Costs involved in being an O/O?

The depreciation is on a truck I no longer own

 

I don't have things figured out for sure...since I just started about 2 months ago as an O/O.

What I do know is this...If I gross over $100,000 a year and net less than $40,000 I'm selling the truck and going back to company driving.

My best year of company driving was $45,000 NET and my worst was $25,000. I honestly just don't see the point of being and O/O and NETTING lower than my NET as a company driver. That's back tracking.

I will give it a while more but I better start seeing a huge improvement or I'll hang up as an O/O.

 

When you started driving 11 years ago... Didn't anyone tell you to give it a year to learn the industry?

It's the same way being an O/O. Sure, you know how to drive the truck. But now you have to learn the business end.

Since Jan 1st of this year I have created over $200,000.00 of revenue & $150,000.000 of that was to the truck.

 

Redd,you are soooo right,he has been at it two months ,and needs to work is customers,and brokers and get his circial to make his runs.......i have a friend who got into this 7 months ago.....his first mth $11,ooo gross, here it is 7 months later a bad mth is $16-18,000.......and thru this he has blown a turbo $3500,trailer tires,$3000 and just other general repairs! now heres the kicker.....he's been working off 3 load boards and no direct shippers. He gos out for 3 weeks comes in for 1 week and has kept the cycal.....i'm very proud of him..an to be honest he's not running that hard. he has to push it from time to time but other than that hes doing great...the trick to this is time and be willing to learn keep notes ,it dont happen over night ! he needs to give it a year,the moneys out there you just have to want to go get it

 

Yeah I understand. I am being patient. I don't have my own authority though. I was leased onto a local company and had to get away from them because of too many deductions and not enough miles/pay.

I'm about to start with Universal Am Can next week. I hope it works out better with them. I've heard good and bad. We shall soon see.

 

Well Dave...

Let me tell you..... No one has fought the battle I have in the O/O game. at least no one has admitted to it. I have fought a battle that has earned me respect from the old hands.... Driver's who have been out here 20-40 years running their own show.

when I started as an O/O a year & a half ago, I was at home. No job. No Money. No prospects. And collectors knocking at the door. I purchased my first truck (a 2001 Pete 379) with zero down. Payments were suppose to be $2100.00 a month for 60 months.

I knew I was getting ripped off from the get go. But what other choices does a begger have? Beggers can't be chooser's is what I was always told when growing up.

So I get this truck. Drive it home. I now still have no money. I have to find a trailer. I have to pay the 2290. I have to pay sales tax. I have to buy a tag. I have to get a headache rack, chains, straps, tarps.... You get the idea.

I went to go hook it up with a reefer company at first. I'm a flatbedder at heart, but with no equipment & no money to buy equipment.... I gotta go a different route.

Reefer company won't lease it on. Why? Because the truck isn't titled in Georgia. I guess GA has a law that saws that all trucks based out of GA has to be titled in GA. So I go to title it.... They wanted about $9,000.00 in sales tax. I ain't got that.

So now I'm back at home with a truck. A $2100.00 a month payment on that truck. and still no fricken money or a job. I called the dealer & told them to come get the truck. I can't pay the payment without work & I can't put it to work unless the sales tax is paid and the truck is titled.

Well you know how salesmen are....Lying cheats!! So we worked together. Paperwork was falsified & we got the truck titled in Tennessee...

That is when I called the carrier I'm leased to now. They can supply me with all my equipment if I gave them 50% up front & they will take the rest out of my settlements for a period of 30 days. They had a plate program, so that was covered. And a trailer lease program I can get into with no money down. That's great!! Now I only have to come up with the $550 for the 2290 & about 2 grand for my equipment.

I pawned my rifles, shotguns, pistols, & the title to my Jeep. I cashed in the jars of loose change around the house. Robbed my kids bank accounts. and then borrowed $1000.00 off my sister.

Within a few months I had my equipment paid off except for the truck & trailer. I had all my guns back. My kid's bank accounts got their money back. And my sister got her grand back.

That is when the #### really started to hit the fan! It started going down hill from there. The rest of my story is posted here on this site. Below is the link.

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...erything/114436-so-what-has-redd-been-up.html


So why am I bringing that old story up? I see your new here, so I'm sure you haven't seen it. Also to show you that things can get extremely bad in a big hurry! But if you have the ambition & will power, you can overcome hardships.

also, don't worry about netting an income. Everything I make goes to the truck. Granted, I pull out enough money to pay my bills at the house... But other then that it all goes to the truck. I'm doing that because if #### goes the way it went in the above linked story again, I'd be more prepared.

Moral of the story... I started with nothing. I was losing everything & was close to being suicidal watching everything I've worked hard for disappear quicker then I got it. I was losing everything already anyways, so I said F### it & went for broke! Sure, I got screwed in the beginning. But if I didn't allow myself to get screwed, I wouldn't be in the position I am now.

I'm still out here trucking in my own equipment! I don't see myself going back into a company position EVER!

 

Well I'm not in a bad situation. I am actually in a good one. It's just I don't want to get into a bad one. I'm trying to find my place as an O/O. I started with a local company and they lied to me from the start. They said I would average around 3000 to 4000 miles per week. My bring home after taxes would be around $1500 + a week and they would help me finance repairs if i needed them to.

To make a long story short I found out they lied about every thing except for financing repairs. They wanted to do that to keep u on the hook with them. Expecting me to stay there feeling I owed them something. Lucky for me I didn't take the bait. Anyway I'm gone from that crap company. I start Universal next week. I just hope I can make money there and not dig a hole for myself that I can't get out of.

Thanks for sharing your story. I hope to make it too.

 

Stay away from Universal,they have a short pencil and charge a whole lot of things back to the O/O that make no sense.They will FORGET to charge for escorts and permits then turn around and Tell the owner he now owes $1800.00 dollars because he was paid and they didnt deduct,it takes awhile to find out they paid $500.00 to you because it is buried in another settlement,Then the 500 turns into 1800 and they are grabbing money out of every settlement leaving you nothing.THEY ARE CROOKS!

 

thanks sixdogs. I won't be hauling flatbed loads for Universal. I know a lot of their loads are flatbed only though. They guy I talked to said that they have a lot of dry van loads and thats what I'll be doing. I just signed the paperwork today and will start on Monday or Tuesday.

We will see how it goes. If I can I will start a new post here and let everyone know how it works out. I don't know, but it sounds like you had a bad experience somehow. Your post doesn't really make much sense to me. I will soon see how they are. I just talked to a guy in Atlanta that was pulling a '53 dry van for Mason Dixon. He said he loved it there and had ZERO issues. He stressed the zero too. He said the pay was right for him everytime and his deposits hit the bank within 24 to 48 hours of dropping the load as long as the paperwork was right.

There was another guy on here that liked them as well. I've read some of his postings and he wasn't in great shape when he started there. I would think he would be pissed if he went there in bad shape and now he was in worse shape because of them.

Sorry but until i get proved wrong I will just have to disregard your comments.

 

It is amazing how fast some one will change his or her mind about being an o/o after seeing what is involved. I did for the time being. The though is just to over whelming.