Landstar Questions

Yes they have said all the new trucks starting this fall and others later.

 

[QUOTE=overdalimit;1814559]I personally did better than .90 plus FSC when I was there but here's the thing... In orientation.....

Hell, it costs over .90 cpm just to run the truck - fuel #.53 cpm, payment@ .15 cpm, maintenance/reserves@ .10 cpm, road taxes, insurance, lic & permits@ .12 - .15 cmp and I need at least .50 cpm for my wages!!! Which totals out around $1.43/mi. So "if" FSC is .40 cpm then I still need $1.03/mi for the load which means I have to book loads for a minimum of $1.58/mi + FSC. Are there enough loads paying that? Or is the recruiter flat out lying? Or am I missing something?

 

Your recuiter lied to you,just as he did to s many others.Just a simple question:why do you think drivers ar leving LS if they are so great?Just look on other trucks doors and in few month after yoy been hire,lets say tr.#600.000 in few months you might see tr #615.000,well ............
LS claims to have about 8500 trucks all together flat,van step etc all year long,now if you look to those numbers you will see how big their lies are.So big talk little money.It not about you,its about LS piece of crap.No metter how hard you will run,their independent agents will make money because their slice its there allways and with little or no expense.
About the fuel surcharges:Most of the time when I was at LS fuel was included on those silly $.99 mile .
About the hot coridor meens for example:
Chicago-Texas
Chicago-Atlanta
Detroit-Texas
Ohio-Texas
These are just few example.
Lets say you reside in MONTANA?Forget it,you will run tons of lods for no profit,or little profit.Tons of empty unpaid mile and with fuel arround $4 I wish everybody good luck,or even better,after you go to pick up a load with 150 empty dead head mile,and the sipper its telling you the load its not there and the agent it will pay you some money,like they did to me $75 and a day of work lost,waiting in parking lot for next load.Or another dead spot,looking 3 day for a load on radius of 300 mile with money to use from my credit card,because the other load was paying crap,and the agent give me a load better paid from the next pick-up witch does not exist?
Or here in MA was a agent I was refer to and he start me on a 44.000 lbs gooing to Maryland on $430 and when I ask if is my money alone,he told me that 65% was mine and everything is included.Any more example?please ask for them,I have tons of bad example.The are not my faul atitude or failure,its about LS SCAM SYSTEM.They are the one to destoy USA dream,because if they will chose a fair system,they will offer minimum wage,but at LS make sure you don't come with money from home,to pay agent load like I did.
LS did't lost just a driver,but they gain an enemy for life,I will hate them as long as I live,and I will make sure my childrens will rember them for ever.

 

Thanks for the information, I am going to take my truck to Schneider they have a % of revenue program that is a lot more transparent, and I got the answers I wanted. Maybe when things improve with the economy Landstar will be a viable option for me in the future, but as it is now, I can't take a chance of MAYBE's and SOMETIMES.

 

I

Ok, Im looking at the load sheet now. The average load is about $1.10/mi but there are a lot of loads paying around $1.25 or more. I cant see the FSC on the copies she sent me. You have to be logged in to the system and click on "Details", but she said most loads have FSC.[/QUOTE]


I dont know if you work for the same landstar I work for or if your not setting up your search correctly but I can see loads that pay between 1.75 and 5.63 a mile. you may just want discourage new hires. I understand that. I see people say " just sit down with a driver and he'll get you list and tell you all about landstar. Not me. In case you havn't noticed these guys will be your competition for that load if they come over. If you had successful business and someone walks in and says Hey you look like you do pretty well here. I want to open the same store across the street and I need you to show me how to get your customers. You would probley toss the out on their ###. So why would I want to train my replacement?

 

[QUOTE=truck538708;1818423]I

Ok, Im looking at the load sheet now. The average load is about $1.10/mi but there are a lot of loads paying around $1.25 or more. I cant see the FSC on the copies she sent me. You have to be logged in to the system and click on "Details", but she said most loads have FSC.[/QUOTE] [/B]


I dont know if you work for the same landstar I work for or if your not setting up your search correctly but I can see loads that pay between 1.75 and 5.63 a mile. you may just want discourage new hires. I understand that. I see people say " just sit down with a driver and he'll get you list and tell you all about landstar. Not me. In case you havn't noticed these guys will be your competition for that load if they come over. If you had successful business and someone walks in and says Hey you look like you do pretty well here. I want to open the same store across the street and I need you to show me how to get your customers. You would probley toss the out on their ###. So why would I want to train my replacement?[/QUOTE]


What are you talking about? If you're saying I'm discouraging new drivers, then go back 1 or 2 pages and read my posts, you'll find that you are confusing me with someone else. If you are worried about these guys being your competition - to bad, this is the USA not Russia or China, I or we are free to do as we please and if the competition gets to tuff for you, you're free to go somewhere else!!!

 

Nobody has to lie to you about anythink because YOU are the one picking the load. It's a matter of common sense in choosing loads for profit or FAILURE. Then there's the other fella talking about paying an agent! WTH is that all about... I made money and that's FACT!

READ THIS CAREFULLY AGAIN! Everything ain't for everybody! REALIZE that. LS ain't satan... IF your looking for a company to allow you realize your AMERICAN dream then maybe you should STOP leasing and APPLY for your own AUTHORITY then you can be the boss... TRUE STORY!... I used to run a Demolition company and the employees would make comments about how much I was making and what I drove. DUMB (censored) I find the work, sign the contracts, hire the ppl, pay your wages, and pay the bonuses! soooooooo... you see my point?????? You can always find something wrong with everywhere that you go..... One sign of desperation is a person paying for a load.... That's just plain ole' UNETHICAL. Then theirs the place in which you reside.... DUDE! friggin MONTANA??????? gotta use a better example than that... Why are you delivering in MONTANA??? I'm lost.... You know how many times it took for me to go to Montana to realize that was a mistake???? ONCE!.... not twice... ONCE! that's not a valid argument..... some states are just BAD no matter who you lease to... I went to Prince Edward Island, Canada and nothing is coming outta there! I KNEW that!

Sounds to me like you were focused on one thing and that won't make you much money at landstar.. SORRY! I took a load to Wyoming and guess what? Couldn't find a friggin thing out after 5 hours so I got the hell outta there and never went back... So i'm not going to bore ppl with the story of how LS made me go to Wyoming and I failed. I BOOKED the load.... STOP going down dead end streets and hoping that someone paved it when you get to the end..... the sign said 'DEAD END' at the beginning of the street....

Some people don't need the hassle of actually using their brains to lease with LS... I've sat in the truckstop and listened to many a driver asking me how I was doing and I'd tell them and their reply was "Well, I'm not doing this/that" and I just smiled or ended that conversation quickly!

AND PLEASE everybody get off this 'BAD ECONOMY' excuse... The world is crooked! PERIOD! it's not like it was when paw paw and maw maw was here... Cars aren't $3500.00 and gas isn't $.20. You can't sell your item for $xxx.xxx anymore cause 50 other people are selling the same thing and their price is cheaper so you have to conform to this WORLD system. Make the best of it... I'm a young man of 37 years and you know what I found out about the economy??????? IT'S CONSTANTLY CHANGING! If you listen to most of the people talking about money, then most are bill broke... FELLAS.... get debt free and you'll see that the ECONOMY really won't mean a hill of beans to you... it's the constant change that makes us uneasy because we're still paying for crap and sometimes it gets tough and the budget has to change....



Now, let me share three things in my life recently so that you'll understand what I mean by competition. That's the FACTOR that's actually driving rates down and other costs up... Here goes:


1. I'm currently adding onto my home. I decided to split the air conditioner duties and add a small unit to the addition. Now, I called two licensed HVAC contractors for an estimate. One drove into my driveway with a brand new Dodge 3500 Laramie (diesel) pickup with the temp tag in the back glass. He looked around and handed me a $5600.00 estimate for a 2 ton 'GOODMAN' unit with heat and install, blah...blah...blah.... Now, the second guy drove into my driveway with a very nice Ford Work Van (paid for) and handed me a $3600.00 estimate for a 2 ton 'TRANE' unit with heat and install and he stated that he was a Trane dealer and got good prices.... Now, I did research myself and found that I could buy the 'Goodman" unit complete for around $1700.00 out the door. My point? I got a better unit with the cheaper estimate! I guess the paid for plain ole' Ford (WORK) van helped him give customers better prices..... lemme guess, some of you would have chosen the higher estimate because he had a better truck???? Not the bad economy.... but the fact that he was able to give better prices simply because his overhead was low.... THAT's competition... the same in trucking... trucking companies are everywhere and what you haul for $2.10 a mile, another carrier is willing to haul it for $1.98 a mile....

2. I had a brand new Warn winch sitting on the shelf in my shop.... I decided to sell it on Ebay... Now, I paid $1200.00 for it a year ago and never took it out of the box... I research Ebay and find others selling the same winch for $800.00 including shipping.... Noooooooo, I paid $1200.00 for mine so somebody has to give me $1200.00 for it..... NOT! the cheapest is $800.00.... so why buy mine for $1200??? I sold it for $750.00!...... COMPETITION!

3. I was bringing home between $7000 - $8000 after fuel (bi-weekly) transporting Petroleum products to various parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, just acouple months ago. I'm the ONLY owner/operator that was willing to go out of town (for a couple days) besides another company driver. Other drivers joked and made the remark "Well, we see who's on their knees".... NO! I wanna WORK! that's what the sleeper is for on my truck... they wanted to be home everynight and wasn't changing that work schedule.... I was loading and unloading and reloading just as fast as I could get back to the refinery.... $7000 this period....$8400 this period, blah...blah...blah... back to back loads..... man I'm burning it up round here! then......... 1 week no work.....2 weeks no work.... 3 weeks no work.... 1 month.... WTH! call the dispatcher.... blah...blah...blah...." G****** Transport came in and started hauling it cheaper so Si**** Petroleum is giving them the loads..... WHAT!!!!!! so my good service, punctual delivery, good appearance, cleanliness of my equipment didn't mean anything??????? NOPE!!!!! the C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-I-O-N is what made the difference... not Obama, not Bush, not the liberals, not the christians, not the catholics, not DOT, not the white house staff, not the FEDS..... The COMPETITION SCREWED me!!!!! .... SURE I'm pissed off, I'm hurt, disappointed, I feel let down, I feel like a whole lotta stuff but as long as SOMEBODY else is doing the SAME thing that you are doing.... then you are subject to CHANGE..... I feel like S****** Petroleum really doesn't give a fart about me, buttttttt what would you do if I charged you $4000 to haul your load and someone else under bidded me at $3100? You still want to use me?............ NAH! I didn't think so.. Trucking is the same way, trucking comanies are the same way, agents are the same way, schneider is, JB Hunt is, LS is, Mercer is, Fikes is, etc....... Until you OWN the company and run the entire show you are suspect to COMPETITION and that! is what drives the economy.... LS takes learning and an open mind to say the least... IF it pays well then haul it... if not let the other guy haul it....

Now, you pay that truck off and try your best to pay your other debts off and see how you feel. This is just my opinion and really doesn't mean anything to most of you. Got a friend complaining about how he's not making any money and blah...blah...blah...blah.... SH** I guess not! your always spending you check on crap you don't need and ain't saving a da** dime... and then when he has to sit at home for a load he gets all flustered..... I'm not bashing anybody but GUYS... If trucking isn't for you then sell the truck, go to college, get a degree, and then you'll have some new ECONOMY gripes to talk about..... THAT'S LIFE! Good Night Yall,

 

Overdalimit, nice post. I appreciate it, and I don't give much attention to the negative type posts honestly. My problem is that everything seems like its a shell game with them, and when I am considering moving my business over to a different carrier, all I ask is that I get straight no BS answers to my questions.

Now that being said, the load information I was given did not support the numbers I needed to see to make the change UNLESS there was a FSC paid ON TOP OF the rate that was shown. Now since I can't access the details, and I can't get a straight answer on the FSC question, I am not going to take a chance and find out the loads really pay crap.

The other option is was cut and dry what was paid to the truck, end of story. Now the argument was made that I don't know what the load really pays, and they are probably screwing me. Well guess what? I don't care how much THEY make on the loads, I care how much I make on the loads.

So its simple. Option A: Load pays $670 TTT and its $1.85 PLM. Tolls and Lumpers are paid by the carrier.

Option B: Load pays $670 +/- a FSC MAYBE, 65% cut of all of it, or MAYBE some of it. MAYBE its available and MAYBE NOT. MAYBE you will get better loads from brokers after you "Learn the system"

I just can't justify making the switch with incomplete information, and its nobody's fault really. Its just the way its set up. I don't see it as a good fit for me.

When I get the answers, then MAYBE my opinion will change.

 

EXACTLY! good analysis..... I can say though... I felt the same way because I wondered about it too... buttttttt I got a hold of a password and was able to see everything about the load and that's really how I made my decision to make the switch... Plus the fact that I was making .92 a mile plus fuel at another carrier and ppl had been telling me that LS was better and it was.... I didn't leave $2.00 a mile for uncertainty but HOPES that I could actually do better than .92 a mile and go where I wantd to... when I wanted to. My emploit was favorable and I made money.... which Landstar is aware of... especially when your truck breaks down and Landstar pays the bill and you repay them over 10 weeks, but some will say "Yeah, I guess so because your making them money, so they need you to keep rolling" LOL Isn't that why our wives stick around? Cause we're giving them money!