Just throwing this out there.

All you would need is a copy of their ACCORD insurance certificate. All O/O have them whether they are leased or independent. Leased guys will just have physical damage. They could email you a copy with their user name. Splitting up the leased and independent guys in the forum is critical. Its night and day difference and we have very different priorities and concerns.

 

Ya know, that actually might work.

And really, I've noticed that some people who claim to roll big $$ on their own, can't survive the challenges of being leased. Even if they're with a really top-flight carrier where lots of other people seem to do just fine.

Maybe the two situations require different skill sets? Maybe different people have different life situations/priorities?

Maybe some peoples hearing only functions when their lips are moving?

 

The thing is I do like the way the board is and I have even learned a few things on here and meet alot of really good people from here. No it does not need to be a closed forum with that said I am part of a closed section on here that only members can post and see.

 

You can learn as much from the idiots as the smart people. I'm sure someone has learned something from me.

 

I'm just not sure, You could hold my Permit book I guess. See Shoe boxes full of receipts. My greatest joy is saying No. That load is not for me. Dispatch can't disagree. They pass me by. Then they need me. We talk rates. My truck, my rules.

 

More of a case of some people thinking of their money-making solution being the only one with merit. Restricting and/or subdividing the forum won't fix that.

FWIW we're running independent because no carrier would touch us with someone else's ten foot pole when we started up. Those initial issues are much diminished now, and I have had offers to lease on to other carriers since then, and declined. Just not the direction I want to go with my business at this time.

The hand-holding comment was out of line. People can do as well or as badly no matter where they get their load offers from or how much that costs them one way or another. It's just business.

 

Where would a guy like me fit in this deal, I own a truck have a million general liability, one hundred thousand cargo, an Arkansas K tag. Here is where it gets interesting I bought it for my other business which is heavy equip repair and to use when its slow pulling a dump trailer well the dump trailer work got slow so I backed out to let the guys that depend solely on trucking to earn a living have at least a little more work, plus was only renting my wagon. All that being said that made me realize I really wanna pursue this alot more seriously, have asked lots of dumb questions and am trying to put something togather but money is a limited resource and have decided grain hauling is what i want to do. I would like to run the states that border AR I have not applied for my authority yet as I thought I would get a little closer to getting a trailer. Hang up there is not credit, but merely only wanna buy one trailer I need to make a good decision instead of buying a grain wagon in August and wanting to buy a flatbed in OCT cause it's not working out. Also I want to have my truck READY not good enough for this week. Since everyone else says it I will too i grew up around trucks. Dad worked on yellow iron, and was partners with his brother in 3 trucks. I do use the truck local quite a bit, with trailers I rent by the day from a farmer or contracter and put the all the money made from this in the "get this trucking deal off the ground fund" and do not pay myself driver wages as that would take away from the big picture.

 

any question that is asked is not dumb, until after the fact you wish you would have asked!

 

If this is the "ask an owner-operator" form, that is what it should be. People looking to move up will keep asking annoying questions over and over again, but you have to learn somewhere. If we can't share our knowledge to help out the new, what will happen to those that choose to listen. If not for older hands when I started I would have made more mistakes than I did.

I wish something like this forum was available in 1976. After sourting out the clutter, the know it alls, including some O/Os, and other chatter, I have learned some things I never thought about, and if I were not retired from driving and owning, I would put to use lots od things I have learned here to increase my profit. Yes, I knew my expense per mile down to the hundreth of a cent, but there are so many more things to know.

A "ask a lease operator" forum, or something of the kind would help seperate some of the problems. But, you will have newbies, never haves, and experienced that are 100% sure they know it all, and will refuse to listen to any advise. I have found many people of all ages and experience levels ask a question to not hear the truth and get an answer, but wanting everyone to tell them how smart they are for their ideas, and any dissent will be met with vile responses.

Fixing the problem by creating exclusive clubs on a public forum will probably not work out so well, or it may. There just seems to be so many people that thrive on controversy and self importance anymore.

I have pulled 100% for myself, leased to carriers, and been a company driver, never been a l/o, but that's one of the few things. In my opinion, if you own a truck, your life, home, truck, credit, ect, are tied up in the truck you, or you and the bank own, you're an owner operator, even if it is a 10 wheel dump truck or 6 wheel expidite truck.

 

Totally right on. I'm not offended by Bayou's comment I dished him a little first, he's welcome to throw some back. We're both big kids.

Red- your situation is exactly what makes the trucking business so great, also why it has been such an important part of our econmy and society and why I hate to see it get all effed up behind the over regulation. It's always been a place where a guy could start from little or nothing & build a better life for himself and his family. A good friend pointed out how lucky I was for all my Dad taught me- I had something else to pay the bills when the real estate market crashed.

I think a separate lease/operator forum is a great idea.