do you O/O's seemed to get more trouble from State Police on stops

Just curious about doing a lease own, O/O sit? Does anyone have a view about potential harassment from the 50. Most big carriers have things really tight and the law of averages of finding DOT infractions is likely lower VS the O/O average.
What are y'all thoughts?

 

Not at all, most owner ops I have met have a tremendous amount of pride and respect in what they are doing, having a vested interest in doing things correct. You will find most will have the trash picked up, everything in its place, if it is a lazy one they will not be in business very long.

 

A driver with "skin in the game" is going to take better care of his equipment than a driver who views the truck as highly replaceable...most of the time. O/O lets his truck go to pot and he's out of business.

 

I dont know when I worked for a Mega and did drop and hooks all the time the stuff I would find when I would go to pick up a loaded trailer or empty was unreal. Bald tires, broken missing lights, busted brake chamber, missing door hinge. The list goes on and on... Fast forward to now being a Owner Operator with MY truck and trailer I don't have those worries. Keep my equipment in top notch conditions.

 

I was taught a long time ago to take care of my tools and they will take care of me, with a company driver some are just in it for the adventure? Want to see the country and live the life of a trucker in all those old movies. In reality it is a way different world out here in real life, not much glamour and a whole lot of danger anymore. If pissing off a police officer is your thing, let me stand back, if you treat the officer with respect they are mostly really nice people and have no reason to treat you any different.

 

The truck I use the most is 27 years old, never been restored just well cared for. When you hand them a log book that's neat and squared away with any receipts stapled to corresponding page along with a permit binder with everything in order through the open door of a clean cab they get pretty uninterested in digging. Good rubber knee deep shoes and a motor/undercarriage that's clean says there really is no reason to get under this guy's truck. I been picked more in the last 3 months than the last 3 years put togather. None of them make a big deal of it

 

Agreed with all so far -

I’ll spend $$ on brakes and tires before a chrome bumper - and,

In most cases a good attitude regardless of the officers behavior will serve you well.

3 inspections in 3 years O/O and all clean.

 

Nope. I also maintain my equipment and keep it clean.

 

Nah, I can show you a level 1 clean in Florida when I was leased to landstar.

 

The megas seem to get pulled in a lot. The company may or may not have it together, I suspect most of them do not, but most of the drivers wouldn't know a proper pretrip from pissing on the tire.

OOs probably depend on how the truck looks. A guy with a taped together bumper, missing one hood mirror, with no steps on the passenger side of the truck because they've been torn off in an accident is probably going to have a more thorough inspection than the guy who has his stuff together. Not necessarily nice and clean and shiny, but looks to be in good condition.