Flatbed/Stepdeck

Im in melbourne fl with small children and am an flat owner op w landstar. There is decent money if your willing to be out several days but if you need to be home every day id stay with pepsi. The logistics of living in florida makes being home daily very difficult or unprofitable for me. I stay out 6-10 days and stay home 4-6 days and do quite well for myself.

 

there are so many variables involved. i can gross 6-8k on week and then 1k the next, it depends on rates, lanes, home time, motivtion, repairs, but most the time i get 2-3 a mile and do 2200 3000 a week, net s wats important

 

if you like what you are doing and it pays your bills, then you should stay where your at. trucking is a very unforgiving line of work. think long and hard about it and talk about it with your wife. lots of marriges have been ruined from trucking; it's just the way it is.

 

I dont mean to sound petty or discouraging,.. but trucking and family do not go well together. Not the way I believe family life should be. Some will disagree with me on that,.. and thats fine. But unless you find a niche,.. have a local direct shipper or some other special thing going,.. the only positive way to make decent money in trucking is to go out and run the miles. That means being away from home.

I walked away from trucking when my kids were still babies for this very reason. I understand how important family life is. If your just looking for a paycheck,.. stay where you are.

To become an O/O requires much more time then just running the loads. The maintenance, the repairs, chasing money, chasing problems, its always one thing after another. Just because your home,.. as an O/O your job doesnt end there. I spend at least 50% of my time at home dealing with my truck in one way or another. My wife gives me grief all the time because it takes away from our personal life. My kids are all grown and out of the house now. It makes being out on the road easier. But no less painful. I still get homesick while out on the road.

I say this with the best interest at heart. If you have young kids at home,.. stay home. Wait until they are over 16 before you think about buying a truck. By then they wont have much interest or time for parents and be making their way into their own adulthood. This will be the time for you to start working on doing your own thing.

I mean if you want to be realistic about it,.. try finding work out there for a truck. You dont have to own the truck. Just try to find work for it right now. If you can find the work and it pays,... then do it. But if you cant,.. then there is no point in trying to buy a truck. Owning it, does not make the work for it magically appear.

Hurst

 

I haul fuel in Jacksonville. I'm home every night, are close to Orlando? I'm sure there are some fuel companies near you. As a company driver I made $57k last year, and I know some owner ops with Keenan that are doing very well in Jacksonville. Maybe when you're at a store delivering and a tanker pulls in, ask him/her about the company they work for.

In Florida as an owner op, you have limited choices for intrastate travel. Fuel and chemicals would be the main two I know of that would get you home every day while also making a good paycheck

 

intermodal would be another choice but i heard they give you slavepay down in fl

 

I live in Fl. and have owned a step but now pull a flatbed I like the F/B better.

 

your welcome to ask me any questions about my knowledge of the Fl Mkt. / I will give you my personal experienced feedback.