Is O/O A Good Idea Soon...

I’m sure if they wanted to it could be done off GPS. Not saying they should do it!

 

I though you could run e logs on any cell phone or tablet and gps ?

$100k and someone else worrying about all the expenses and repairs, I assume Estes has good benifits , you don’t have to pay much for the health insurance and get some decent vacation and sick leave ?
And after five years you’ve got enough seniority to get to run the lanes you want ?
would be hard to leave that .

 

GPS has never been allowed as a means to detect movement of the truck. The way I understand it is what they’re wanting is an ELD in the truck as long as it has an ECM regardless of the year of the engine. The guys with flip phones and mechanical engines won’t have a worry unless they completely revamp the whole mandate. And if that’s the case it would be a while anyway.

 

If you haven’t already followed @blairandgretchen
Take a look at his journey from Old Dominion to Landstar pulling specialized freight. He likely will tell you he has no plans of going back to a company job. I left Buster Brown 11 years ago to be a Carhauler and have been a carhaul owner op for the last 7 years. I wouldn’t go back to a company job either. It is more difficult leaving a good job, but it causes you to have a better plan in place before you do it and FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. It won’t be easy, but definitely can be done and can far exceed your current income and work schedule with the correct freight and plan. Being in charge of your destiny is good also.

 

Does your truck have a mechanical motor or just an older truck with an ECM? I have a 1996 Series 60 in a glider and it talks to my carriers ELD with no issues.

 

Fully mechanical Big Cam. I can simply twist the screw on the pump to make it run or kill it….

 

Interesting . . .

 

Full discloser: I've never been an Owner Operator, I've always been a company driver and I do refrigerated and some dry freight as well (but always in a reefer trailer).

If you're making $100,000 gross per year easily, then how much could you make if you worked as much as you could year round, including winters? Could you get that up to $130,000 gross per year if you ran as hard as you could year round at Estes? Because you said this:

I think in your gross salary at Estes you need to look at what it's going to cost you to not be a W2 employee, having to pay for healthcare on your own and not getting your 401k match from Estes.

1. Healthcare: Have you looked into healthcare plans on healthcare.gov Marketplace lately? You look younger in your profile picture but even then, go to healthcare.gov and look up the cheapest/crappiest healthcare plans avaliable that are only good for dire life or death emergencies that don't pay a cent until you hit your $8,500 out of pocket deductible first (or whatever it is). You can go to healthcare.gov and look at the numbers without actually signing up for any insurance plan. You need to do that.

2. Retirement: Figure out how much Estes is paying you each year with their 401k match. Not only that, you then need to realize that if you're maxing out your 401k plan at Estes (currently $20,500 maximum per year for the 2022 year), then if you were to save up that same $20,500 per year as an Owner Operator but put it in a normal brokerage account instead of a tax advantaged 401k, in 30 years from now (or however long it is until you retire) you are going to be taxed at a way higher rate versus if you withdrew the money from the tax advantaged 401k account when you get old.

3. Taxes: You need to figure out how much Estes is paying per year for you for your Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you go Owner Operator you will now be paying way more in those two taxes than what you're currently paying because your employer (Estes) will no longer be there to cover half of those taxes for you. Take a look at this site and I'll quote it below in italics:

https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10022.pdf

"If you work for an employer, you and your employer each pay a 6.2% Social Security tax on up to $147,000 of your earnings. Each must also pay a 1.45% Medicare tax on all earnings. If you’re self-employed, you pay the combined employee and employer amount. This amount is a 12.4% Social Security tax on up to $147,000 of your net earnings and a 2.9% Medicare tax on your entire net earnings. If your earned income is more than $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly), you must pay 0.9% more in Medicare taxes."

With all due respect, I think the way you're looking at your overall pay package is wrong. This is a better formula for figuring out just how much your overall pay package really is as a W2 employee with Estes:

Gross Pay + (cost healthcare.gov plan - cost of Estes healthcare plan) + 401k match + Estes portion of Social Security & Medicare taxes

So that's what your overall pay package is in reality. Since you're single and making so much money, with zero per diem to offset your tax burden like truckload OTR drivers get, you are getting destroyed by taxes. I know you are. Which means Estes is getting destroyed with their portion of the Social Security and Medicare taxes as well. I would wager that your overall benefits package, not including your gross pay, is probably close to $20,000 per year. And that's not including your gross pay.

So if you ran as hard as you could at Estes year round, even during the winter, your overall pay package (when taking benefits into account) would be about $150,000 per year with zero risk financially to yourself.

@blairandgretchen if you don't mind me asking sir (since you were mentioned in this thread): When taking into account boom and bust cycles of being an Owner Operator, if money were the main priority, can @KaoMinerva beat $150,000 overall yearly pay (when taking benefits into consideration) by being an Owner Operator versus being a W2 employee?

I don't know. If this were about money I would have to think you're better off staying put and running hard all year round at Estes. Your total financial package could be around $150,000 gross per year if you ran as hard you could at Estes year round, with zero financial risk to yourself. I don't see how you beat that by being a one man show as an Owner Operator.

 

They are going after gliders, and soon will go after pre 99 trucks that have engines that can be outfitted with an ecm. As far as i understand it, they will keep manipulating the rules where o/o would be totally screwed out of owning a trucks, only megas.