How long will it be before Owner Operators get paid more?

Owner Ops will get paid more when we see company drivers get paid more. The wages have been going backwards for company guys for quite sometime and that puts presure on the Owner ops to lower their rates to get freight. If a company can put a load on a company truck and make more money than giving it to an owner op(especially one that's paid percentage) it will always go to the company truck.

Secondly. Lease operators are killling the owner ops. You're getting drivers that probably can't even mange to pay their rent on time running down the road as a "business man". At the end of the month when all payments have been made, the lease operator has less money than the company driver but it takes him a year to figure it out once his taxes are completed(why do you see so many threads in regards to "getting ripped off" in a lease/purchase plan?).
Owner operators were at one time the most cost effective way to move freight.........that has changed,the lease operator is the cheapest way to move it now. Lease operators are the future of trucking.....why else are all the big carriers pushing their recruites toward leasing a truck?

Thirdly. You talk of the feul surcharge and brokers not being able to "break it down".
What you need to understand is that the feul surcharge is total BS,that money should BE the rate. They say feul surchrage so you think that your getting paid for your added exspenses in the fluctuation of feuling the truck. Feul surcharge is just another way for companies to skim a little more money for themselves off of the rate.
Sound odd? look at it his way......if feul surcharge adequately covered the cost of feuling when the price of feul rises why does everyone start whinning and complaining about it? A rise in feul wouldn't be an issue,but it is. The surcharge doesn't cover ALL fluctuations in the price of feul. The feul surcharge should have eliminated this problem,but instead has become a game of "well,that surcharge covered the feul and that one didn't". Where does the money go? Into the pockets of the freight brokers and the companies at the owner ops exspense. A few pennies here and a few pennies there turns into thousands of dollars at years end.
The feul surcharge is nothing more than owner ops subsidising company profits.

Get rid of the feul surcharge and take the rates up,period. Base the rate on the highest average cost of feul over a ten year period and that is the cost of feul to run the truck. The cost of feul at the pump fluctuates far more in corelation to a barrel of oil,It's time drivers stop paying for that with people speculating on the cost of feul and "paying" a driver based on that.

 

W.C. Fields said " there's a sucker born every minute". That is the truth when it comes to trucking and the "fleece purchase" plans put out by companies. Just go back and review some the threads on TTR about them. Be that as it may until O/O's demand more pay and refuse to haul loads that don't pay enough brokers and trucking companies will continue to take advantage of that. Can you do something about it. Absolutely! Quit hauling it if it doesn't pay enough. I'm not sure anything can be done industry wide simply because everybody has different opinions on what's cheap freight. Take a guy who owns his own truck and trailer and they are both paid for. Free and clear. His cost are simply less per mile than someone with a $1500 a month truck payment. One can take a load that pays say $1.40 a mile and make money, the other can't. It's not rocket science. I heard this same b++++ in 1984 when I bought my first truck. The #### brokers and companies are makin a killin! Yep! Didn't take me long to figure out though that if I wanted to make money than I better haul loads that more than paid expenses. Still not rocket science. There's not much a lease purchase guy can do about it so long as the company controls the purse strings, but a true O/O can and #### well better. There's some people on the TTR that are making money and making good money. Would they like to see the rate go up Hell Yes. Who wouldn't, but they recognize they can't influence that soooo they deal with it and refuse to take loads that don't pay. Hell, it ain't complicated. As for the fuel surcharge being separated if the broker can't or won't tell you what the surcharge is-Run! I hauled flat rated loads but only because the rate was more than enough (in my opinion). I still asked what the FSC was and if they wouldn't tell me, guess what, find someone else to take the load. Truthfully, I never had a problem with it. Can you find out what the national FSC is? Yep. Don't know the link, but the Energy Dpeartment puts it out every Tuesday AM at 10:00 ET or they used to. I used a broker that had it on his website so I could find out what it should be. Personally, I think a little less whining and lot more effort is needed. JMO

 

When Fuel surcharges were first implimented they were supposed to help off-set the fluctuations in fuel prices. In theory this is a good idea except they are always a week or more behind what the truck operator is currently paying for fuel. At first the fuel surcharge was "in addition to" the rate. Now,for the most part, it's part of the rate.
I'll explain what I mean: First for the sake of arguement lets assume that your truck gets 5 mpg. (all figures are for comparison only)
A few years ago you hauled a load from point a to b (500 miles) for XYZ company for a rate of $1000 plus fuel surcharge of $150. Fuel was costing you $2.50 a gallon. Since your getting 5 mpg it takes you 100 gals or $250 for fuel. So your net after fuel is $950. ($100 rate + $150 f/s - $250 fuel cost).

A week later you haul the same load for the same amount but fuel has now gone up to $2.65 per gal. Now remember the "National Average" for F/S is based on is from the previous fuel prices. So you just made $15 less on the same load then the week before. This may not sound like much but over the years brokers and shippers have use this to their advantage to get a "cheaper" rate by increasing the F/S at a slower rate than the rate fuel has increased.

That brings us to the latest trend I have noticed with rates, that is the F/S is now included in the rate.

That same load now pays $1200 including F/S. The shippers and brokers are now protected by fluctuating fuel prices all together, they now adjust the suppossive F/S in that rate. Lets say you hauled that same load when fuel was $3 a gal. The rate would now be a line haul rate of $1000+ $200 F/S for a total of $1200. For a net after fuel of $ $900. The next time you haul this load fuel is $3.50 per gal. Now the new rate is $950 line haul + $250 F/S for a total of $1200. For a net after fuel of $850.

So is The current Fuel Surcharge really off-setting your fuel cost?

When you crunch the numbers for an O/O leased to a carrier that only pays a percentage of the gross, the numbers look even worst.

I hope I have explained it clearly enough of how fuel prices are slowly cutting into a truck owners revenue.

 

"How long will it be before Owner Operators get paid more? "


This is easy, Supply and Demand. The broker is paying to get a load from A to B and he doesn't care who owns the truck or the name on the side. It could be Swift or an O/O, he doesn't care.
I worked for a company that made a killing on the 'out' load and hauled anything to pay for the diesel on the load back home. That type of thinking also keeps the rates low.

 

Neither W C Fields nor P T barnum said..........

there's a sucker born every minute !!!!!

 

My rates are going up, i do not believe in a fuel surcharge. I give a rate or accept a rate based on my costs and what i need to operate at a profit. When fuel go's up $.25 cents my rates go up $25 dollars and in the end i make out better this way. I do not run farther than 500 miles so on most of my runs i'am makeing more buy doing it this way. And i've had very few companys not pay so i just dont haul for them untill the rate gos up. The fuel surcharge is just like tarping they lower the rate then add the $50 to tarp and guys think there makeing out great when in reality there doing worst.

 

For two years I ran getting FS on every mile, like many of the people here that are leased onto companies. I loved it when fuel went up because I made more money. Then, FSC was based on 6 MPG and rated at $1.25 per gallon. I had weeks that my per gal after FSC was $.90 because how I ran my business.

But we have so many supper truckers with their hoods, running 70MPH+, ideling all the time and then complain about the rates not keeping up with FSC.

Now as far as rates not keeping up with the fuel prices. While many of my loads don't break it out, I track the rates on every load. So when I get the call to pull the same load and they offer me the same rate I can give the broker facts. And we all know if they are calling you, you are in a better position.

So if your are getting left behind and making less money, slow down, stop ideling and stop thinking of your truck as a status symbol. It is a tool. And Pros get the best tools to do the job AND MAKE A PROFIT.

 

Amen Brother!!!

 

This a cliche that knowledgable O.O's won't recite. "Super trucker".

I want to be comfortable in my equipment(afterall it is my home) and I want reliable equipment and that usually means a truck no older than 5 yrs. I usually look for a truck that will hold some type of resale value on trade in. Yeah,that usually means some chrome,chrome doesn't fade. I run 18 speed 600 hp motor,yeah it's big. But the feul economy isn't all that bad,it's pretty much the same as others. I can sell/trade that truck for a good buck. It can be sold to a guy running steel or gravel. The more people that can use that truck for a specific job the more its worth,so,sometimes going "big" means a better resale in the end. A little 9speed 450 isn't good for much but hauling auto parts. Not really a big market for that lately. When you see a "super trucker" climbing out of his rig,there's usually more than meets the eye there. I need to make enough money to pay myself a living wage and put money aside for repairs and a newer truck once mine has reached the end of its service life.

O.O's were the first people to put Webastos on trucks,not the companies.
EVERY O.O understands that the consumption of feul is directly tied to profits. So, to come on here and tell us to "slow down" and "stop idling" pretty much says how much you know,BUT,Thanks for the tip.

I just don't need to go from point A to B......I also have to go to C which would be my backhaul. The feul to get to the backhaul will come from the previous runs profits. That can get pricy,I need to be able to build that "cost" into the run. Unfortunatley I am eating that cost right now because "pros" like you feel that by running "lesser" equipment that costs can/should be absorbed by the O.O. By your philosophy,some day we will all be running hand me down Swift trucks to make a buck. A race to the bottom,thanks.
You want to work with tools you bought at the dollar store,fine......try reselling them down the road. I prefer quality equipment that I can sell when I need newer equipment

Here's a tip for you.........When you see a chromed out truck in the left lane it most likely is a COMPANY truck. Since the price of feul shot up most O.O's stay in the right lane.