Kevin Rutherford..

its not that at all, sheepdog. but think about it, a big sweeping statement that someone is making 40 to 50 cpm while giving up 30 to 40 cpm being leased to a carrier. with absolutely no evidence to back it up.

its no different than saying buy this doohickey and put it on and you will get .5 mpg increase with no additional evidence.

its a radio show and just like on any other show, statemnts are made that are general in nature, so you always have an out.

like I have always said , give 10 guys identical trucks payment free, 50,000 grand in cash for seed money, the exact same authority or leased to same carrier, in other words , the exact same opportunity,. exact same revenue in a year 2 will be broke, in 2 years 3 more will go out, in 3 years 3 more go out, and 2 will make it thru just fine, but one will be far ahead of the other.

the biggest variable in being an owner /op is the business sense of the owner, and the most vital.

 

Spot on Skateboardman,,,

 

It is like reality TV you are told to say this and that at certain times and you are to say it a certain way so that it sounds totally different than what someone hears. It is all about the ratings. The higher the ratings then the better chance of having a show lower ratings means no show. It is scripted and that is basically how you make it in show biz.

 

I know some TV shows are scripted, you can tell the one's that do it 100% of the time and the ones that do it a little bit. I don't believe radio is scripted, for the most part. KR's show don't sound scripted at all, maybe it would be better to some if it was.

 

I don't know if scripted is the word I should have used. I should have stated that it makes it more interesting to the listeners when he or anyone else hangs up on certain callers and it lets you wonder what would have been said. If you did not have some sort of drama or whatever it is called in radio it would be boring. I myself like it when he helps people out but when he goes on and on about some things I would get bored. I just seems that it got to the point where it was about the advertisers than the actual caller.

 

That makes sense popcorn I get annoyed with the show a lot, expecially when each call takes around 15 mins and most just call in to say how well they are doing. Don't get me wrong, I like to hear other O/O's are succeeding out there but, it is a show, not a "let's call my friend KR and see how he is doing today" program, which wouldn't even be a program, would just be me calling my buddy and saying, "hey, what's up friend?".

 

I tend to agree with the point Kevin is trying to make. I became an owner-operator with only one year of OTR experience. My wife and I have owned three successful businesses prior to getting into trucking. Once I found out how much I was getting hosed as a company driver, it didn't take much convincing to go buy my own truck. The first year was rough as I leased onto an "all owner-operator" company, but we learned the numbers game. Being a successful owner-operator is knowing your numbers, knowing the freight lanes and knowing how to schedule. The driving part is the easy part.

I have met many owner-operators that have no clue on how to run a business. They drive old equipment, complain they never have any money, poor credit and do a lousy job of customer service. When I talk to them about numbers, i.e. how much it cost to run their truck, they give me a deer in the headlight look.

From my point of view, to be successful, you have to think business. Where is your freight coming from, what are the profitable lanes, where to stay out of, how to price your services, who has the best affordable insurance, who has the best fuel card with discounts, etc. Driving a million plus accident free miles is great, but what is it worth if you can't make a profit on all that hard work?

 

Considering I had never driven a mile as a company driver before I got into the freight hauling business by buying an old truck. I'd say Kevin is spot on accurate. As others have said, the driving is the easiest part of the job, any monkey could do it.

 

Just about, "every monkey", could do it... Driving in itself is not a hard task but, driving a big rig is a bit more difficult than driving a automobile. Some, just can't seem to master shifting, watching their surroundings and/or backing a trailer. Backing seems to be the hardest, just look around the truck stop, all those that park up front by the scale, next to the curb and so on... In an automobile we just don't have to focus as much as we do in a big rig.

 

That's more to do with plain old lazy ... you can go to any truck stop in the country and the lot will be 50% empty and it always be crowed with parked trucks at the scale and fuel island.