Landstar Questions

It's all smoke and mirrors right now. I had more options last year at this time and it had already started to slow down.
Yes there is more freight right now but only compared to a few months ago. Not compared to last year. Let alone the year before at this time when I could go almost anywhere at a price I could live at.

Here's something interesting.

"The quarterly increase in revenue was driven mostly by an 18 percent jump in the number of loads hauled. It was the first year-over-year quarterly revenue gain since fall 2008.
More demand for hauling freight, a rebound in manufacturing and improvements in pricing will help Landstar, said KeyBanc analyst Todd Fowler"

Hype. The increase is up because the decrease was at a record low. Nobody including LS is back to business as usual.

I haven't seen anywhere close to $2.00 per mile avg for over a year. If you want to haul for less I believe now is the time.

If the up keep on your truck is in the black, have at it.

Also that is LS's profit. By losing so many BCO's they make a much higher profit using brokered trucks. If you can wait, i'd wait to join LS. When the freight comes up across the board then BCO's will see the profit increase. Just my opinion.

 

Yes that is interesting!

Would $1.50 per mile average and 2300 mi per week be a reasonable expectation?

 

The miles per week can be a lot more. (And I see loads for a lot less than $1.50.) (Two years ago I hardly saw $1.50.)

It’s up to the BCO to schedule the pickups and drop offs so that they can better pre-book another load if they haven’t already. But at a buck fity if you could keep half, which is reasonable, if you drive slow and watch your weight you could keep 1,750 per week. If your truck and trailer payment is less than $1500 you could have around 5,500 to pay for your bills at home and on the road.
I generally keep more than half of my gross after plates, license, permits and insurance and what not.
But with maintenance and parts still needed I wouldn’t run for $1.50 per mile unless the weight was below 7,000 pounds and it was a very aerodynamic flatbed load not going over any mountains what so ever.
If you clear $5500 it adds up to about $183 dollars a day. Which is just over $22 dollars per hour at an 8 hour a day job.
Now if you subtract your time at home that goes way down. And if you factor that you are working well over 40 hours per week to get 2300 plus miles per week, plus loading and unloading and pretrip and fuel. You can see where it drops even lower.
If you have a truck and trailer paid for, then by pulling for $1.50 per mile you have bought your self a decent job.
Now $2.00 per mile gets you about 9,200 per month and it’s more realistic after paying your running cost minus your truck and trailer payment. Take the truck and trailer payment of $1,500 out and $7,700 is much more reasonable considering that if you were to stay at the house with Mama for one week per month you would still have $6,900 to pay for bills, truck and trailer payment and put something away for a maintenance fund.
Getting home time is what it’s all about for me. Not running every single week of the year. Plus take into account that I take 4 weeks off every summer and 4 to10 weeks off every winter and at least one week off per month other than the 8-14 weeks I just mentioned. Then to my family and me trucking pays. But for us it doesn’t pay at $1.50 per mile. It’s a living but it has an end. It ends when you don’t have the maintenance funds for repairs when you need them. And repairs are part of trucking, as we all know.

That’s why I stay home and run locally now. If a good paying load pops up and I take it I run the risk of not having a good enough back haul. If I can pre-book a decent back-haul then I leave home. But even that isn’t guaranteed with the way agents are giving loads away after you book them.

The numbers I used are make believe, all vary with the actual loads, driver and many other variables. But I just used it to illustrate how $1.50 per mile might entice some drivers, and how other drivers wouldn’t even think twice about even taking that same load. Unless they were on there way home to Mama and the kids.

Just my $.02 worth.

 

Your $.02 is worth a million bucks to me. My end goal is to own my own truck and trailer. The two company's I have vested the majority of my time researching are Landstar and Mercer. I was able to "bend the ear" of a few Mercer contractors at MATS, but could not find any Landstar BCO's although I know they were there. I eavesdropped on the Landstar reps at their booth.

I appreciate your willingness to share your experiences and provide feedback.

R/

Frat

 

Thanks for your insight on this. Its very helpful! Can you look over my plan and tell me your thoughts? Have I left anything out or miscalculated somehow?

If i ran 2300mi week at $1.50 = $3450 for the week and $13800 gross for the month.

Deduct
$4500 fuel (deadhead included and 7.2mpg)
$600 Insurance & misc admin expenses
$800 truck payment
$800 maintenance account
$1290 taxes

This would leave me with $5810 for the month! Have I missed anything??? Is this a practical workable plan working with Landstar in this present economy?

 

$ 1.50 per mile # 65% is .975 cents per mile to you. (You will need $ 2.30 per mile # 65% to get the money your looking for. Won't happen w/van) 2300 miles per week # .975 = $ 8,970 per month. Using your number of $ 7,990 in expences you have $ 980 left. That's IF you can avg $1.50 gross, loaded/empty.

 

wow,,who ould make a decent living working only every other week???? your total weeks off add up to 26 weeks,,,leaving me to suspect foul play with your other numbers,,,,have gotten out the trusty calculator and run those digits you supplied,,,you see,,i ru under jct,s banner and frankly,,ur #'s just aren't coming out right.

 

John Christner Trucking, Inc
Owner Operator Settlement
04/14/2010
LEON ​

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Unit Order# Disp Ld Date Origin Destination Load Empty Rate Revenue Amoun​

L2339A 0797375 01 04/03/2010 Lemoore W, CA Jacksonvl, FL 2,522 329

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0.900 $ 2,565.90​

L2339A 0797602 01 04/01/2010 Elk City, OK Sparks, NV 1,471 60 ​

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0.900 $ 1,377.90

$3,943.80​

Earnings

Unit Order# Disp Reb Date Description Amount
L2339A 0797375 01 04/09/2010 UNLOADING PAY $140.00
L2339A 0797602 01 04/02/2010 UNLOADING PAY LUMPER $50.00
L2339A 0797375 01 04/05/2010 SCALE $9.00
L2339A 0797602 01 04/01/2010 TOLLS SCALE $9.00
L2339A 0797375 01 FUEL SURCHARGE $798.28
L2339A 0797602 01 FUEL SURCHARGE $428.68
Total Reim:
$1,434.96
Reimbursments
Unit Order# Disp Ded Date Description Amount
L2339A 0797375 01 04/04/2010 FERNNV-FUEL -033TYO $ 420.16
L2339A 0797375 01 04/05/2010 CASACA-FUEL -040475 $ 163.95
L2339A 0797375 01 04/06/2010 EHREAZ-FUEL -015WEV $ 404.70
L2339A 0797375 01 04/07/2010 VH TX-FUEL -018984 $ 364.73
L2339A 0797375 01 04/07/2010 BROOTX-FUEL -020YTL $ 340.33
L2339A 0797375 01 04/08/2010 MIDWFL-FUEL -065ALM $ 95.70
L2339A 0797602 01 04/01/2010 EC OK-FUEL -003OKB $ 433.89
L2339A 0797602 01 04/02/2010 WINSAZ-FUEL -003PYH $ 481.53
L2339A 0797602 01 04/02/2010 LHC AZ-FUEL -012QKP $ 117.60
L2339A 0797375 01 04/04/2010 FERNNV-EFS -033TYO $ 0.75
L2339A 0797375 01 04/06/2010 EHREAZ-EFS -015WEV $ 0.75
L2339A 0797375 01 04/07/2010 BROOTX-EFS -020YTL $ 0.75
L2339A 0797375 01 04/08/2010 MIDWFL-EFS -065ALM $ 0.75
L2339A 0797602 01 04/01/2010 EC OK-EFS -003OKB $ 0.75
L2339A 0797602 01 04/02/2010 WINSAZ-EFS -003PYH $ 0.75
L2339A 0797602 01 04/02/2010 LHC AZ-EFS -012QKP $ 0.75
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 QUALCOMM USAGE $ 11.53
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 INS/LIABILITY $ 7.62
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 INS/OCCUPATIONAL ACC $ 36.62
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 INS/PHYSICAL DAMAGE $ 84.53
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 DRIVER'S LEGAL/CDL $ 3.98
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 AMERICAN TRUCK TAX $ 18.00
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 TIRE/MAINTENANCE ESCR $ 306.74
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 PERFORMANCE ESCROW $ 25.00
L2339A 0797375 01 04/09/2010 180023-7890145-905 JACKFL $ 140.00
L2339A 0797602 01 04/02/2010 180023-6903841-956 SPARNV $ 50.00
L2339A 0797375 01 04/09/2010 MOBILE SCAN $ 6.00
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 PHYSICAL/DRUG SCREEN $ 19.00
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 LEASE PAYMENT $ 583.51
L2339A 00 04/14/2010 DOWN PAYMENT $ 123.14
Deductions
LEON
Total Ded: $4,243.51
Net (L2339A) $ 1,135.25
Escrow Acco Unit Balance
MAIN L2339A $982.85
PERF L2339A $125.00​

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Escrow:​

 

Ya might want to reread his post. The part about the nubners are make believe.............

 

Well you're right!

I just don't know how else to explain it. Let me try again.

I would not take loads for $1.50 per mile @2300 miles per week. (Not encluding Deadheading).

That's about as simple as I can say it.