Need Advice on becoming an O/O

The joys of owning a piece of machinery.......Fortunately for me I just sold my truck today to be a company stooge, so I don't have to tell myself the same things for the time being. After I pay some things off, actually save some money for real, and learn some stuff I need to in a co. truck to get to where I wanna be I look forward to having all the headaches again.

 

It was the power divider worn out. A gear inside of it teeth all worn down metal shavings in the front chunk. Depends on how quickly the parts get here, how quickly I get back on the road. Might get it back this afternoon. My buddy still has my trailer but he'll be back down here dropping that out tonight. Lorha, I gotta say. As much as I can't stand times like this there's still no way in the world I could ever drive as an employee nor lease on to a company that didn't give me full control of dispatching responsibility. I wouldn't trade my gig for anything.... I'm also grateful right now this little breakdown is not that big of an issue.

 

I cleaned it out. Don't know why I keep em cause I never look at them again. My buddy will be glad to get rid of my trailer he says the "cat diesel power" mudflaps give him an extra gear in pulls but costs him about a mpg overall out of his Volvo

 

Just sent you a PM. Thx JT

 

Selling my truck was the last thing on earth that I wanted to do. Given the situation that I was in it was the best thing for me to do. I follow yours and a couple other people when yall post and want to work myself into a similar situation where you have made it now. All my driving has been local work except for the last year that I have been hauling containers around and at that all I ran was Virginia and North Carolina. Also, I want to get into flatbed because it has always been what has appealed and there is nothing on my resume which helps me in that area. Doing a lot of research I don't really know where I could have taken my truck other than a company that dispatches you and wants to pay you .90cpm. Was doing that already hauling the cans. I probally could have applied for landstar and pulled a van for a time until I could switch to a flatbed. Just with the limited exp. that I have actually running different freight lanes and so on I felt like in the long run I ran a better chance of ruining myself instead of helping myself. Im no where near dumb and I learn things real quick but that just not something I really wanted to learn all on the fly especially with as low as my money has gotten trying to make hauling cans work. After a lot more reading, thinking, and thinking some more I decided while I'm still 27 years young lol the best thing I can do is sell my truck and take a company flatbed job( i made sure its % pay). That way I can learn the aspects of it, the type of freight and the lanes it moves on around here(east coast...being I live on it I would prefer to stay on it),and then being on % pay hopefully getting a good glimpse or idea of what kinda rates it moves for. Then all the while of doing that, thankfully pay of what not much debt I have and then save save save. After a good few years and when I feel like my ducks are in a row I fully intend to buy another truck and make another go at it. This time much better prepared and with a sold idea of where I want to go and what I want to accomplish. When I buy another truck it will go either to(in no particular order) landstar, mercer, or F2F.After what this experience I could never own a truck if I wasn't the one in control of where it goes and what it does. Otherwise what really is the point of owning the truck if its not working for your interests?



Btw appreciate the time you take to post what do about some of what you know.

 

percentage pay isn't the way to go. the company won't tell you what they really made for the load. and factor in deadhead miles that you drive for free.

mileage is the way to go. you know what your getting paid.

i was getting paid 25% of 3000 for a load. but then i became o/o and was making 78% of 4000. for the same load. i was also averaging 700 miles plus deadhead per week. FREE LABOR on both pay scales.

 

If I was on miles instead of percentage I would be making much much less money then I do. Probably around 400 less gross a week. Its not possible to gross the money that I do on a weekly basis. Do you take into account F/S in that 1000$ difference? Or is that not including it?

 

There is no way that I would ever want to be on mileage pay. Yeah I might know what I'm getting put at the rate most companies pay mileage you gotta run run run and well then run some more. At least on percentage if the company is making you run crazy MT miles and they have decent rates you don't have to run a crazy number of miles to get the same pay. I'll take my chances any day on % versus knowing if I don't run 3500 miles a week I ain't getting squat. I'd rather make the most possible all the while running the least miles possible. When I get to the point of having my own truck again no question on this earth it will be % or my own authority.

 

Same with my hubby. He does much better on percentage, and we figured out the math for mileage, and he would have to be getting paid an average of $0.40 per mile to match what he makes on percentage . . .