What exactly is the stuff you want to learn before becoming o/o?

I sort of agree with this but ....

here is a little modification of it.

Finding the best rates come far behind the other things, as an owner you need to sell yourself and your truck to find the best work and best revenue and that comes first. If that makes any sense?

 

Aboslutely that hits it right on the head

 

Were not gonna bash you unless you come off with something ridiculous, like you wanna be an O/O, but have a credit score of 400 and just got your CDL...

 

Lol

 

Good question. Thank you.

 

Starting out was a company driver for a year or even more is better and can give you a leg up if you intend to eventually become an oo.
Learn to drive to where you keep the truck out of the shop, learn your truck and and keep an eye on it. If you have to have the clutch adjusted every 6 months figure out why.
keep a list from day one of where you pickup and deliver , the name of the shipper and reciever and what the load was. Also how they were to deal with on each end. As a company driver you will likely not know the rate unless you are driving on percentage, buut you will know how long it took them to load you and what their attitude to trucks in general was. I scratched lots of shippers, recievers and brokers off of my list. life is too short to deal with pricks.
By keeping this list you will also record which areas kept you the busiest and which areas to stay out of, unless you are getting enough going in to deadhead out, which I never had a problem doing. I dead headed out of Alaska at least a third of the time, I always counted on deadheading out, getting a load was icing.
Do not haul just for fuel to get to a better place, I never could figure out why someone would pay someone to haul their freight, unless they were a friend or something.

 

Learn about the mechanics of the truck. Even if you can’t work on it, know what’s wrong with it. Exploratory time at a dealership will sink you!

Pay attention to your permit book, know what’s needed to do the work you plan to do.

Pay attention to freight lanes.

Learn as much as possible about the office aspect of things. Watching your disp. dealing with both customers & brokers alike.

Watch fuel prices & learn how to best conserve it.

Shake as many hands as possible, don’t be forgettable, don’t be memorable either. Lol. The relationships you build now may very well become your customer base when you have your own truck.

Never ever burn a bridge.

Get your time in with that mega, then get yourself to a smaller company. 100 trucks max, now you can really learn the office side of things.

Talk to o/o’s ask questions. Avoid Lp drivers. Their decision making abilities are questionable to say the least.