Landstar Questions

Annas Linens out of charlotte...loads going to NC/sc/va/ga the NE and chicagoland all the time

 

Is it possible to still have a profitable year, only running those Anna's Linens loads to SC, GA, & VA? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't make much as far as the miles are concerned, but I was thinking from what I heard the driver unloads pay, I could survive just fine. Please enlighten me. THANKS

 

They come out various times of the week, a lot on Friday for sure

 

Darn it. How could I forget about Anna Linens lol. I think most of there stuff comes up to the Northeast. And isn't there some multi stop stuff/driver unload out of Atlanta that goes down to Florida? PEW is the agent.

Also to answer Carolina questions
1.Tires out of Albany, usually give $100 to unload sorry I mean SW GA instead of SE
2. Those cabinet loads pay well, it's frown upon to give rates but it's plus 2+ a mile
3. And it very's with the pay. Some agents give you $100 to unload a whole truck. Some give you $150 to unload half a truck. Depends.
4. Also is it any reason why your just limiting yourself to that stretch of I-85? Parts of VA arent bad and you could do well in TN/KY/AL...

 

The ones you see going to the NE are still there because all of the others are taken LOL.....I used to do one per week and always paid well. I had my own dry van and they allowed me to live load each week.

 

Until us platform guys corrupted you!!!

 

Yes!! And I love it!!! LOL

 

Can you build a small fleet of about 5 trucks at Landstar? I don't need specifics, but how difficult would it be at the moment to get van rates of $1.50 a mile to the truck in the Midwest? In orientation do they accept your current physical, or require you to go to their doctor? I'm currently pre-approved for Schneider, but after the interview they want me more than I want them.

 

Preacher Man, I don't know what the limit is, I've heard 10 trucks in scuttlebutt, but 5 will not be a problem at all. As far as $1.50 a mile, I think that is very achievable on the van side pretty much taking any old load. If you're a good decision maker, I would easily imagine $2 a mile. I averaged $2.50 per odometer mile, to the truck, last year pulling stepdeck. Physical wise, I'm pretty sure it just needs to be recent as they don't do that nonsense at orientation.

 

Thanks, decision time will be officially in the early fall, but I want to get all my ducks in a row now. I was looking at Schneider, but any additional trucks would have to be on the mileage pay board and that would mean the trucks only make $1.34 for all dispatched miles loaded and empty. It's possible to make money, but sure leaves me with an awfully short margin. If my wife can handle the dispatching for me and four others Landstar seems like a bit better option. I understand rates vary, so all I'm looking for is what professors would call the median. In other words I'm looking for what the current mid-point would be for loaded miles to the truck.

There are a couple of issues that sort of raised red flags for me when talking to Schneider. The first was that even though I am an independent business they still insist on a physical by their company doctor. This to me is a trust issue since I spent years as a company driver going through this. I always felt they were more interested in doing the company's bidding rather than following sound medical practices. My DOT physical and personal physical are done by medical professionals in a doctor's office attached to the local hospital. In short I feel that my health comes first with them. The second issue is that they tried to tell me that the sleep study is FMCSA mandated if you meet certain criteria. If you want to mandate sleep studies that's fine, but be up front that you are doing it on your own. I'm already with a company that thinks they need to protect themselves from their drivers I don't want to go to another.

In short from what I see so far if the money is there Landstar may be more of what I'm looking for.