Can a one man operation really compete with the bigs

I was dead set on getting my own authority, but then I really started to think. Can a one truck Owner operator really compete will the bigs?
Is it worth getting authority for one truck?
What negotiating power can a one truck operator really have? In terms of dealing with brokers and contracts
The way I see it, the more trucks and trailers you have the more negotiating power
With all the expense/ headache that comes with your own authority, is it worth it?

Why not lease on to Good company like Landstar, Mercer Etc.

 

I think you are asking the wrong question. Why would you want to compete with the big companies?

 

as a one truck show, you have things to offer that a mega carrier can't do.

Namely, when they talk to the driver, they talk to the man in charge. Where the one who makes ALL the decisions is.

There is no getting around it.

There is a level of service, dedication and professionalism that is an O/O.

You don't get that with a mega carrier.

Apples and oranges.

 

If you try to compete with the big companies you are going to get big company pay, if you sell your services, deliver on time, treat everyone with professionalism, the broker, shipper, and receiver you will get a premium to haul those loads for them. You will stand out and be rewarded for it.

 

Because the own you. You aren't free to chase a better rate and they know it. You are undercutting all the other lease ops for the scraps they throw your way.

Here is my take, FWIW. I think those bigger companies have alot of service failures. I'm not big. I only have three trucks but I have three double drops, three 53' low deck steps, two 48' steps and a 48' step deck curtainside. Actually, I have two and a half trucks because I drive the 3rd one and I spent most of my time dispatching. Anyway, I seem to have several brokers that call me. I think they call because I don't chase freight all over the place. I stay close to home and am therefore usually available at the last minute. As time has gone by, I've done more and more "semi" oversized stuff and my rates climb accordingly.

I think this is all because people seem to have more money than brains. Many times the shipper will get themselves into a position where they are behind schedule and they need a double drop yesterday to deliver to a crane appointment ASAP. There just aren't that many trucks around that can be trusted to pull that move off. They often don't have a choice but to pay me to DH 600 miles.

As an example, this week someone called to see if I had a 53' DD available. I did, so we did the job that one SD + one 48' DD was supposed to do. Imagine how much easier it was for that broker to book one truck, that was already empty and schedule a crane for that one truck instead of trying to coordinate a SD and a DD to deliver at the same time. Now consider he is also working on probably 10 other loads at the same time. You may as well say I was his only option. Now, taking this to the next step, that broker knows that I have 3 of these trailers and he can cover 6 of these loads with one phone call and only have to pay 3 trucks to do it. I will get that call every time.

Chiseling $1,000 out of the truck is NOTHING compared delaying a multi million dollar construction project and pi$$ing off a customer.

So yeah you can compete in a market where reliability and availability is key.....if you are reliable and available.

 

'When is absolutely HAS to be there......................... yesterday".

The O/O creed.

 

You have the same amount of years of trucking like i do. I droved over the road but mostly Florida like right now. If you understand and know the Brokers and the hot zones where you can get loaded on back loads, then there is nothing to worry about. With your own Authority, you will be Audited, lots of responsability. Basically if you know the right People, Brokers, it's worth it! As long that the truck is moving freight back and forth. Otherwise, i wouldn't do it!

 

Do yourself a favor. If you know the business. And are willing to do LTL. Then get your own authority. Then theres no need to compete with big carriers. Most of their drivers bump a dock and go to sleep.If you want to be tied to a company making your decisions for you then be my guest and lease on. I get 200 more a load on average for my backhauls. Just because I can overnight it. Mega carriers can't. Do the math. mega carriers you average what. 1.60 a mile? After all your miles for the year? Maybe a tad more? I did a heck of a lot better than that and was home twice a week.

 

The mega's compete with each other over high-volume, low profit margin freight. You can't compete with them on that.

I recently did some work for two weeks for one of the mega's. They have great systems in place to track and schedule shipments, but the data passes through so many hands... 4 out of every 5 loads I hauled was messed up in one form or another. They have layers upon layers of incompetent and overworked people handling everything, and that doesn't even count all the people on the shippers and recievers end. But it's the whole birds of a feather thing. I think big shippers like dealing with the mega's, not because they don't screw up, they screw up often and big, but because they have the handling of screwup's all worked out in advance. A lot of time their screw up's create loads that have to move with no truck to cover it, that's where us turkey vulture O/O's can make some money.

 

See that all the time.