Giving up Authority

Give it up and do what? Lease on and lose 15 to 30% of the load?

Do some driving around in the pickup and find a customer to haul some for.

 

Losing on what percentage though? Hell, for playing best of both right now losing 30% off a direct load being leased on can net ya more than 20% on what a brokered load may pay... just saying...

 

That’s just my opinion and didn’t mean offense to anyone. I’ve never leased on so don’t have all of the data but it can’t be any better then being strategic on the spot market. Not to mention you should make far more during good times which in theory should offset things. I personally feel if I couldn’t make it as an independent then I’d have a really hard time justifying being in this business.

 

Leased on to a company with direct freight is the key, not a company that uses the boards.

 

Outstanding advice

 

Being an owner operator with your own authority is exactly what you make of it. Driving is the easy part. You have to be a good business person and make educated decisions for your company and the sake of your livelihood.

With the amount of time and money you have invested in yourself and your equipment don't take the easy route and give up. Do something different. Like @Midwest Trucker said, hop in your pickup and become a salesman for your business. Do the hard work and go out and get the work that you want. Go knock on doors and make phone calls to find the money you want to make. Quit chasing the load board freight.

The hardest part of owning a business is finding customers but if you put in a little bit of effort you can set yourself up to succeed. As a truck owner competing against every other truck out there you have to set yourself apart from the rest.

 

Nowhere is safe anymore.

It was only a matter of time.

 

The truth is all over. Contract freight may pay less than spot market, but may be more manageable. Booking last minute spot market loads work if you don’t have dedicated customers to serve in between. Some do well with dedicated lane via a 3pl or a customer. Either way you can go out of business if the math doesn’t add up. Some independents make more money by the last minute stuff in the Midwest than contract. All depends on how good you are at your style that you operate. I do brokered freight and customer. My minimum spot market long haul rate is 3 bucks a mile Reefer and 2.85 dryvan. That’s the bare bottom for certain lanes to take care of my customer. If I don’t retain my customer and go full spot market that minimum rate would be higher, as I wouldn’t have to be in a certain place and time and would be more dynamic. Hasn’t changed for over a year. Not getting rich but doing fine. Even if you do market only you can’t just rely on what you see. Have a good service relationship and you can price the quality. Folks are still paying a little extra for it. -Just not the bottom of the Barrel brokerages that have customers that couldn’t care less about quality.

 

Well I think a lot of Truth has been said here but I think it depends whether or not you want to have direct Freight. Some of us do not and part of the reason of being in this business is the flexibility of not having a steady customer.

In that case, when times are like this, it may work out better to be somewhere that they have an army of sales people and at least the piece that you're getting is a piece of 100%.

Everybody's situation is different and whatever you gotta do, you gotta do.

Everyone please be safe in your travels.