IS there really 250,000 Owner Operators running under own authority?

Going back to the OP question, he's correct about the 250,000 owner operators with only 1 power unit, he's correct that the FMCSA does provide a pocket guide supporting that 250,000 number. However, there's really no way of knowing how many of those 250,000 are obtaining loads on their own, via a load board, direct shippers, etc.

 

This is all I could find. Lol

 

If I read that statistic correctly, it says "FMCSA regulated", which includes private (not for hire) carriers, like us (farm), or my neighbor ( contractor), or my mechanic. None of us haul loads.

 

One must understand that even though over 90% are small carriers but their market share is much smaller. The 50 largest carriers have about 30% of the market share. Of course, that is the reason they are politically more significant than all the rest of small carriers who perhaps can and should gather around OOIDA to have their voice heard, if they happen to agree about all but as far as their lobbying power (aka $$$$ to be donated) it is pretty much of impotence.

edit:
The exact numbers of small guys vs megas can be found in one of the latest issues of Overdrive magazine (maybe November or December issue)

 

A few more stats.

 

I read it as 3.7 mil CDL Drivers and 253 k 1 Truck Companies. That’s just under 7 % of Drivers. That can’t be right. Ooida has the #s.

 

I agree 100% with you far as the title, but bigger Bill's. I'm not sure what you're talking about. But i do know that far as revenue goes, it's alot of lease on drivers making more than some independent O/o. And to top it off, there local, ain't no way in hell should a lease O/o be making more than independent O/o. That's just ridiculous and #### sure ain't nothing to be bragging about.

 

All these stats just become a blur after awhile. It's like going down a rabbit hole sometimes. That said, 1 man operations account for a LOT of the total make up of this industry.

Heck, just think about how many 1 truck operators there are who run under a larger carrier's authority. As an example, Landstar has about 6,000 power units listed on their MCS-150 who run under their authority alone.

Extrapolate that out by the thousands and thousands and it becomes a very large number of single operators who would not show up as such in the statistical metrics often cited.

Still yet, going back to what the OP is asking, there is no way to determine (accurately) how many, or how much freight, 1 truck operators with their OWN authority obtain and haul on their own.

 

This is only anecdotal, however, the owner I used to work for has 150 +/- running under his authority. Of those 150 trucks, only 40 are company owned and payroll employees, roughly 25% of his total fleet. The rest are lease operators, most of which identify themselves as "owner operators".

This is the model being adopted by many small, medium and large carriers. Just look at how many lease operators (running under someone else's authority) there are who are adding a truck or two to their own little operation.

This industry has been shifting majorly in that direction for some time. It appears that isn't changing anytime soon, especially with the increased regulatory and financial constraints (think insurance) being imposed.