Leased onto Intermodal company in NJ- things are rough. Need advice.

Look at island Transport. They used to hire owner opportators.

 

I see ads for Transnoble and Shamrock on Craigslist all the time. Both make it seem like its great running the rail.
Idk,
Always sounds to good to be true...

 

I worked for transnoble. I didn't make much money. Tanking is better.

 

I don't know that you're going to find anything that really pays much better in Intermodal.

And as far as hiring a driver I don't think that is possible being leased onto an intermodal company. For that you really would have to have your own authority or maybe work for somewhere like Mercer or Landstar.

You could get your Authority and try to find an intermodal company that would broker you loads, but at that point you could find your own loads without having the hassles of dealing with the ports and all that stuff.

Intermodal can be a tough racket.

 

Qc out of rahway terminal you can be as home as often as you want, they are unusually flexible for a big company... the rest of the terminals are a crapshoot

 

Try General Trading in Carlstadt. They’re a private Grocery company that delivers to local
super markets in NY and NJ. You’ll have to hand unload most day loads onto rollers at the stores . Most night loads are palletized or drop and hook . Many of their owner operators have been there 10 , 20 years or more. . You can make good money there with a cheap reliable day cab , and no ELD. I was an owner operator there 20 years ago and made good money . There trailers are 12’6 so you can use the Lincoln Tunnel , not limited to just the GW bridge . . .All short runs you burn hardly any fuel. They factor the tolls into the trip pay. I moved away , but they still have the same system and there’s still guys there from when I was there. They are always busy and let you park your truck there. If your not afraid of driving in the five boroughs and hard work , it’s a good , Profitable gig.

 

I'll be the first to say I have no clue about intermodal but if you are leased under another company, you aren't pulling your own loads from a board and are at a large company with lots of other drivers.. on top of all that you are local and only work 5 days a week.....

It's just my opinion but in at least today's market, I think you are expecting too much to expect to make $800/day as a local driver running a 100 mile radius.

Dont get me wrong I 100% understand that for some guys making $800-1k a day is common but man you are a local driver running under someone else's authority and they select the loads for you..

Yes we all value our own time a lot higher than others do, but man my opinion in that situation and this current market you might be expecting too much.

Just for reference when I ran a truck at Prime as a OTR driver.. They used to try and aim for $500/day and that's for guys who have bigger payments than I bet you have and for guys that stay out on the road for 2 to 4 weeks at a time on average. (No it doesn't mean that's all they make, but it's the number they try to make sure you reach as a average)

If you are a O.O pulling loads you pick or run for a small company with good dispatchers then yeah $800 should be doable but you probably aren't gonna be home daily...

Just look at the average port truck hauling intermodal and ask do you think that guy is pulling $800/day....

I wish you luck though, perhaps you can pull it off in that situation.

 

The name of the game to keep you hungry and give you just enough.

 

I don’t know what the deal is with that Shop Rite grocery DC off of 13A in Elizabeth but some of those guys run real nice stuff out of there I noticed, so whatever they do it can’t pay THAT bad.

 

I agree with Crocky , our company runs regional Northeast dry van from PA-NJ-CT-MA-NY and back we used to gross $1200-$1300 per day with ELD'S. In the current market we are in the $800-$1k daily range and that is assuming they are not crazy swings in the market week to week. Our local operation is based in Allentown,PA area many of our drivers do round trips drop and hook with dry vans around PA and NJ. Its nice money but you do have to stay out at least once or twice a week or even work a Saturday. I would try and get out of intermodal most of those guys end up making $1500 per week and never do any better. Find a good company with drop and hook dry van accounts. Not sure what the rules are on the forum, I can offer some guidance.