HELP WITH START UP

Let's say that American grown drivers are what you really want. Preferably locals from the areas you intend to run freight. YOU will want to get a CDL, learn to drive and drive a while and learn the lanes your freight is going to roll in.

As a professional driver, nothing is harder than listening to someone assign a load and never run it him or herself. Or worse drive a contracted A to B in a car in X hours and then gaurantee delivery in same time slot forgetting that big trucks need a little more time. As a driver I need a company officer to also hold a CDL and know what the freak they are talking about.

Don't get me started on overseas drivers, you might hire them by a dozen at really cheap labor costs... but it's going to bite you. In the form of preventables and other bone headed problems that build into thousands of dollars sunk into tow bills or worse.

Im not trying to be difficult. You can get the freight. Fine. But you need to learn the driving side before you start a corral of trucks and put people inside of them. That takes time. As in couple of years.

If you are focused as I think you are, you will get through this time period of learning by doing.

Do not. I repeat. Do not get greedy and think you can whistle up 100 rigs and trailers, stuff em with drivers and fill em all with freight. Today's boom time and high demand for trucks can easily dry up and turn into next years half the lot sitting with empty unused trucks potentially for months. With you hiring or renting your trailers out for a few hundred a month to at least keep them rolling a little bit to make a bit of money. It's a feast and famine business. I once ran for a 300 truck operation owned outright by one man and had a full operation 24/7 with powerful shippers and recievers with top equiptment. Give him 15 years POOF out of business for one reason or another. Whatever happened I hope he is doing ok because he was the one who put himself through college to get business degrees and also learned the trucking side as well so he could deal with drivers like me when he had to. He was also responsible for providing me with a future believe it or not so whatever situation I hope he is doing well. At least for that because I am.

The biggest besides freight, trucks and drivers will be both money and a line of credit to feed same. You are going to be sickened by the amount you will BURN keeping a trucking company of one or 10000 trucks pointed in the same general direction of making money. It's literally a really hard way to make a dollar. Spend 10, borrow 100 and hire 10 people and hope you have something paid in 60 days after delivering.....

 

Because I live in reality of all of this. I have what you want and I have to know what's going on to survive. 99.999% of those in these major companies don't have a stake in it, they are just employees and don't care to seek out the truth because their survival isn't dependent on the truth - just numbers,

You are only seeing a very very small part of it and talking to people who may or may not understand what's really happening.

Major companies are not the major employers. They are the minority in this and while they may be the ones who are heard the loudest, they are not the ones that are seeing just the opposite. Reputations is 80% of the issue with the majors, many of them suck to begin with, have the big busiensss mentality and can't understand the word "retention".

I post an opening for a driver. Either I or my manager get at least 100 applicants, sometimes close to 150 at times.

Out of those 100, I have to filter through and find one that fits my standards, it isn't about putting someone in the truck but the right someone.

Why if we have a driver shortage would I get 100 applicants for a single opening?

Why if we have a driver shortage (which has allegedly been going on for the past 14 years since my return) are we not seeing wage inflation but wage deflation across the majors?

See can talk to anyone you want daily but until you get more than one truck on the road and have to spend time hiring, you won't understand what's really going on.

 

It does seem right, those Eastern Europeans work under the idea of grabbing everything they can without regards of future employment. What has screwed a lot of us is the H-1b visa program which is a program that is supposed to put citizens first. Immigrants last but for some reason the program is applied to trucking as skilled labor and the companies are allowed to make the claim of a shortage of drivers in order to fill seats cheaply.

On the other hand you have low immigration standards which allow people to enter the country and get jobs without sponsorships or actually having a job first as it was until 1965. The ease of starting a company, and really the ease of getting a cdl has caused what costs us more work by allowing substandard companies and drivers to be in the industry.

If we wanted higher rates, and more respect, we would start demanding that the cdl testing becomes a lot harder and those who screw up are out for life.

 

No reason for this... You obviously don't have the skin for this business. Your first mistake was coming to a Truckers forum asking for help on staring a business that involves truckers. IE the Truckers Report. You obviously haven't spent anytime here to realize most of the bashing that goes on here is about dispatchers and brokers. Now that being said you can get done what you want start small save some money and build your way... If you truly own your Brokerage house you should have the sense to know how to start a business. If you are any good I would show banks your books. Showing you can run a profitable business. Then you need a business plan to present. Good luck to you and grow some skin....

 

All the Eastern European drivers are legal citizens of the USA. It's nearly impossible to get a work visa and come drive trucks here in the states.

 

Can't your brokerage loan your trucking company some dough? Seems like if it profited 44k after paying you then you must also be including bills paid and you've been doing it for years then surely the company has enough funds for a loan.

It's funny that you bash me for saying that you need a cdl first then turn around and say that none will touch you because you don't have a cdl.