How much does a owner operator with his own authority expects to make?

heres the deal, for the 20 to 25 percent everyone loves to talk about that the carrier keeps. the carrier furnishes cargo and liability, paid without quickpay or factoring, in my case loads I don't have to beat the bushes for, discounts on fuel ( example today along I-95 the discounts range from .85 to 1.05 a gallon off the pump price, they keep track of logs, they do the drug test consortium deal, and on and on.

fact is to be realistic , even with your own authority , you are not keeping the bulk of that 25 per cent you talk about should be against the law.

and like someone said my 75 per cent may well be tons better than your supposed 100 per cent. I have had authority for 14 years before, in many cases with a good company to lease to you can do just as well

 

My cut is 89%. Contracts for the last couple of years or so is at 80% and F2F covers cargo and liability. It is a good question though, why do I stay for what I can do myself? I do sometimes get discouraged as any driver and wonder that at times. Anyone can do the compliance part, IFTA, etc but who wants to? What I can't do on my own under my own numbers is have or get access to what I have here at F2F. People seek out my truck even if it's not posted. They call the office which is manned 7-24, 365 and the office forwards them to me. There is probably a LOT that I take for granted that they also do, I'm sure of it. Granted I book every load myself and negotiate every dollar. There are long stretches where those are all on me from the open market. Every once in a while thru the course of a year's time I get some great loads from time to time that would never go on any load board or independent. One of the last ones was a Sylectus network expedited load. Paid $1,900 gross revenue on 231 loaded miles. 3 picks and 1 drop run it straight thru and deliver. 1st pick had no freight the other two picks had a total of 5 pallets to put on my truck, pretty good huh? $1,691 was my cut. How many customers have you knocked on their door and they are paying you a rate like that on 231 miles $1,900 or $1,691? Most times independents are viewed as cheap and knocking on the door has already put you at a disadvantage negotiating anyways even if they will entertain you.

One truck operators are not part of the network and never will be. Really it isn't even a loadboard just some random opportunity here and there. They not interested in just you or me as a one truck operator. The software is very expensive. Would you or anyone else like to see a rate confirmation pm your email? I would never get a load like that as an independent although sometimes I do hammer a rate like that out of a random loadboard broker (Yes White Dog people do get rate like that all the time you want to see?). We also got the opportunity this year to contract out for $800 a day to drive someone else's truck and have them pay the fuel. basically that job was driving a yard truck moving trailers into dock doors and dropping them on the yard, 5 days a week, 10 hours a day. I posted a question about it here. I chose not to and missed the boat on that one. People told me I was a liar and that was crazy no-one would ever pay that for a contract driver. And there are about 2 dozen members of F2F/TTR who are laughing to the bank on that one. I'm sure they worked for it though. There were about 25 or so of those spots to fill and a line of people who did not get in on it who wanted to. That was an opportunity with a billion$$ company that I would never get on my own as an independent. You don't just knock on those people's door and ask for a chance like that. They seek you out. But not if you are one truck. You could start as one and grow to 10 or 20 or 40 and build a reputation to get business like that. But I have no desire to manage anything more than my one little truck. So those are a few reasons why I choose to lease on somewhere. There are many more. Maybe some day I might go independent and probably I could still have access to some F2F opportunity as an independent but that stuff goes to F2F people first then offered to others. So probably not. The only way is if they ever had an EOBR loophole for companies under xx amount of trucks.

 

You have a 90-10 deal which is ideal if you lease to another carry if f2f called you tomm and said hey were still going to give you that rate but it will be capped at 1.65cpm plus fuel surchage that same load for 1900 Would have netted you 462 and f2f would have kept 1400.00. What would you call that ??? Thats what most carriers are doing. F2f sounds like an awesome carrier but how many f2f exist i say that type of deal is the only way to stay profitable. If ur just geting started tho as company like landstar isnt bad at 65 to 75 percent because thell front money for repairs things that could break a new o/o and there cpm isnt capped. Most these companies either give you a flat rate say 1.05cpm plus fuelsc or a percentage thats capped which make it not really a percentage based cut. Far to many people start out leasing with greedy companies who rake advantage of peoples desires to be independent and in the end there really just glorified employees. Not to mention most lease trucks have 1dollar buyouts but you end up pay 25k more than what the trucks worth through the weekly payment cycles.

 

Some people dont want to deal with certain aspects of a business people are aware of this and they want to deal with those things and they do and they make a profit. If your actual gross is 20k your paying 4k a month basically for there services so if theyll front you repairs and quick pay piss test and do your fuel more power to ya. No problem with that. But for somrone who would like to eventually just collect money after im no longer able to keep up. Thqt 4k is needed to grow a business add trls and trucks everyone has diffrent goals i may turn around one day and feel just like you i havrnt drove near as many miles as you have. Everyone has somewhere they wanna get. Im just a curious guy and like to see how many hands are actually in the pot.

 

They pay for insurance. What company is that #### thats pretty darn good. 80 to a buck gallon off pump price

 

What at the others are getting at and what you are missing is one in the same: how many hands are in the pot isn't the most relevant aspect. Sometimes getting your own numbers and doing your own thing works and you make more money (that's my bag) but leasing to a good outfit provides more than a fuel discount and a piss plan-

Access to good paying consistent direct freight customers is something a legit company is going to offer. Manufacturers/shippers moving 40+ loads a day out of 80+ facilities don't want to talk to one truck chucks-they don't have the capacity to cover enough loads. Those shippers want contracted outfits that are going to be able to cover 50+% of any plant they haul from.

I leased to an outfit for 3 years, they paid 70% no trailer rental, lots of drop n hook, pretarped n strapped trailers, do your own plates n ifta n bobtail. "70% is a ripoff etc" but I was makin more than the guys gettin proud of 85% by a bunch.

If the money's there for your end and you're profitable-consider what you have "in your hand"

Theres a direct shipper near my house, who I use on occasion. "O it's direct so you get 100%" they don't pay anything worth bragging about. Good people, weak money.

100% of $2.00 a mile round trip plus tolls live load live unload trying to squeeze another load in everyday...I made more money leased and got paid faster and had preloaded trailers (generally pretty new ones as well) so what's the benefit of getting. 100% of less money? As Rollin said-with a carrier of some size you get offered opportunities you'd never see otherwise, and make more because of it.

 

90 plus percent of trucking industry are small fleets 15 or less trucks. One truck chuck is the life blood of this game. Learning your lanes and creating a network is your job if you want to be a independent o/o And if you dont wanna deal with it pay somebody that percentage. Its your truck and Most companies dont give a #### what you move it at long as they get something. And yes its a lot easier to haul someone elses load drop and hooks and all that i bet you could prolly get 3500 miles a week but i just perfer not to work that hard. I rather do 7.5k a month for 20k then 12000 20k

 

D&S Factoring is the best. It's 5% and your money is deposited into your checking account the next morning at 7am. They have the best credit check on brokers. Even if you don't factor you should set yourself up with them so you have a username and password. That way you can check on a brokers real credit history.

And don't believe most of what you hear on here. Lots of chest pounding but in real life it doesn't exist. Lease on with Landstar and you will do fine. They have a great support system in place and will finance you in the event of major breakdowns or buying your own trailer.

 

Oops, forgot the example on factoring.

You find a load your interested in. You then go onto D&S factor web page and type their name in. They will tell you if you can factor with them or not.

Go pick up your load. Once you have the Bill of Laden you can email it in with a copy of your rate agreement and get a 50% advance deposited into your checking account by 7am the next day.

Once you deliver the load you email in your signed Bill of Laden and your money is deposited the next morning into your checking account by 7am.

Easy as that

 

If you think most loads pay like that $1,900 you're dreaming. They do exist but no-one is doing them 5 days a week 50 weeks a year pulling vans. Not every load I do is like that. You build on those kind. Losers telling you it doesn't happen cause in 30 years or whatever they havent are too timid to ask or would rather get moving than to pass up on 30 mediocre loads a day. Not everybody can do it.

As far as companies paying $1.65 a mile and keeping the top. If the driver agrees to a flat rate then why do you have a problem with it? I don't. But again, no-one is out here turning 3,000 mile weeks at a $1.65 a mile while the company loading they'really leased to is paid $8.00 on those miles.

In fact most who try to offer flat rates and make big money off tricks like that fail miserably. It is no walk in the park to average over $2.30 a mile every mile of spot freight pulling vans, you have to play the game well... To try and do it with a fleet while guaranteed those drivers $1.65 is going to be one large headache.

Fact is most anything will move for about $2 a mile. You have to be very picky and on top of your listening skills to hear more money than that from inquiries. That's just how it is.

Most of what I do and get comes down to that. And the fact that I know what I need and what I can get in my areas. Sometimes great loads come my way via the company or they in fact forward calls my way. Either the rate is good or I get more simple as that. I could prosper at any company allowing me such freedom. Or even on my own. I think in the here and now it works and works good. Better than it did a couple of years ago. In the future who knows.

Lots of people not cut for it. Many have come and gone same as any company. You know, either you can or you can't and you step up to the plate or blame someone else. That's just how it goes... these things are what YOU make of them, no-one else.