Starting from Scratch with Land Star....

OK.It's good for 90 days..Now you have to get your truck through the process...WAY TO GO covering your ###....

 

Getting myself qualified was never a worry, the question is, how big of a pain in the ### is it going to be to get the truck thru. I have heard some guys say they can be a little difficult. And once orientation is done, then what? Hope it doesn't take them forever to get things going...

 

I had a load leaving out to Baltimore before I even left orientation in Georgia.lol not a problem getting a trailer, just call trailer utilization about 4 hours before everyone does, and I had an agent call me up to take a good paying FedEx load out the Atlanta area and had an empty waiting on me up in Baltimore

 

And as soon as orientation ended, everybody else went back to the hotel, the wife and I left for ATL lol

 

If your truck will pass a very thorough inspection, you will be fine. If not fix it. You can get the pre lease inspection at an approved inspection site near you or near where you're buying your truck. In fact, I would have the inspection done before you buy the truck to make sure it will not have problems.

 

FYI, average lifespan of new BCOS is 1 year......many people come here with a dream and leave in shock. You must learn to be a business person first and a truck driver second.

 

I think that's true. I was with Landstar for 8 years, then got my own authority. Did very well with them. They tell you in orientation that it can (will) take 6 months to get used to everything. No way that would work for me. I needed to be doing well enough within 2 weeks. And I did.

The next thing I did - when I could, which was about 8 months after signing on - was buy my own trailer. Made a big difference. There will be those that tell you that it's not worth that becuase you lose out on the drop-and-hooks but don't let that stop you. Lots of the d/h loads are crummy anyway. With your own triler you make more (and more than enough to cover trailer expenses) and can get into specialized stuff. I got into trade shows, events and pad-wrapped freight. Very good money there.

LCAPP (mentioned above) has a used truck/trailer classified page. When I was there even non-Landstar guys had access to that page. Can be a good place to go to get a truck or trailer. The guy I bought mine from (including logistics equipment) even financed for me.

 

Just looked. There's trucks and trailers on the LCAPP site. Were I in the market, there's a used 53' with logistics equipment for 5K...

http://www.lcapp.com/ForSale/DisplayAds.asp

 

You are right on here, this is about the same path I took here at LS and I'm going on year 9.

 

My first go around with Landstar was in 2001. I "survived a year and a half before losing the truck and going bankrupt. I was a solo operator pulling containers and company vans. I was used to being home every weekend and after I traded my old truck for a newer truck, found out too late that being home weekends wasn't going to work with a truck payment.

My wife and I team now, bought this truck in 2008 and signed on with Landstar a little over a year ago. This time we started out pulling a company owned step deck plus we were qualified from our previous companies to haul AA&E. We did really good the first year here and this month bought our own trailer.

The reason I am saying all of this is that there are a ton of drivers out there pulling vans, flats and step decks with Landstar. Not only are you competing with other companies for freight but also other drivers here at Landstar. What I have been able to do is to specialize myself. The trailer I just bought is a Conestoga flatbed capable of handling AA&E freight also. Now I only have 59 other conestogas to compete against here at Landstar and only 18 other teams with conestogas. I can also dip into the standard flatbed freight if I need to.

Think outside the box! Don't come here without a game plan as to how your gonna win these agents over so that they are giving you constant freight. The truth is, the ones getting constant freight from agents have been here 15-20 years. The only other way to have agents calling you, with decent freight, is to specialize yourself somehow.