A passing observation on Information.......

I wouldn't worry about O/O's not being busy, I'm sure they have more freight than they can handle right now. With soaring costs, I can't imagine why anyone would even want to do that anymore. Facts are facts. On a recent check on CL, 75% of the 150 postings were for OTR. Over half of that 75% were for O/O's. Check a truck paper, it's the size of a L.A. phone book, full of O/O's pulling the plug. I sold my truck 20 years ago, when fuel went above $1.49/gal. At that point I deemed it unprofitable to continue to run. Oh sure, you'll hear O/O's chime in that they are making good money, and that is probably true in some cases, but generally, there's better gigs out there for truck drivers.

 

It's funny how people who ask "should I become an o/o?" get angry and accuse everyone of discouraging them by pointing out flaws and shortcomings. The truth is people are trying to help them. You can either listen to someone whoknows or you can learn the hard way. Usually people asking this question have some red flags in their posts. Clues to the huge mistake they are about to make that caused many thousands before them to fail. Some people overcome their failures that is true. It takes money. Common theme for most newbs is they are broke already.

 

Competition? If you're driving a truck, you're competition. There's plenty of freight for the smart ones to make a good living. So tell us your business plan. You have one right? Anyone that has posted their plan at TTR has gotten plenty of feedback and criticism on how to make it better. There are multiples of drivers that simply say, I've always wanted to be an o/o which means, in reality, I want a shiny truck that goes fast. They buy a truck and lease onto some mega and go broke at $1.40 with fuel.

As with any business proposition, show me the numbers. Being a successful o/o is more about business skills than maneuvering a truck. If the numbers barely work on paper, they dang sure aren't going to work in real life. I can go make 80-100k a year driving a Walmart truck. If I can't NET that being an o/o, the risk vs reward is just not there.

Let's get to another subject of the typical wannabe post. I don't have any money and crappy credit. So let me get this straight, you want to start a high expense, low margin business and have no capital. Hmmmm. You have terrible credit as well, because you can't manage your money. Since you have no capital, you haven't taken personal responsibility for your situation yet and cleaned it up. I had terrible credit at one time due to an illness when I was 21. I overcame that problem with cash by scrimping and saving.

Getting back to how you're going to make money. I always said I'd never be an o/o, the financials don't add up. Then I got my second trucking job, which was with a 150 truck regional operation. Their o/o were averaging $1.25 a mile when most of the megas were paying .86-.92, so I thought about. One night on the bulletin board, a lady was selling her 10 year old cabover. Cabover resale prices were at absolute rock bottom and I got the truck for $4,000. There was very little risk as the truck always passed inspection previously, I had very few bills, and if it blew up the next day, I could jump in a company truck again, scrap the truck and get half my money back from the salvage yard. I ran that truck for a year, then bought another truck that was already leased on for $8000 cash, sold my cabover for $4000 to a friend and kept trucking. The Western Star in my picture is the first truck I ever financed, which was 9 years ago. Sure it's old and tired now as it was 5 yo when I bought it,but it still does the job and makes the same money a brand new one does.

I know this is long, but a snarky post like the op's deserves it. If you have responsibilities, like kids, need to provide insurance etc, get a great paying company job like Wally. If the risk vs reward is there, and you have few responsibilities or you have the cash to overcome any issues, buy a truck. Either way, moving from Miami will be your best bet to see better money . I moved to PA from Orlando to get a better job, and moved back when I figured out how to make money outside of the Northeast. I'd easily make double what I make in FL if I still lived in PA.

 

Sure. Heck, go be an O/O. It's easy. Is that better? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

I was talking with a friend this morning about something important, an excellent man, a transportation professional. Something we agreed we don't hear enough about is simply mechanical aptitude. Trucks work hard, and it seems like there's always something to fix, straighten, tighten up, tires to monitor and maintain, lights to repair in less than ideal conditions, a long list of small things that can be quickly remedied. That is, if the driver has a few tools, a little mechanical aptitude and background experience at repairing things, and especially if that driver has the will to do it him/herself and not wait for Road Service. I don't know why we don't hear more about it, unless I'm on a cloud by myself?

 

i agree, its got to be hard for people to make a profit that run every burned out light and squeaky screw to the shop for repairs.

there is a lot more to being a o/o than most realize before they actually are there. back when i bought my truck i had a 100k a year company driver job, and i thought i had it all figured out went out and got the truck, then quickly realized i knew way less than i thought i did. then i kinda had to take a step back for a second and took it a little slow then after quite a few months i started getting stuff in order and started picking up some loads, enough to pay most the cost of just owning a truck but was in fact still loosing money. luckily i had a very good paying company driver job while i figured everything out so i didn't have to be in a huge hurry to get the wheels turning. then once i finally dove off the diving board head first, i lost a few hairs on the top of my head but made it all work first year actually turned less of a profit than what i made as a company driver the year before. but i still did well.

i learned a lot and continue to learn even more as i go along. many here know way more than i know. but I'm hear to tell you a lot of people just assume there is way more money to be made as a o/o than a company driver, right out the gate. this is not the case, it is in fact a lot easier to go broke as a o/o than it is to make even a company driver wage. even harder yet to turn the big profits, you really have to have some know how, smarts and the right attitude to succeed. I think most are not here to try to mislead or misdirect anyone to try to make more for themselves. yes some little honey holes and places to get great paying loads are best kept to yourself. so if your asking where to get the best paying loads your not likely to get a phone number to someones best contact. but in general we are all in the same boat and willing to help the next guy with the best advice we can give, even if that advice is your not ready to buy a truck yet in your situation.

 

I'm not threatened by an O/O that can do math and has a head for business, especially one whom understands how to estimate total costs.

The one's I like to scare away are those who don't have a clue and are just fixated on that big gross revenue number. It is really a meaningless number, without considering all costs.

Also, many don't understand or prepare for cash flow concerns. You might make X amount profit over a 5 yr business cycle. But are you prepared to make a negative amount your first year or maybe even your second?

Also, know your profit is not the same week to week. So you must be disciplined to budget and save a healthy reserve. If your personal finances are a mess, becoming an O/O is not going to save you.

These desperate or ignorant ones are the ones that hurt the guys who know their numbers. They underestimate their costs or don't save in reserve enough operating capital. They get pinched out by a cash flow crunch, or slowly bleed themselves dry by underestimating long-term costs not yet realized, or take on too much debt and all in all just haul for any rate "to keep them moving". They are running with that big snowball right behind them, until they trip. That's it.

 

Right on! Especially about Florida. I live in FL, but you rarely see me at home when the rates and volume are high up North in Summer. Florida weather sucks in Summer anyway. I guess you could call me a snowbird trucker!

I bought my truck from a broke o/o who lived in southern Florida. Know why he was broke? Because he was trying to be a family man in Florida and an o/o too. He refused to compromise on either one, FL vs O/O. So finally the numbers caught up to him and he got a local gas hauling job. Sold me his truck.

If any of you want to be home in Miami every weekend, well, good luck with making any money at that. Just look at all the junk trucks out here with Miami, Hialeah, Ft. Lauderdale, etc. on their doors.

 

Kevin Rutherford, far from it. Did I try to sell anyone anything? Did I tell you that you can't make any money unless you're getting 9 mpg?
My post was written in general to the typical I wanna buy a truck threads that are started here, just like your post was written in general about the negative responses most of them receive. I do not know your situation, other than you live in Miami. I don't believe I was sarcastic at all, maybe you read it wrong. One of my main goals in sharing information at TTR is to help drivers make better, more informed choices. I LOVE to hear success stories. I WILL always caution, even dissuade a driver from becoming an o/o without any capital or bad credit, a business plan, etc.
As far as ignorance goes, yes you are ignorant. That isn't a bad word. Ask almost any o/o, successful or not, if they were ignorant to the scope of being an o/o when they bought their truck, and the honest ones will say yes. There is no way for you to know everything you're getting into. That's OK, because it happens to everyone. If you understand your ignorance and make it a point to learn as much as you can, you'll do well. I wish TTR was around went through the transition from company driver to O/O. It would have saved me from making quite a few mistakes.
It's great that you have a good work ethic, I've worked my entire life as well. You'll need that drive to succeed in this business.
You seem to not like my opinion, especially on Miami. Well, it's the truth, and if the truth hurts, sorry. I live in FL too, and I know what I'm talking about. You can be local and pull cans out of the ports, but waiting in line, idling your truck will be most of what you do all day for pennies. You can literally spend 3 hours at Maersk to get a can put on or taken off on a normal day. Port Everglades at FIT is just as bad. So cans suck down there, there are some decent places like Tropical in WPB, Seaboard in Miami, or Crowley in PE, but they still have wait times. You can run OTR, but if you think you're going to come home every week and make any money, that's wrong as well. Of course, don't believe the guy that's been an o/o in FL for 10 years. When I pulled van, and it wasn't watermelon or nursery season, I used to fly home from Baltimore as I made a lot more money staying in the freight lanes up there. You can do OK if you stay out two to three weeks in general, and just look for the right inbound opportunity. Or, you can move north, and be home every day, week, whatever and make a lot more money. I know it's NOT what you want to hear, but it's the truth. You took my generalized post way too personal, which makes me think it home more than you want to admit. Good luck in your future endeavors.