Landstar

There is a search button at top....Landstar has been discussed on here everyday.

 

And you need to be more specific about what you are going to be doing. Van, hard to make a go of it at LS with a van. Just take WAY too much. Flat can be ok if you are in right area and make sure you hook-up with reputable agent that will work for you.

 

Landstar is no different than most any other carrier. They have good paying loads and cheap loads. I have a friend who pulls his own van with Landstar and does fairly well. He mostly does trade shows. He has been with Landstar for quite a few years. He enjoys being with them. It does take a while to find agents who have the better paying freight. Landstar takes 35% of the rate when you pull their van. That is a big slice of the pie. I pulled a van with them quite a few years ago and did pretty well at that time. It can be a matter of finding a niche' for yourself. You will need to allow about 6 months to learn your way around their system.

Landstar does nickel and dime you about some of their fees. None are high, but they can mount up. They are also very anal about logs. You will be checked on your speed and time logged. They really push safety among their owner operators. Landstar has a rather unique approach to their business model. They don't own any of their own trucks and only use owner operators, although there are some fleet owners who have multiple trucks leased to Landstar and have their own drivers.

Those who have been accustomed to having a dispatcher will need to make some adjustments running under the Landstar system. You will not make it under their system unless you are very proactive. You will be responsible for your own success. There may be agents who call, but for the most part, it will be up to you to find your own loads and decide where you run. This is where many get into trouble with Landstar. They take loads to bad freight areas and then blame Landstar for their failure. Noone will hold your hand, but there are some resouces if you ask. Landstar treats their owner operators more as business partners than company drivers. Those who have leased to them and/or run their own authority think that running under the Landstar system is closer to running your own authority than most other carriers. Landstar makes money off of their BCO's. You can get discounts on fuel, but Landstar gets their cut of the discount. There are also discounts on tires and other things under their LCAPP program, but I am sure that they also make money from that as well.

It can takes several weeks to go through the approval process. That discourages many from leasing on to Landstar. I don't see a reason for them to take so long, but they march to their own drum beat. They have one way in which to do things......their way. In some respects, owner operators are treated as company drivers, but everyone is considered an independent contractor.

 

A friend of mine is a Landstar agent. He informed me that they are very selective. Only 4% of the applications get accepted for O/O's.

 

I believe the 4% is more urban legend than anything else. When I first looked at LS back in 2006 I found some old literature that had that number on it and it hasn't changed. That would be hard to stay at that number year after year. Did the math earlier this year when some guy was talking how low turn over was (40% at the time) and how they had increased BCO's. At 4% acceptance they would have had to had more than 100,000 applicants. Seems unlikely.

My feeling is that in '08 and '09 LS added way too many agents and the quality has suffered. As I talk with guys that pull vans they are seeing much lower rates than before and regular loads being undercut by other agents. It is too bad that LS didn't think this through when they started accepting brokers with small books of business that never would have lasted in the business had they not been able to hook-up with LS.

G/Man is correct, if you are pulling a van it takes time. I think that 6-month number is a bit low based on my many conversations. But some drivers seem to be happy with connecting with an agent that basically works the load boards for them. Plenty of companies that will do that for a much smaller cut.

 

There are some Landstar agents who only work with brokers for their business rather than getting their own direct freight. That keeps rates low. Another thing that Landstar does that really bugs me is that they allow their agents to compete with one another. That can also drive down rates. You may have 3 agents with the same load, each with a different rate. It isn't just Landstar that is using brokers. Most of the major carriers use brokers to some extent. It is difficult for most carriers to have all of their own freight. One would think that larger carriers such as Landstar would have enough agents that have their own freight to keep their trucks moving. Landstar has been moving more toward brokering their freight to other carriers in recent years. Other major carriers have been taking a similiar approach to their business.

Some of their agents do hustle and get their own freight. Those are the loads that usually pay a good rate.

 

Landstar is a good company to work for IF you're a hardworker and you're smart about money. Is there cheap freight out there? Absolutely, but there are also many good paying loads. You just have to be wise and get yourself setup with a few good agents who will take care of you and you take care of them. Feel free to private message me with any questions you have. I'll be happy to answer anything I can and get you in touch with the right people for the ones I can't answer.

Here are the minimum requirements.

 

We've been agents with Landstar for over 15 years now, and I can assure you they DO NOT promote multiple agents having the same customer. They actually forbid this and you must get clearance from accounts to pursue a customer before you can even schedule a meeting with them or give them your business card.

The problem is that customers out there contract with multiple freight forwarders, whom may each have a Landstar agent they deal with. So while you will see the same loads under several agencies, they are all different customers.