building relationships and building our reputation. Now the phone is ringing at our end with calls from brokers asking if we are available. In addition, f2f have bent over backwards putting us in front of the right people to ensure our success.

The negatives? Really only one so far. This is a fast growing company and that always leads to growing pains. Processes are always a little behind the growth curve. They have, however, quickly addressed every concern we have voiced.

Since there is no specific info thread on this company, I thought I should start one. I know there are a number of other f2f drivers on TTR so maybe we can be a resource for others.