Just need HONEST answers about Landstar

There are no dispatchers here. You book your own loads, so if you don't book a load that doesn't fit your needs, you'll be fine. The best loads never hit the load boards, so building relationships with agents is imperative to real success here. There are 500+ loads on the board right now picking up within 200 miles of CIN and delivering within 500 miles for van freight. Loads pay up to $4 per mile gross.

 

It's a great place to be if you're a disciplined, and determined person. Don't expect everything to be glorious from day 1. There is a learning curve of the load board and the system. You will need to spend some time getting to know agents that ship in that area. Feel free to pm me sometime and I can see if I can't find you some phone numbers of agents who ship out of that area. Most of our stuff ships out of Medina, OH and Tallmadge, OH so we're a little ways away from you. Good luck! It's a great place to be if you have a positive attitude and go-getter personality.

 

I have been at LS for over ten years and I can honestly say that it is what you make of it. If you want to work hard and make it work, then you will do fine. You will work hard at first and if you like the system, you will develop a few agents that you can call on who will keep you loaded and through the house. LS is a free system and that means that you are competing directly with other drivers for freight.

It also means that you pick the agents you work with and the customers you haul for. Don't like an agent, walk away, after you service the customer of course. Don't like a customer, walk away. Once again, you must always fulfill your promise to deliver the load. You simply have the option of not working with them again if they are unprofessional or disrepectful etc.

Ohio is Landstar's sweet spot for all freight. They have more agents and customers there than just about anywhere else. I know several drivers at LS with cabovers. That is no drawback so long as it passes inspection and can pass LS's qualification.

Also LS's rates last year and this year have been outstanding. Three or four years ago, I would say that you might want to have some money saved up before coming to LS, but now the rates are the best I have ever seen and summer is just getting started.

I think the biggest reason why drivers succeed at LS (barring life's choices for you, like divorce, death, accidents, and health issues) is that they are smart about their work ethic, equipment, and overall business strategy. Those that fail, let their emotions get the best of them, make poor decisions, and sometimes just end up dealing with that life example above (which we all have to do).

The point is that many have made it at LS and many have failed, there is no clearcut answer for what it is like. If you keep your overhead low and look for the best paying freight that is going to a good area where you will find more of the best paying freight, then after awhile you will develop a list of agents and customers. From there, you can set up a triangle of freight getting you to and from our house, but that doesn't guarantee that the customers will continue to use LS. You will have to keep your feelers out and plan to replace one lane with another in the event that one of them falls through. It can be done and is done every day.

Personally I like the challenge and I am going to keep working with LS for as long as they will have me. Or I win the lottery, and even then I will probably stay at LS.

 

im not a landstar owner operator but i book a lot of my frieght thru them, as one said you have to be very discplined, but if your a multitasker it will be the best job you will ever have , i m not leasted there because im opened to much more frieght than landstar but as i said i do haul a lot of frieght for them. and i can also add they have some great frieght right know in ohio

 

Any time. Just keep on them. I'm going to check into our agency becoming one of the agencies to do the background checks. From the looks of it, some Landstar agents do this and I'm curious about it.

 

I am an o/o and am considering LS. I currently lease to an .86/mile reefer carrier and I train students as well. I run hard and get paid my miles as well as the students and average about 5000 miles a week. My net after expenses but before taxes range from $2500 to $3000 weekly. I am concerned I'm running my truck too hard for the pay I receive. If I come to LS with my truck but no trailer and get good loads all week and run hard what is the take home pay like after expenses? Also would that be pulling dry box, reefer or flatbed?
TIA

 

There's just no way to tell Jerry. It varies week to week. If you don't have oversize or platform experience you'll have to pull a dry box for a year at 65% revenue + accessorial fees. Reefer freight here sucks or so I'm told. The bread and butter is platform freight with the secondary being van freight and you need to learn the system and get in good with some agents before you start pulling the good freight on the van side.

 

Let me rephrase my query. If I were to run a week and get 3000 miles and the loads were average rates about what would I clear before taxes? I'm trying to decide if it would be worth my time to make the switch. I've only worked for one company and have a little over 2 years OTR experience and don't really understand the LS business model very well.