Hello everybody! I'm new for US trucking industry and trying to develop ideas to start business in hauling. I'm interested in LTLs shipment. But it all belongs to/shared by big companies with solid logistic service. Is it possible for small business operator in trucking to get loaded by LTLs bypassing spokes and hubs and big guys? May be there is some application that provides proper assistance?
Lots of LTL freight moves on non branded equipment. Schneider, Covenant, and many other companies pull freight for many of the ltl companies, non union and Union. The market already operates rather efficiently, so the likely hood you are going to create a new product is very slim. YRC even has CRST and Schneider pulling their doubles between major hubs as the railroad can't give them the service anymore. Keep thinking outside the box you may come up with something.
It should be some ltls with the same departure and destination area that can be coordinated in time, so that we can avoid hubs/DCs. Isn't it?
Road Runner is already a non break bulk LTL operation just lease your truck on to them, there pretty much doing already what your talking about. Pitt Ohio the regional carrier tries to do a lot of by passing of spoke and hub stuff.
Thank you for the reply! I guess you are talking about these companies, rrts.com, and pittohio.com, aren't you? Do I have another options to deal with them except lease trucks to them? May be they provide different LTLs collection that I can accept or decline to operate? If not are there the others who let me do so?
A lot of the non break bulk LTLs actually were either bought out or went under companies like Jevic and G.O.D there all gone now. rrts and pittohio.com you got it. roadrunner is one of the biggest in the country and is expanding there business network or at least trying to you just lease your truck to them and they set you all up.
If you are going to operate this with trucks only, you will have to locate shipments that pick up and deliver within proximity of a route. Pick up those shipments and deliver them by their due dates/times. That is extremely difficult to do. Roadrunner has an established network of terminals where they store and sort freight. They haul LTL shipments at reduced rates, because they accumulate it, until the can fill a dry van on a route plan. (they do have lanes that fill daily) They still have P&D drivers, and line haul drivers. Some of their buildings are huge, and probably cost 20 or 30k per month to rent. Maybe more. They've been in business since '82. A box truck for in town shipments is probably the best way to get started, unless you're a billionaire.
