Best owner operator job

I hauled the transformers but never the oil.

 

Yea and go out and wipe the dust off you truck twice a week

 

Well everyone got all the great funny answers before I got here so I'll try reality. Not as much fun but possibly more informative. It is almost impossible to answer this question though. First I'm no expert but I have been doing weeks of research since my OTR sickness has flared up again and I have never been a company driver.

It would pay well enough to pay for your truck and operations, allow you to put money in your reserve fund, pay youself more than a company driver and offer a return on your investment better than other investment options. Problem is in the present economy the chances of this are marginal. It would be something you enjoy or at least don't dread.

Are you talking about a lease(fleece)/purchase? Are you talking about purchasing or leasing a truck and then leasing on with a company? Are you talking about buying a truck and trailer and getting your own authority? How much do you have to throw away, I mean invest? What kind of trailer do you plan to pull? What kind of experience do you have? What kind of business experience do you have? What freight lanes do you want to run? Are you willing to run lanes that pay even if they don't take you through the house? How often do you want to be home? How many miles do plan to run a week? Are you willing to scrap all those wants to make this work?

As you can see it will be hard to answer your question without more info. Honestly that is why you got all the answers you got. I think flatbed freight pays the best and dry van pays the worst with reefer in the middle. I think at peak times some reefer freight pays as well as flatbed but it has been many years since I ran reefer. I know nothing about tanks. I don't think grain and hay will support a truck (of any value) year round.

Now I like to close the doors and ride. I don't mind waiting as long as I have paper logs because I can make it work and I will sleep or do paperwork. I'm not going to load and unload and they are going to pay lumper fees or find someone else to haul it. As long as I don't have a computer starting my clock I can make anything work. Don't get me wrong I won't drive too many hours but I don't want the 14 hour clock starting till I'm ready to drive.

I tell you all this so you can see why I think what I think is best. For me it would be my own authority running a reefer. I can keep it rolling for several weeks before hometime and I can make the money for driving, running the business, finding the loads and all aspects of the operation. The reefer will get me more miles and money than the van. Where I live there is a good chance I can pass through the house on many runs. It is possible I can pass through the house twice a week. I did this years ago.

Now if you go this route you have to buy CA compliant equipment and that is a pain in the ###. This makes a flatbed running the Midwest, Southeast and some closer Northeast look good. Too bad van freight is so cheap. Enough rambling from me.

 

Dust??? I'm gonna park mine in the front yard and let the little lady turn it into a flower planter

 

It may have been that way in the past, but not any more. I have seen and spoke with way too many guys running truck with a headache rack pulling a dry van. I asked them why the switch and they said flatbed rates went to crap??? I don't know personally becuase I haven't touched a flat in over 5yrs, but seems that way.

I can consistently get loads doing van over $2 a mile and that is pulling someone else's trailer (Schneider) so i don't have all the overhead cost. Most loads are all under 20k lbs as well.

Reefer I think is the worst gig out there. I did that too for a short while, and EVERY load was to the max, grossing 80k everytime, and the waits at the grocery warehouses and cold storage facilities (8-14hrs) was a nightmare!!!!!

 

I too saw guys that normally pulled flats pulling a van or reefer during this past winter but they are all back to flats.

And will second SHC on reefer side of the biz. In '05 it seemed that you could get a good rate on reefer loads. Now they pay maybe slightly more than a van unless you can hit certain markets. And I am thinking that the market is saturated with reefer business. Companies that did no reefer business are now in it.

Then you have a lot of units that can't be run in CA on the market cheap.

For me, by the end of this year I will have a van, hooper and flat. Will work the hooper during harvest and follow the harvest as much as possible to get the great rates paid ($500-$600 per day last year on 100 miles), run the flat most of the time and when weather or availabilty dictates pull my van.

I am thinking on a good year I can afford 6-weeks off while still being home most weekends. 8 would be better.

 

lol, van rates are better than flats. overall, flatbed rates are consistently higher than vans. while you may get a good rate going in, the van rate will fall completely on its head coming out of a good many areas. you may get 2.00 going in and 1.15 out , a flatbed as a general rule will not vary that greatly, the drawback to many with flatbed is the extra work involved, such as houston last friday tarping a load when it was 103.

while there may be many loads on say the schneider load board that pay $2 a mile , i have many on mine that pay 3 to 4 dollars a mile. the short runs will pay that or more example 2 weeks ago williamport, md to queens , ny 300 miles paid 1700 dollars 11,000 pounds no tarp with 15 miles deadhead to get it and deadheaded 68 miles to load a 2.54 load to newport news ,va , 35,000 no tarp reloaded in newport news to clarksville, tn 2.07 a mile 15,000 pounds tarp, dead 3 miles to trane in clarksville and load to houston 10,000 pound no tarp 2.11 a mile. point being a 2 dollar a mile load aint worth much if the reload is 200 miles away at 1.20 and the 1.20 loaded miles are longer than the 2 a mile load was.

its all in how you conduct your business , i currently avg 1.80 cents a mile for every mile i put on my truck, thats actual speedometer miles , not miles the load pays. which is the mistake some also make, a 2.00 a mile schneider load isnt based on the actual miles the truck will drive, nor are my loads with mercer. thats where the planning comes in.

when i look at a 200 mile deadhead, i dont look at it as 35 gallons of fuel at 4.00 a mile, thus costing me 140.00. i see it as a 340.00 move 200 miles at 1.70 a mile ( 1.70 is my target for all miles on truck) because i still have the wear and tear and a driver to pay( me of course, i get paid for loaded and empty miles).

see when i look a load that pays 500 miles and pays 2.00 a mile with a 100 mile deadhead, i dont see a 2.00 a mile load i see a 1.66 a mile load , which is really what it is.

understand the difference ??

 

The best O/O job is one where I drive my 2012 Pete from the house to the yard every day and my 900 other tractors are driven by some other drivers making 25c per mile. I would like to try being that rich bast@rd slum dog company owner for a while.

 

Who said van is better than flats rates? Only thing I have heard is that this last winter is that flat loads dried up for a while.

 

I am with ya, except I am going to drive my 2012 BMW to the yard and make sure the shop guys aren't taking more than the required 15 min break by checking the time on my white gold Rolex.