Advise on new driver becoming owner operator driver , and jobs

Didn't think mine was negative. I knew what you were in for when you asked the question. It's the world we live in. People will try to tear you down because it makes them feel important and relevant. I told you to ignore the bullsh.t. That's what I meant.

 

Why would I be offended, I am doing very well right now.

You guys with your business degrees and such, lol. I don't have a business degree, I have two degrees, one in ME and one in EE. However what my advice to people with business degrees is this - don't assume that you know this industry because it has many more twists and turns and it IS NOT a one truck thing.

You have to do your homework before entering, and you have to come into it with an assumption that there is no normal here.

But I know what you are going to say, I heard it before from people who have business degrees and failed miserably.

One just this week when I handed the lawyer a check to buy their little 29 truck fleet, I thought about people who know more than I do because they are educated. He thought he knew more than I did, he boasted a while back when I met him that he was smarter than most but he ended up being upside down on the ledger and bleeding money. I looked at his company, everything I could find he was doing wrong or marginally wrong, he hired a bunch of family members and listened to them because they owned a truck once.

Yep I do get what you are saying but here is reality.

Those schools, no matter what they claim are there to get you passed a very simple test, the CDL road test. Once you have that CDL, then you have a license to learn the rest.

My underwriter said that when there is someone who has multiple schools in their records, it shows a problem of not being able to pass a simple test, and is a risk. This is a proven fact that the insurance industry have used to calculate rates for marginal drivers - not my idea.

Well I advise you that you should go to your family members and have them put you into a truck or lease your truck to their authority FIRST. Get miles before you attempt to go to another company or get your authority.

WHY?

Because if your being advised by them, then they should prove to you they know what they are talking about. TO me this is the best route to take to get miles, not attempt to lease onto a company to get miles.

Go for it, I think you need road experience before you bought the truck.

You are learning from an APP?

Get out and talk to people.

About the negativity, sorry dude, those here that are negative are telling it like it is, not conforming to some idiotic need to be positive and tell you what you want to hear.

Many of us - read this carefully - are not the types who like to see failure, we want to see people like you succeed and this means telling the truth, not sugar coating it and not calling others out for their negative comments.

This is a business, it is a mean business and it is where people with one or two trucks are up against people who have many more and can under cut them to the point that some will make stupid mistakes that cost them thousands and sometimes millions of dollars which is just the norm in this business.

I don't know if your family members or others talk to you about failure rates in this business but right now the number is climbing. The last that I read it is almost 90% for those under two years of operating. 90% means that one in ten get to move to three years, that's a huge number and ranks up there with the food service industry.

We have a glut of capacity which has edged downward by 1%, where it should have moved by 5% by now, and we have two slowing segments in the industry and another few that are going to be slowing - ripple effect.

This is the worst time to buy a truck and become an O/O.

 

No you don't need to work for a company to become an owner operator. Hope this answers your question!!! Have a great day!!

 

Mostly BS