Instant O/O and Load boards

Pharm, if this driver got into a devastating accident, how would that affect your authority? Are you putting them on your insurance plan, as well? 10% of revenues would absorb some risk, no doubt. How would you collect?

 

Instead of Road Train Member under my name, my wife jokingly says it should read "Evil Capitalist" LOL. The liability risk alone is worth 10%. May be his insurance and plate, but YOU are assuming responsibility for him. Drug test compliance, legal logs, DOT safety inspections affecting your Carrier Safety Ratings which affect your insurance, and a whole host of potential issues. You will have to maintain a DOT satisfactory paper trail to cover your butt to make sure everyone regulatory is happy. Takes time. Time=Money.

Then, will he be running his own deal frieight-wise, responsible for getting his own loads and collecting his own payment, or will you be involved there? Reason is, if he does his own thing and folks start getting unhappy with him, they're your numbers, so they'll ultimately be unhappy with you. If, other the other hand, you're directly involved in those processes, it takes your time also. See above: Time=Money.

For illustrative purposes only: An operator under your authority, goes about his business. He runs outside the legal limits of the 11/14/70 rules. He has a bad logbook. He proceeds through a green light at a safe and otherwise legal speed/manner. As he's passing through the intersection, a carload of high school kids run the light, hit the truck, and suffer injury as a result of their running the redlight. You and your insurance company will be sued by the teens parents, you will lose, your insurance company will drop you like a bad habit. If you still have a truck at all, you will be unable to insure it, and you will be out of this business totally. And your driver, if in the wrong state at the time, will likely be in the State Penitentiary.

Grim picture, I know, but it's also a real possibility. SO, back to your original question: How can I justify 10%? I ask: How can you "not" justify 10%? In fact, were it to be me, I would check this person out through my insurance, maintain every legal arse covering thing I needed to maintain, and I would fire him instantly IF I caught him running outside the lines of the coloring book. Then, I would also be involved in the dispatching, payment collection, and every other detail of running that truck because essentially, and legally, you aren't just painting your numbers on his truck, YOU are buying his truck and his services. You're just choosing a different form, leasing instead of straight purchasing, of paying for them. How can you "not" justify 10%?

 

I don't know anyone that genuinely likes to see someone fail. Thing is though, you are not ultimately responsible for his success or failure unless you take him on.

As for, "if not you then someone else", assuming that responsibility based on that statement: That would be like seeing shoes on sale "buy one pair, get second pair free" and buying two pair of shoes you really don't need. Just because they were 50% off, in sum, doesn't mean they were a good deal....... unless of course you actually needed two identicle pair of shoes.

 

Thanks..... I think. LOL.

Afterthought: I'm not saying it's not a good idea. Personally, I like the idea of adding trucks. The point I'm trying to impress most is that it's worth more than 10% with proper involvement/management.

 

Capitalism is very palatable to me. "Take advantage of" is soviet talk, pharm. In America, its called "capitalizing on opportunity."


REally Great stuff, MilkMan.

 

I don't disagree, but consider it another way: Take the Bond Market for example. When you buy Bonds, you are loaning the maker of the bond money. You expect a certain rate of return on your investment/loan to the issuing company. This rate of return is calculated and based on the investment risk, i.e. the company's credit worthiness and financial position. A "triple A" bond pays less interest to you because the risk is less. A "single A" bond pays more because the risk is greater (kind of like a mortgage company sets rates but also inherently different). In buying the bond, you will first determine your "risk tolerance and expected return" for that risk. Only you can determine that. Thus, only you can determine what your risk is worth to you in leasing someone else on.

I hate cliches' for the most part, but it is true, one cannot reinvent the wheel. You can, however, change the tire that's on your wheel.