I guess it's just not meant to be.....

which is one of the few reasons i didn't go o/o myself.

running a repair shop taught me the costs of doing business, pretty much from A to Z.

i didn't want that BS life for me as an owner of a shop nor a truck.

being able to go home at the end of the day was good for me.

getting home for the weekend was GREAT for me, all i had to do was park the truck, lock it up, and scoot on home, until my next dispatch.

is there satisfaction in being an owner of a business...any business..??

sure, but i have a life outside of all that responsibility, that's first and foremost.

even in retirement now these few years, i take pleasure in knowing i wasn't beaten to death with all that bull crap.

much easier to tell a boss to screw-off, and get another job, than to walk away from being a business owner

 

Satisfaction in owning a business or being an owner/operator……I don’t schedule off time I take it. Is my truck always at the top of the priority list you bet, the #### that’s minor but I want fixed is fixed. Not we didn’t have time catch it next time. If it’s not an OOS the company man has to go. We all have our do’s and don’ts wills and wont’s. Total package bennies included I’m sure there’s more money in a job with a large extremely invasive carrier. Not for me, though I am glad it is for some because someone has to do it.


In the end here is my position and only my position. You boys think there is pressure and worry about failure in your business….try the pressure of living up to your family name, keeping the doors open with a good reputation. Granted it is my choice, but it’s still just as important to me today not to run that in the ground as the day I decided to do it.

 

So what’s your new adventure?

 

If your an O/O and pull general freight…It’s a recipe for financial hardship. Your competitors are Megas and they have the upper hand..Buying power, staff, years of experience, political corruption, etc…
Got to specialize or at least partly specialize in something a mega cannot perform well at. In this down turn I’ve done well enough to buy a new truck and two new trailers.- All in the last 2 years right when all are crying about general rates. Got to move we’re the hassles are and not the easy ride. Lazy=financial headache, taking on headaches and having success= win


It’s not about running hard, leave that to the big carriers. It’s about extra services and care. The megas and mid sized carriers have unreliable labor and cannot achieve the service. It’s an easy gap to fill. Look it as this way… a mega driver is unskilled, you as a O/O should have some years under you and the more ambition- hence you step up…So step up to a line of work that requires more of you. Buying a truck and leasing on to pull company driver freight makes zero sense!

 

So basically emission system made you go broke? If so I'd look into permanent fix for it or buying older truck with none of that bs

 

running a 2013 389 now

 

nice

 

Spot on. They don't know how to diagnose issues and why they throw parts at it. It's why STRONG right to repair laws like the one imposed on John Deere are so important! Only the tip of the iceberg, now you have to hold them to it!

Planned obsolescence is the problem. GM invented it after all and everyone else seemingly adopted it. Its why the simple light bulb now lasts all of 2 months yet incandescents from long ago lasted over 10 times that.

Mechanically speaking electric will remain hard to beat for reliability as there's so many less moving parts. I cant speak for hydrogen but there the fuel delivery problems still persist. You will have to have a water distillation infrastructure that still favors the oil and gas movers and shakers. Hell, it might even favor the Saudi's and Middle East still as they are the only ones distilling water to scale that i know of.

 

Hey 0313, throw some 25mm HEI down range!

 

Is anything really safe from mega carrier competition though? In Alabama a couple of months ago just south of Montgomery I saw a nice brand new white Western Star day cab that had some off road specs, a brand new headache rack, and a brand new stick wagon full of logs. It had yellow J.B. Hunt company signage on the doors. Who would've ever thought J.B. Hunt in that segment? Why Use Dedicated Transportation to Haul Your Logs | J.B. Hunt