Getting authority......

Without stepping on anyones toes, or contradicting the advice that I believe to be as good as he could get anywhere, the original poster on this thread has not logged into the site since October of last year. So, based on that, while it is good general info, for the most part we are talking here to hear ourselves talk.

My personal views are that getting authority is a huge step, and unless you have a pretty good handle on where you will find a customer base that will pay you rates somwehere above what the average guy is running for, then getting your own authority to run one truck is not going to pan out. There is no justification that I can see for putting yourself at risk of non payment or bad brokering, or any of the other risks that are taken with your own authority.

In the case of Landstar, what they mainly provide is a form of in house brokerage, and a form of a factoring service that allows you to have many of the bennies of your own authority without some of the risks included. Obviously, they are not for everyone, but for many people they are an intermediate step along the way, somewhere between being a leased operator and being out fully on your own.

If you can find a niche market, and get higher than average rates, and control your costs, then a good lease is an easy way to get started. The real problem is that there are plenty of programs that offer not so good leases. I have long believed that you have to specialize and work in some kind of a niche area to be successful, and additionally you have to be where the freight is and will be if you want to be an O/O of any kind. You simply can't afford to drive a truck up and down the highways or 85 cents and a fuel surcharge any more. My 02.

 

VERY well said. Finding a better niche or rates is easier with a smaller carrier that have their own customer base rather than with a large carrier with a lot of other O/Os such as LS. That was my 02. So now we have 04.Ill let someone else throw in another penny,LOL.

 

First read my post on here http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...13608-so-you-want-own-your-own.html?styleid=6
That post will give you some place to start. I am in the process of writing a very detailed acounting of how to do the things that you want