How did you get there from here?

AND get a feel for where/when the freight is paying and when it slows ... and then try to figure out how to tic-tac-toe it all together so when you are on your own you can really capitalize! The only thing about % is some companies will put the premium paying loads on the company trucks - bottom line - never stop learning!

 

You make an excellent point. Best to lease on with a company that only serves O/O's and doesn't have company drivers.

 

Thankyou for your pearls of wisdom as they are valuable. To me the reason for me to own is the reasoning of I decide when that key is to be turned. The company cant tell me that they want to short my off duty hours because that is their truck.

I do like to work. Down time is nice, yet working is better.

 

Remember that thread where that guy recorded his dispatcher threatening him with his job? What's interesting is how the forum members were split in opinions as to whether he was a slacker or not. Why? Some of us have never had a discussion like that with a dispatcher.

"Never?"

Never. Most drivers hate my dispatcher. They say she's extremely pushy. I like her. Pushy means she beats the bushes looking for loads. I had the opposite problem when I was a company driver. She was trying to get me to slow down. My company tried to limit company drivers to 13000 miles a month. Any more than that, and safety would suspend us. I was in Oklahoma City, just got delivered on a Thursday. They give me a load picking up in Ft Worth on Friday and delivering on Monday in Vermillion,SD. I called the shipper, and the shipper told me the load was ready. Told dispatcher that I was going to pick up the load on Thursday and deliver Friday. She panicked and told me that Safety was watching me, because of my high miles. I asked her if she wanted me to stop (I'm a two speed driver GO and STOP, full throttle or nothing at all). She was silent. I asked her again, "Sweetheart, do you want me to stop?" She said,"Well, no...". "Find me a load for the weekend."

Needless to say, Safety pitched a fit. I got routed up to HQ, and she and I had to meet with Safety. I had a 65 mph truck. They accused me of compressing my logs. They told me that I could not average 65 mph on my logbook in a 65 mph truck. I told them to check their Qualcomm. Sure enough, I was not compressing my logs, and I actually could average 65.4 for 11 hours. A Safetyman told me that was not possible. My logs match your Qualcomm, don't talk to me about what's not possible, amigo.

They suspended me for 5 days. The first time, I was extremely pissed off. After that, I was not satisfied until I got suspended. We got audited by DOT. OF COURSE, I caught their eye.

HERE'S THE POINT: Everything that you do, but don't want to do as a company driver, you're going to have to do as an owner op. The main difference is NOW, everything is negotiable. I don't run nowhere as many miles as I used to. I can still run balls to the wall all day, but only if your pockets are deep enough.

10 hour break? That's when you get everything else that's involved with trucking done. Maintenance, laundry, paperwork, booking loads, showers and eating. Televisions is for company drivers. You know that time you spend waiting at shippers and receivers? Better catch a nap when you can, because when it's time to drive, you'd better be ready to put down the miles.

"When do you go home?"

When the money slows down. Had a buddy that had a saying, "Ever been to a strip club? When they're throwing money at you, keep your arse onstage". If you have $10 grand hit the bank one week, $8 grand the next two weeks, do you go home on the 4th week for your scheduled "hometime"? If your peak months are May-August, and your slow months are November-January, why are you you taking 3 weeks off in peak season? If the peak days at the strip club are Friday-Sunday, do you expect see the hot girl (every club has one...she makes more money on Friday night than the average girl makes all week) working Monday afternoon?

"But what if her friends are all getting together to see a movie on Friday night?

Hmmm, tough choice. $5000 or watch a movie. I would opt for the Sunday matinee. Give me the $5grand.