Is the owner-operator a dying breed?

A lot of the increase in owner operators is due to the dreadful working conditions they experienced as a company driver. Many do not find time at home, rest, or the ability to just say NO a possibility as a company driver.
Here is my take as I see it. Business for a single truck operator is much more difficult now then it has ever been. Increases in fuel, maintenance, repairs, living on the road and the stagnant or at the very least up and down of rates
has done nothing to increase net income for the owner operator. You have to work just as hard to make a go of it. Time at home might be available, but can you afford to stay at home? The old saying "when the wheels are not turning,
your not making money". The freedom that everyone touts about when being a owner operator or working for a non forced dispatch company like Landstar is over played. Landstar is about as good as any all owner operator company in how it
treats its owner operators. The freight is like anywhere else. Sometimes it really depends on where you live and where you are willing to go. Failure at Landstar is totally up to the owner operator. You can make bad choices and fail or make good
business decisions and succeed. The question will always be how well can you succeed? I think the true owner operator is disappearing, simply because a single truck owner cannot compete and make money with big carriers. Unless that owner can
find a niche that the big companies don't want to bother with. The single owner operator will simply be priced out. I see that every day on the Landstar board. Lot's of loads stay on there never to be covered. Simply being too cheap to make sense
for a single truck owner. Might actually be OK for a bigger company to keep their truck moving. Its definitely a strategy difference between a company and a single O/O. Just looking at a Landstar yard in Rockford IL over the years. I see less and less
new or newer trucks on the yard. Many are like mine, older fleet trucks purchased with the hopes of having them stay together long enough to make some good money and save for a rainy day. Not everyone makes it, but their are plenty out there
willing to try. Until the day comes when these current 2010 emissions trucks are all that's available in used and everyone is afraid they will simply be a money pit at 500,000 miles. I suspect we will continue to see company drivers try their luck
at truck ownership. Myself having bought a 2006 Freightliner a couple years ago. I am already faced with a minor overhaul at less then 600,000 miles! Its not much of a surprise to my Detroit Engine dealer who has seen emission engines like mine
require a overhaul at under 500,000 miles. This tells me two things. One emission engines are not going to last as long before a major and two the fleets are most likely over running the maintenance intervals to save money. So the unfortunate
new owner operator who buys one of these trucks used may be in for a short time before requiring major engine work. This is not good and will only increase the owner operator failure rate. Anyway, these are my arguments of why I believe the single
truck owner is eventually going to shrink and disappear.

 

Definitely harder for a single owner operator to stay successful in the incoming years.

 

While there are challenges for the single owner, there are also some advantages the small operator has over the mega fleets. The larger fleets are much like the government, bloated with top heavy bureaucrats and so many layers of administration that they cannot make quick decisions. Smaller carriers and owner operators don't have the layers of management to go through to make decisions. Small operators can make quickly respond to rapidly changing market decisions.

There is no doubt that the small operators are under attack by the major carriers and the government. Owner operators will need to be vigilant and more aware of their environment in order to succeed. I think that owner operators will need to learn to be more pliable and willing to change with the environment. Small business is the backbone of a free economy. It has been the backbone of this nation from the beginning. An economy such as America relies on the small operators. If all owner operators suddenly decided to sit home for a week or so, this economy would come to a halt. I think that there will always be a place for smaller businesses. Remember small companies provide about 90% of the new jobs. We need to spend time reminding our so called representatives how critical our small business is to the nation's economy.

 

Back in my cross country driving days I saw many OO's, a few made it, yet many lost everything they had, several even lost their family.

I admit quickly some of them lost it because of several reasons, spending to much money of chroming their truck, laying out at the truck stops playing with the girls, trying to out run their buddies on the big road, & or just got plain lazy.

Yet I knew a few who lost their truck because they bought a company truck, leased it to that company & that was the plan the company had, sell it them repossess the truck making money off of the deal.

 

I can tell you I have many company drivers over the years come up and ask me plenty about becoming a owner operator. From what truck to buy, to how much money you can make. In the end I tell them I myself would much rather lease to a company like Landstar who truly allows you the freedom as a owner operator. The kind of freedom your trying to gain that being a company driver does not give you. Rather then lease a truck to a company who will treat you like a glorified company driver. The absolute true owner operator is the one who has his or her own authority and works through brokers. The company truck leases many of these big companies offer are nothing more then a way for them to push all of the variable expenses onto the truck lease operator and provide them with a stable bottom line. After all its one truck that company does not have to worry about putting a driver in or repairing the truck or insuring. Its really why Landstar continues even in bad times to make a good profit. The company owns only trailers and no trucks.