MPG

Helped prolong the agony maybe saved themselves no

 

As a O/O, or small carrier, you have a LOT on your plate, and you simply can't do it all to perfection. Maintenance, load scheduling, fuel economy, tires, managing credit and receivables, breakdowns, selecting loads, finding shippers, the list is endless.

I'm sort of a fuel economy nerd. I think our fuel economy sucks, but we run live cargo very heavy (86,000) in the PNW, about the worst possible scenario, and rarely go much below 6.

That said, my last load ran at $5.36 / mile to the company. I'm not surviving on fuel economy, I'm thriving on hustling the freight. I can do just about everything wrong (and I have, I have), but if you have the revenue is high enough, a lot of sins are forgiven.

You can only do so much. If you can't pick your freight, then costs is where you have to compete and make a difference. But time and energy is much better directed at getting exceptionally good at something and charging accordingly.

 

They don't all run that fast. I imagine they have an appointment to make and another load to get. I assume they know how to manage their business and I don't give it another thought. I have enough to worry about

 

Maybe.

Landstar owner operators are paid on percentage and need to figure out their lanes and work the phones to find their loads. If they aren't good at that then their average revenue per mile drops. They get stuck in areas with cheap freight. They can't be bothered to develop relationships with key brokers. They just want to drive and run miles.

Some of those O/O's run themselves into the ground. You have to be smart about the loads you take. Shoot for at least $2/mile for all miles. It's hard in today's market, especially with dry van. Set yourself apart. Haul Hazmat. Pull flatbed and work up to oversize.

Once your fuel cost is a smaller fraction of revenue, then it becomes a question of how many loads can you deliver per week?