How to become an Owner/Operator

It costs a lot to look good. You pay on the purchase, the operation and the unnecessary negative attention (DOT & LEO). I can't do ugly, no matter what the savings and I demand some comfort.

For me it comes down to purchasing as much comfort and good looks as I can afford to trade for fuel mileage. I approach it with my lowest acceptable MPG based on my business model. The condition of the equipment and specs are the single biggest factor. Brand and model are only relevant with respect to the other things mentioned.

If I were going to pull a reefer, tractor weight would come up several points on my evaluation.

 

I'm sure he would, if only because there's nothing for him to find or even look through. I would have done zero business, traveled zero miles, and made zero money with zero trucks. If you're supposed to set 15% aside for taxes, 15% of zero is zero.

The idea's been pretty well shot down but I don't think the audit would be something to worry about in this case.

 

To tell the truth, how you present your business (Bill is right about attitude) when you call is 99% of the battle. The first broker I ever called had already faxed over a carrier agreement before she about choked when she realized the authority was less than two weeks old. She flat out told me she had no clue from talking with me that we had just started business. The company had a 6 month policy but needed the load moved badly. I told her about the equipment and the service and whatnot I'd done to get it ready, let her know the driver's qualifications and she got the exception for me. Now I won't call on them cause they don't pay their bills fast enough LOL.

There's a list of 6 brokers I will not call on until I have their required 6 months with authority. No hard feelings as they are just following their policies. Middle of August, I'll start calling on their loads again. I am doing a bunch of good business right now with a broker that refused me on my first call and they only needed one month of operation. On day 31 I called them back and started hauling their freight right away. Now that we've kept a 100% reputation with them and zero claims, I get the rates.

I think with the brokers it's the same story as carriers. Your tolerance for risk dictates the terms of who you do business with. If I see a recent broker authority or slow pay on a credit report, I avoid them. Can't say I blame them avoiding me with short time in business.

I cracked my Dad up the other day. He occasionally ships LTL and once in a great while TL. He told me the broker he uses and asked if I'd heard of them. I told him hell yeah I've heard of them - they offer cheap freight that ain't work calling on and they pay slow too LOL. He says "hmm.. no wonder it takes them so long to move the load."

 

The New Entrant Audit is to make sure that you have the proper record keeping practices in order and to make sure that you are prepared to keep the files and records you need to keep, not what you've actually been hauling, etc. They are looking to make sure that you have the proper driver files, vehicle maintenance files, etc.

The only thing that tactic may affect is that there would not be any references for the brokers to check if they do that sort of thing.

 

One thing to do would be to try and develop good relationships with brokers that you are currently hauling freight for. I don't know of any drivers that sign 'non-compete' papers. If you have a good reputation as a driver with a certain broker, they may be able to pull some strings and get you rolling with them. Good service speaks volumes.

Checking accounts are often allowed to start out with checks numbered higher, especially if you have your personal accounts with the same bank. Just depends on the bank' policies on that sort of thing.

 

I always try to be nice and provide good service. I have a couple brokers in my ever growing notebook that would work with me, one place that I don't need a broker for, and two companies that I could just sign on with and run their stuff.

I'd rather keep the group I work with as small as possible. Just run a few things for a few people. I hate those brokers that get your phone number and keep calling wanting status updates. Especially when they get into their office at 6am eastern time and are calling knowing that I'm on my 10 hour break. They can keep their money.

Actually, the second broker isn't a broker. He works for the company so there's another one with no middleman.

 

Your experience with that broker makes me have to say again what I have said so many times in life and in other threads on this forum.

Very few things in life are written in stone. Many people can bend rules and bypass policies. If you sell yourself you can get around many things in life.

Often if you don't take no for an answer and make a professional presentation you get what you go after!

 

I disagree about what this tactic would affect. When Big Brother shows up to do this mandatory audit and you basically have nothing to show him, he isn't going to shrug his shoulders and say "Oh that's OK. I'll come back later. When's a good time for you New Entrant?"

Even though this audit is supposed to be a freebie to make sure you are doing things the right way ( their way ). You are showing them ( big brother ) you aren't. They hold the keys to the candy store. I think they would just lock the door since you didn't comply with the regulations. You also found and exploited a loophole / weakness in their system. You can bet they will close it with more regulation to do with new entrants. The unintended consequence of more regulation for new entrant / small business equates to less new entrants / small businesses starting up.

When it comes to references for brokers, whether they check them or not, just about everyone out here has them. Almost everyone at one point or another has hauled a load for their carrier, whether they are leased on and running for mileage or percentage or driving as a company driver, that came through a broker. Acquire all the paperwork you can get on those loads and save them to use as your references when / if you get your own authority. Whether or not any brokers will accept them as references, well, who knows.

Anyway I realize the original idea as presented by kajidono, as he said, has been shot down, but there are plenty of unscrupulous people in the world that could and would do just that to "skate" through the new entrant audit process to get a satisfactory rating and then go out and do as they #### well please. Yes it would eventually catch up to them, but the government is a large entity and moves quite slowly, so in the meantime what would the unintended consequences be of that?

 

If I was the DOT man, I'd see that several months old authority doing no business as a potential fraud in the works to either facilitate some freight theft or become the "new name" for another carrier that either has a horrible safety score or revoked authority.

 

The new entry audit is one of the best things that the DOT has implemented. This is not just a free pass, it is a free consultant that will tell you how it needs to be done. We are in a highly regulated industry, if that is an issue for someone, then they should not enter or get out. But most highly regulated industries do not get the advantage of a free consultant to make sure they are complying with the regulations. They have to pay for a very expensive consultant.
What Red said is true. If the state DOT office shows up and you have a number on the shelf, they are going to think you are doing it for just what was stated. You are aging your company without operating your company. So even the reason stated here would get your authority revoked. Not sure if they would go after you for fraud like they do with people who bounce between authorities (and I have a great story on this about a truck I just bought) but it would be revoked.