Landstar vs Schneider Choice ( Comparison )

Great post

 

I can only speak for Landstar as my O/O experience with Schneider was over 10 years ago but I'm loving it at Landstar.Try to answer all your questions as best I can.

1.Yes EOBR at Landstar but as we all know it's probably going to be mandatory for everyone soon anyway.

2.I get an great discount at TA.Cost+ at TA.Pilot and Loves I'm thinking is $.07 off cash price but not too sure as I usually only fuel at TA or Petro for personal preference.

3.Too a point you can negotiate rates.When you call the agent you can asked for a few $'s more some will go higher if they are in need of the load being moved.Some are a set rate and they will not go off the rate but usually good rates to begin with.

4.Yes I'm sure SNI has more Drop and Hook but LS still does have some and most places we get unloaded pretty fast so not to bad.

5.Yeap you have agents that do copy and paste.You have the option to filter those agents out somewhat by only showing direct ship freight.I just did a CHR load for an agent that paid $2.94 mile from NC to Oh.Very light load and put me in a good freight area to boot.

6.TONU is a hit or miss with LS.I have received it for certain loads and not for others.Depends on the agent and the customer.You will only get it if the customer pays it and its paid at 65%.LS takes their cut from that also.

7.Landstar pays once a week.Payday is determined by the day you are accepted.Mine happens to be Friday so I my cutoff day is Wednesday.Buddy of mine gets paid on Wednesday and his cutoff is Monday.From what I understand you can change this day once but you still only get paid once a week and only after you scan your paperwork.

8.Again depends on agent and customer.I have gotten detention for loads without asking and been denied when I did ask.Also one of those ones you only get once the customer pays so could be a month later but you do get it and detention is at 100%

9.Yes you can get your own trailer and yes you get more % in the process.With alot of freight being Live load/Unload usually not an issue.

10.I won't lie LS does have a bunch of BS charges.$1 to scan paperwork on their system $2 with transflo.Card load fees and such.I don't worry about them too much as the rates usually make the charges negligible.

11.You run what you want to run.Pick your own freight.Decide where to go and where not to.You take whatever time off you want and run what you want.LS doesn't spoon feed you it's up to you to succeed or fail.They give you the tools if you use them correctly you will do good.

12.Nope LS does not pay tolls or provide EZpass.If you want it sign up and get it or pay cash but you're correct in saying its in the rate.Its up to you to figure out if the rate allows you to run tolls or you want to avoid them.


All in all I think LS is about as close to having your own authority without actually having it.They have treated me with respect and even though some agents may be a pain to deal with most are happy to help and treat you like an actual person.I'm sure there are people that don't agree with me or think LS isn't a good company but its a great fit for me.

 

The load board is the load board. A good chunk of loads never make it there. A good chunk of loads are listed 2-5 times. Great loads don't last but a few minutes on the board, so typically the loads on there are less than desirable, if they are older than an hour. That is a big difference from SNI, where I believe every load goes through the board. My number one agent and a few others calls or emails me before they post a load to the board to see if I'm available. I've been here for almost 5 years and have been working with this agent right at 4 years. Do a great job and communicate and they'll call you first as well.
Does Landstar have faults, of course they do. I swear at them everyday, but I don't peel my signs off either. I ran my own authority for 6 1/2 years with 3 trucks and an o/o leased to me. LS is like a vacation compared to that. I've never pulled a van here, so my opinion is from the platform side. Good luck in whatever you choose.

 

current SNI discount at Pilot is .225 (.325 in CA, WA, OR, NV)

Look, for me the deal killer for LS is that almost everybody says, "man, you get with the right agent / broker, and you've got it made". Well, my luck is that I wont get with the right agent / broker and I'll be screwed. Schneider's board is open to anyone....there are no 'special' deals or 'special' brokers; it is what it is and you get what you pick.
I am a very happy SNI Choice contractor. I ran $98k in the last 6 months of '13.....and maybe that's chump change to some folks, and that's ok because it's ok by me. I highly recommend Schneider both as a program and as a company. (Also, if it means anything, got nothing bad to say about LS......'cept looks like a lot of their equipment looks kinda old).

 

Thank you to all posters.
Answered 90% of my silly questions right there.

With 2 ears and 2 eyes and 1 mouth, proportionately used . . . I learn quite a bit.

 

also, you asked about buying fuel at the centers. The centers guarantee that they match the lowest price of fuel in whatever state it's in. So, yeah, there's that. BUT, it's the lowest price WITHOUT THE DISCOUNT......soooooooo......you're lots better off buying at Pilot. But still, it's ok and comes in real handy sometimes. We also get discounts at all of the other majors as well, but it's a standing .05. Still, even with Pilot's discount (sometimes it goes at low as .08, and yes, it changes every 2 weeks), you can get a better deal. The Wilco and Hanks at x11 in South Carolina usually have awesome deals that, even with the Pilot discount, are better.