Landstar with a Van,good or bad.?

Ah I see. I'm pretty sure that you will take a hit.
Consult your lease contract and weigh the options. Do you have a truck that you're bringing to LS?

 

Yea I just got it last week. 07 Pete 387.

 

Ok. Then consider the lease agreement and if it's confusing consult an attorney, a business attorney. In fact, call ooida, they can steer you to one whose in trucking.

 

First off I want to apologize for not getting to answer you sooner. I am not in the forum a whole lot. Second, of course I will tell you anything you want to know.
I now drive under lease for Koon Trucking out of Booneville, MS.
Quite frankly this is the best place I have ever hooked up with. I work hard but I get to keep the money. Landstar as has been stated here are HIGHLY overrated. They nickel and dimed me to death and that was AFTER a 28% cut.
Talk about greedy!!
Koon take 15% off the top. I have my own dry van and now I have a reefer as well. They take in my mail and have a locked up yard where I store my minivan and dry van for nothing. I even have a key to the yard.
Through 2016 I have been climbing out of the hole that Landstar put me in. All thanks to Koon Trucking.
I will be the first one to admit that this isn't for everybody. To be honest this is big boy trucking. You have to have your own equipment, not be underfunded and know what you are doing. For me the biggest attractions are the 15%, free IFTA preparation, super load finding and a tightknit atmosphere.
They have a close relationship with a bunch of brokers including some of the big guys. They also have some contracts of their own. All this with a teeny tiny company from a small folksy town in Mississippi. We are talking furniture loads, coca cola, mushrooms, grocery and general stuff even some pharmaceutical.
Got some good connections for leasing a trailer, APU repairs, trailer repairs, cheap tires and a few other bits and pieces.
I sound like a shill for them but I am just a OO who stumbled onto them through this forum. Met the owner when I was contemplating Meadowlark. Basically he rescued me. Meadowlark would have been another disaster.
If you are interested PM me - trust me you could do a lot worse..

 

Hey Izzi, great tag brotha! Straight to the point, doesnt hold punches, not too bitter not too sweet... the un-Cola man!!! Lol, gotta laff to keep from crying is my saying. I just put my app in with Landstar. After about 3.5 yrs OTR & oilfields, I can drive em all, flat, van, tanker, etc. But wanna go o/o with Landstar as a friend there says he does quite well from the Ls, Dallas area. (Im outta Vegas; not quite the freight lane$ I know). But he's step deck & says COME ON IN THE WATERS HOT! But today my little bubble got bursted with the fact of a 10+% down on the first truck. I accept this as truth & know Ive got it, but then busted... thus 2-3 mos. of building more $ down for the first purchase...
My question, is that you sound convinced this company is the bomb!!!! (Koon). Are they still after reliable drivers? (I've gotten employee of the month with 'Crete Carrier', my claim to fame, lol).

 

Koon is the right place for me but it is for folks who have a rig and are set up. They aren't looking to finance anybody. I am a fully up and running concern. I was with Landstar. The problem was finding freight and then somebody watching your back and keeping you running. I mean you can sit in your bunk hitting refresh and making dead end phone calls as I did with Landstar or have somebody do it for you. I prefer to have somebody keep me rolling not wasting time with brokers or agents or whatever you want to call them.
Landstar does have opportunities for guys with step decks etc but at what price? They have their hands deep and I mean deep in your pocket. By the time you stumble onto an agent who will keep you busy you can go broke. You can starve to death gathering food!!
Koon is a pass thru place, the key being back up and load finding. If you had a truck and reefer / dry van you'd be set. What I mean is this - if I had to go back to running my own authority it wouldn't be that big a step. It is the skillful finding of freight (and it is a skill) and tying up loose ends that makes the difference. Then there is being properly funded. Same thing if you were with LS. If you need tires or blow a transmission you need to have the capital to keep your business up and running nobody is going to bankroll you. No offense it is just a fact of life. I think that is probably the biggest mistake owner operators make. Rule of thumb for me is that if you buy a truck for $20k then you need $20 on hand. No different than signing up for a Subway Sandwich franchise.
I hope that helped a little.

 

Are there advantages of having your own authority at Landstar?