Getting Accounts & Creating Routes

I have tried to contact shippers direct but I get a lot of send us your rates and capacity , I don't think some of the big places will mess with a one truck operator

 

"In fact, the next two years are up in the air for new owner/operators." I disagree with this idea, it doesn't matter what time you enter, it matters how you do it and what you prepare for financially.

 

I would love to see the thread thriving.

 

Asking for a rate, and cutting it is no way to do business. In the end it hurts everyone as the under bidding just continues. Bid a contract off your Independent figures at what you need to be profitable.

The ones that are most successful in this business are never the cheapest however they offer a nessacary service that particular customer needs or wants.

 

Ahhh. Another I can cut the rate and still make money. He may be asking questions but I think I can already see where this is going. In my math, something from nothing leaves a negative number. I have no problem riding empty if there isn’t enough money in it. It is hard to do as first but as you grow to realize leaving the cheap crap there is the right thing to do, it gets very easy to say too cheap. It’s not for me. To be open I will post this here as I was going to do it elsewhere anyway. I am empty at about 55% of the time. I did $2.42 for the year 2017 to the truck with 5 months of 2017 at a crappy place to get the better job I now have. In 7 months of 2017 I paid off $11,000 in debt created over the previous 18 months at the crap job.

 

^^^^^^ Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Best sentence is: You are also shooting everybody else.

 

I would not want to cut the rate but you could contact the shipper direct later on and try to become a carrier with them instead of going through a broker.
I think a lot of the contracts between you and a broker usally state you cannot discuss the rate with the shipper or the deal is off and they withhold the pay,I don't know if that would hold up in a civil case.

 

In my opinion as a “new” o/o. ie: starting up on your own authority, i would not look to loadboards. How i feel you should go about it is, find your work 1st. Go out pound the pavement so to speak. Talk with some local businesses, get something concrete in place. Once you have a good chunk of the week/month/year booked up, then begin the process of filling for your dot/mc #’s.

It can be done, it helps to be a local...seriously it does. People are more willing to help out a local guy. I myself started this way, and am friends with 5 other o/o’s who did the same