Is the owner-operator a dying breed?

You will and we will be able to continue on. The only problem you should have are the ones you cant do anything about.......so you shouldnt have any.....educate be prepared and ypu will be ready IF YOU NEED TO make any decisions due to mandated regs.

 

LOL, OK thanks Kevin for such intellectual insight.....will do Sir......

 

Do not Know Kevin, but thanks. At my point of my career a positive attitude based on reallity seems to have made my job easier. It took a while to seperate fact from fiction.

 

at Landstar bco rates at $1.60 average a mile haha

 

I sure didn't worry about it when I bought my 2013 glider last year with pre-egr Detroit in it. It is indeed a long shot. It is one thing to pull that off in California. The heartland is another can of worms. There would be no way to meet any deadline that would be set. It is one thing to view OTR equipment, but that is only one slice of the pie. All of those farm and ranch trucks in the rest of the nation that would have to be replaced? I would like to see that one anytime soon.

 

Yeah, they're a dying breed alright...going the way of the 'speak softly and carry a big stick' manly man crowd.

 

If owner operators shut down their trucks, this economy would immediately come to a halt. Most freight in this country is moved by owner operators and smaller carriers. There does seem to be a push for more regulations, such as EOBR's, etc., which adds to the cost of operations. There is also a push to raise the minimum liability to $4 million. That could put many smaller carriers and owner operators out of business. There is no need to increase the liability with most owners. This is done for the trial lawyers, to feed their pockets, and the larger carriers to reduce competition. Owner operators have been around for a long time. With additional regulations, such as obamacare, it is more beneficial for the larger carriers to deal with owner operators so that they don't have to provide benefits or purchase additional equipment.

 

I feel sure the big operators has their lobbyist working on their congressmen & perhaps even has them in their pockets trying to shut out the small companies & the OO's.

 

I don't know that the big carriers are trying to get rid of the owner operators. They make a lot of money off owner operators who lease their equipment to them. What they want is to control the market and get rid of the smaller carriers. They are attempting to push for higher liability insurance of $4 million. That could put many smaller carriers out of business. Since many of the major carriers self insure, it will have little or no effect on their business. Liability insurance is the most expensive aspect of commercial insurance. There are only two groups that would benefit from raising the liability to $4 million. The big carriers would benefit along with trial lawyers who prey on the trucking industry. There is no real need to raise the minimum liability insurance requirement from the current level. Those driving 4 wheelers are only required to have about $25,000-50,000 in most states. Four wheelers are responsible for over 76% of accidents involving trucks. Some lawyers have made a career out of shaking down trucking companies and their insurance companies. Should these people be successful, it will only drive thousands of carriers out of business and will result in many more lawsuits and higher insurance premiums. What might help is to not allow the larger carriers to self insure so that they pay the same premiums as the smaller carriers.

 

It's called using the armed force of government to snuff out your competition.

I agree with everything G/MAN says about the topic except the price increase. No doubt it will go up. I don't believe it will be to the same magnitude if you were to get a $4M liability quote today. If that becomes law and everyone has to buy at that level, spreading the risk and lowering the rate across the board. Still higher nonetheless.