Finally got my own truck

There is a right way to haul frieght and then there is what your doing. No offense intended but what your doing is not legal and you are setting yourself up for problems. What do you think would happen if you were involved in a serious or fatal accident and the lawyers found out you were hauling commercial frieght?

 

If the freight didn't cause the accident, I suppose the lawyer could still chase that angle but I don't know what he/she would be trying to accomplish. There's quite a few little guys or one offs that are willing to deliver a sofa, desk,lawn tractor, etc......I'm more curious why the big guys aren't doing it.

 

Pretty obvious you have no practical experience. So having a 53' dry van in south Florida gives one a lot of options for loads? Ok, yeah, go buy a truck, trailer.. get proper insurance... and go down to south Florida as much as possible to make all that easy money. You're hauling commercial freight without proper insurance telling others how they ought to do it? Like 2CAN says, Lord help you when a bad accident happens because you're going to lose everything.

 

Have you ever had an insurance claim in the past? Ever seen what an insurance company will do to avoid paying? Read you policy and educate yourself.

 

Not to mention when you crash and destroy grandma's antique armoire that's worth 15,000. Then the owner will sue the #### out of you. And you have no cargo insurance. Lose lose situation. Sad part is you, and the shipper won't find any of this out until it's TOO LATE!!

 

From the get-go I've stated I don't have the experience and I think you're being a bit unfair and reading into my question. I never said it was easy money (being an O/O is difficult), I never said having the trailer means there's a lot of options for loads (I said it would seem like there's more options), and I think it's a reach to suggest that a garden tractor that fits on a 4x6 trailer, or a sofa that fits inside my truck, or a couple crate motors that would fit in my Odyssey, is the type of commercial freight that needs a full on policy (my carrier stated, and showed in writing, that I would still be covered in an accident even when undertaking incidental commercial activity).

I've also never tried telling anyone else in this thread "how they ought to do it", I'm just asking why professional O/O's like yourself and others, avoid branching out into markets like Craigslist, UShip, and other private avenues? If an inexperienced guy like myself can haul a couch that fits inside a SUV and make $300-$400, why are the experienced professionals bypassing this market and instead pulling cheap trailer loads of freight that seems hardly worth it?

 

Uship freight is beat down. I've haul a couple loads (heavy equipment). Most of it is cheaper than what you can get from a broker. That aside, I don't see much regular freight there. I also don't see pulling up at someone's apartment with a 70' rig ready to pick up a Fiberglas Barney Rubble.

 

I've already stated that I set aside personal money to cover shipping damage. Loads that were worth more than I was willing to risk were avoided. A $1500 sofa that fits in the back of my SUV....yes please. A $2000 garden tractor that fits on a 4X6 trailer...yes please. Antique furniture that's worth $15,000 and I couldn't get even a scratch on it....no thanks.

Again, my insurance company was willing to cover me since it was incidental commercial activity and they put it in writing. I was willing to take the risk on private insurance and I'm not advocating that anyone else do the same, I'm just sharing personal experience with using other shipping avenues.

EDIT: FWIW, just looked through old emails between myself and client where they were required to provide their own cargo insurance and I would pay $500 towards the deductible if there was any damage.

 

I thankfully haven't had an accident in several years but I 110% agree with you about insurance companies chasing down every angle to avoid paying. Thankfully my insurance company was able to show me in writing that I was covered and I never had to use them.