Landstar trailer question

What's the cost for a landstar flat or step...?

 

Inway and Ranger is the same thing, just a different DOT #. I did what you are wanting to do. I started at Werner 10 yrs ago as a company driver, bought truck from them, stayed for a couple years; now im at Landstar. All the new LS trailers have the smart truck pieces, check and see if thats legal for cali? I dont have my own trailer, 40-60% of my loads are drops on one end or both. From what ive heard 7 out of 10 new BCOs fail here but this is just hearsay... Its not easy but i wouldnt ever go back to being told what to do or when.

 

I stayed at Werner 3 years after I bought the truck, I paid cash for it. I should of left at the end of the 1st year after i understood how to manage all the expenses. Picking your own loads is so much nicer.

1... Agents are supposed to be sure you have an empty when you re dropping a loaded one... Most drop n hooks are just at the shipper side, so luckily ive never run into a no trailer issue but ive seen a few posted on LS facebook pages where its happened.

2 There is some team freight but i couldnt tell you how much. My buddy and his partner did ok running team at LS.. He ended up leaving due to continuous truck problems. You have to check a box on the search criteria and ive just never looked at it.

 

When you start at Landstar I am a huge proponent of pulling a LS trailer for about 6 months or so until you learn our system and the profitable lanes. Then once you have the lay of the land you should buy a used dry van for cash, if possible. You can buy a trailer or sell a trailer to a BCO easily on our LCAPP website. You can also set up your trailer anyway you see fit. I bought one with a gigantic belly box underneath and carried 100 straps, 25 load bars, and over 150 blankets so I could get into the more lucrative show loads. Man I am glad I did that.

Don't worry about losing out on drop and hook freight. There are 35,000 loads on the board these days and the rates are exploding. Drivers like the ease of D&H but making big money ain't easy. It's hard and you need to think like a business owner, not a steering wheel holder. Differentiate yourself from the herd. The herd at Landstar is huge with 10,400 trucks.

Guys who tell you to not ever buy a trailer are not thinking straight, and certainly aren't thinking strategically. Here is how a business person should be thinking. First of all 100% of the total load revenue is yours as the driver. Think that way. Now you have decided to pay Landstar 28% of your total load revenue in exchange for providing you with a whole host of benefits, not the least of which is factoring. LS is the largest owner/operator factoring company in the world. Other benefits for your 28% include all billing services, fuel tax reporting, DOT compliance, tire discounts, protections against rogue agents and customers, safety seminars, that fabulous technological load board, etc, etc, etc. The full list of benefits you are paying LS for is almost endless.

If you decide to pull Landstar's trailer you will be renting it for an additional 7% of your load gross. The way to calculate this is as follows: the average LS BCO grosses about $20K per month. This means you are renting Landstar's trailer for about $1400 per month. If you buy a good used dry van for say $9-14K, yes you will incur some repairs, but you will make all your money back in about a year. Even if you financed it, your payment would not exceed $400 per month, meaning you are $1000 cash flow positive every month going forward. Pulling a LS trailer is about the worst deal going. And 80% of BCO's do not even consider buying. LS is laughing all the way to the bank. There is a reason Landstar's stock price is north of $100 and the company earned $190 million last quarter. That's right I said quarter. Multiply that by 4 for their yearly profit and you'll learn very quick that LS knows how to make money off of their BCO's. Not that that's a bad thing. We want a financially strong "crystal palace."

I bought my trailer from a BCO on LCAPP for $13,500 and sold it a year later for $12,500.to a BCO. Then I bought a brand new, tricked out 2017 Great Dane reefer trailer for $75,300 from the Landstar rep in Jacksonville at a 10% discount and I am happy with my decision.

Hope this info helps. If you decide to come here I'll see ya on the road.

Mark