O.O companies with no company drivers & load board access?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by crocky, Nov 7, 2018.

  1. crocky

    crocky Road Train Member

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    Looking to see what is out there. I want to be able to pull my own routes/loads via a load board & I don't want to compete with company drivers for loads. I'd also prefer to not have a company who brokers loads to themselves to skim money off the top before putting it on their own load board..

    Obviously there is the big ones Landstar & Mercer but who else is out there? I'm based out of FL, but not sure as to how long, but that's where I'm working from for now.

    Also NO refer. I'm sick to death of refer and the attitudes/horrible appt hours of food warehouses.. I'm looking for dry van or maybe Step deck freight, but I'd need training for the step deck securement /loading. (if step deck I'd like equipment/oversize vehicle freight and not a lot of tarping.. not lazy but don't want to tarp which is why I'd rather not do straight up flatbed)
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2018
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  3. Speed_Drums

    Speed_Drums Road Train Member

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    Last edited: Nov 8, 2018
  4. crocky

    crocky Road Train Member

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    Bump.. did I post this in the wrong section or am I'm requesting too much or are there just no other O.O companies with load boards and no company drivers?


    Edit . Looks like I was moved, so bump for the new forum.
     
  5. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    LS seems to work for many, I am one of many who have been with LS for a bunch of years. I don't have trucks with Mercer but other companies are out there, most of them are smaller ones.

    The nice thing about large companies is you may be a number to them but they pay on time.
     
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  6. 2 CHAINS

    2 CHAINS Light Load Member

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    I get discount fuel up to 45c discount tolls reimbursbed for tags 35 wk or run theirs. $400 BONUS every Qtr just watch some vids 1 video every month. Attend 1 safety meeting or watch them live online really simple. We have company and lease drivers but i dont compete with them i do my own thing off load boards or i pull freight for other trucking companies they dont care just give them 30%. We do reefer mostly but we have Dry vans to. Paid every week but they hold 2 weeks back because they dont do a escrow here so the check you get on deposit was loads you pulled 2 weeks ago it also allows them time to collect any detention you may of earned.No trl rental fee if you use theirs. Or you can pull your own dry van or reefer for 85%. We got 135 trucks 75 O/O. Maybe 20 full O/O 55 Lease ops rest company drivers. You can write your own paychecks here just give them 30% of gross. They do ifta they give you fleet rate permits NM OR NY really cheap. National tire discounts i just bought set of steers 735.00 Michelins.
    We are in Ohio small rural area farm belt. They have 5 drivers live in Fl. Actually. Send me msg interested i send you a ph address. You basically run like you got your own authority here without the hassels of invoicing waiting on pay a no fees. You wanna run 1 of there loads you can do that to trust me they make chop suey out them by time they quote you a rate. So i just book my own i dont have a check my fault. Good deal my opinion
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2018
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  7. crocky

    crocky Road Train Member

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    Yeah, LS is kinda where Im leaning at least to start. I see a lot of their trucks in North FL area so I know I can get loads in and out aswell which is a benifit.

    If I decided to go flatbed/step deck I think it would then be Mercer, however I didn't get a good feeling from their recruiter and there is that issue where they left drivers stranded some time ago that I read about.
     
  8. Shotgun94

    Shotgun94 Medium Load Member

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    As far as Mercer I don't know myself. There are drivers on here that do run under them. Some guy TruckerDan on utube posts alot as he is with them.But I get what you feel with the recruiting. Some recruiters don't want to take the time to explain it. And they are asking you your life story in the first minute of you calling and sugarcoat the truth. And if your not getting along with the recruiter well is it rude to ask for another recruiter? How do you go about that?
     
  9. Shotgun94

    Shotgun94 Medium Load Member

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    I see some successful people driving for that star thing jk,
    landstar!
     
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  10. SteerTire

    SteerTire Road Train Member

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    I’m going to say yes on the asking for another recruiter question.

    I done this once, and the guy more or less yanked my chain for the remainder of the call.

    Maybe he had is quota that week. I don’t know.
     
  11. crocky

    crocky Road Train Member

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    Well I cold called both Landstar and Mercer, just gave them a bit of brief info about myself but not my name, however I do know at least Mercer was using caller ID to see my name.

    Anyway I didn't really call to be recruited at that rime, I told both my time line and just that I was wanting a few questions answered.


    My only real issue is my 1st 3 months I had 2 minor issues. My 1st time backing in snow it was 4am on a snow covered lot so I couldn't see any lines. I was backing in a spot at a truck stop and saw I didn't look right, so I got out to look and had barely touched a truck with my trailer bumper. The trailer slid a bit which I didn't expect and I touched the truck ever so lightly but enough to crack the very back section of the side skirt on a cascadia. Was u der $500 in damage.

    Other issue was I had a trailer come off my truck at a shipper. The trailer was very low, to the point I had to air down to get under it and my tires actually rubbed a bit getting under it. I backed under then aired up and thought it latched. I did 2 sets of tug tests, once right after I aired up b4 hooking up the brakes and then once before I pulled out.

    I pulled out of the line of trailers, did a hard right hand turn, I then drove about 600->800ft out of the area the trailer was parked and made a left hand turn to head to the guard shack and the trailer came off. The yard guy even told me he saw me do the tug test, but somehow it wasn't latched 100%.

    Anyway.. I dunno if having 2 things like that will harm me. I've never had anything since then, havent had a speeding ticket in probably 10 or 15 years. Never had any accident that was my fault or anything. I'm not sure if these are reported on my DAC or not but neither was on the road.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2018
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