Nice try Landstar.....

Ive been a Lanstar BCO for 4 years now. Almost all the stuff I do now is for 1 agency, and none of the loads I do ever hits the board unless I say I dont want it. I got to that point because I always did good work for them, on time, and without making a fuss if there was a little problem. In fact they have on several occasions called me and asked me if I would be interested in something they were bidding on before they even bid it.

Guess that makes me part of the "good ole boy network". I didnt ask for it, they offered because of above. Reflect on that and do some soul searching.

I mean look at it this way. When I first started, I didnt know any of the brokers. Some were great and some were #### bags (as the OP found out). I found a few of the good ones, and those are the only ones I would use after that. Its the same for the good brokers. They find drivers that they can depend on, and they want to keep them happy rather than take whatever they can find off the board. Because some of the ones on the board are good, and others are #### bags. Same thing...

 

Man....if you had been on your way, they might have called you right before you got there, and told you, "The load was canceled."

 

I don't blame you at all for taking advantage of anything like this offered. It is also why I don't ever want to work for a big place like Landstar. When things start going downhill this will starve a lot of guys who aren't the golden boys. Why lease if you don't get equal access to loads? With the exception of certain specialized loads like oversize/heavy or lane contracts.

 

Landstar had around 37,000 loads on the board on any given day when I joined. Right now, this minute there are 70,425 (4 years later). Last week when I was talking to a friend that used to be with Landstar and another guy he works with that is interested there were over 81,000 loads on the board.

Some times "big places" are big for a reason.

Thats 7 loads for every truck NOT COUNTING the loads that never make it to the board. Frankly I dont care if you work here or not, I do what I do and people leave me alone. I like it that way. I have a broker text I got today (from a broker I have only made a couple of runs for) Maple Plain, Mn to somewhere in MA - $6700. I didnt even answer him. I dont go east or west. MN, WI, IL, IA, IN, OH, MO, KY, and sometimes TN are the only places I will go. Dont even think about Landstar. They are too big. heh.

EDIT: I should note that only BCOs see Landstars whole board. There are loads that non-BCOs cant see, so it could be (I dont know for sure, just speculating here) that non-BCOs might not have a true idea of how good Landstars brokers can be because the good ones dont often put their loads on the "free-for-all" part of the board, where as the #### bag brokers probably do and that might alter ones perception of the company as a whole. I would never be an OO anywhere else quite honestly.

 

I wasn't attacking you or landstar, I'm happy for you, really. I also don't really give a #### how many loads they have available. What I was saying is I don't like the good old boy networks that large companies often pop up in places like that. Situations arise like was being talked about above with some guys getting trapped in places like Laredo for days while others hop the line and give everyone else the bird on the way out.

 

Well, like I said. The brokers find a driver that they like, they want to keep that driver happy. A driver finds a good broker they like, they want to keep that broker happy. It doesnt take long to formulate a good working relationship....

 

The thing is even though Landstar is a large company it is made up of many different brokers from small to large to normal stuff to specialized. (I know you know this, just using this to make a point) So just because it is large company it has nothing to do with good ole boy network. Each broker runs their stuff as they see fit and after seeing some of the shatshow truckers out there I can’t blame them for handpicking certain BCOs to haul freight for them and not post it on the boards. I would do the exact same thing. Just like me as a carrier can influence the shipping department of a certain company or broker by being on time, being courteous, etc to everyone at a company because you never know when that will turn into an opportunity to form a direct shipper/carrier relationship. Each place is different.

 

That load count is greatly inflated. About half that number are the actual loads available, and that's for up to about three weeks out.

Many of those are posted between 3 and 8 times for the same load. Including direct shipments.

So in the keep it real column. Let's keep it real.

 

Corporate is exuding more and more control.

Something is in the wind. And it doesn't smell too good.

 

Absolutely right. I never said otherwise. I gave the current load counts.

So if 70% of the loads on the board are ########, thats STLL 3 loads for every truck not counting those that never make the board which is still a hell of a lot better than any other company out there. I have heard rumors that accounts for 25% of the loads given out never hit the board. Honestly, VERY few of the loads I haul are ever posted. I honestly cant remember the last off the board load I had. I dont think I have had one yet this year, but not 100% sure.

So the big question is, how many others are in this same boat? How many guys do what I do? Is that 25% number in fact accurate? It could be after all if you count the heavy haulers, the guys that do nothing but government loads, and guys like me that are happy doing what a broker feeds them. If so, that 3 loads per truck figure just changed to 5 loads per truck if you discount the guys like me that never look at the board. And thats assuming that 70% are BS which is very generous. at 50% its down to 6 loads per truck.

Which isnt far off from the "7 loads per truck" number given using current load counts and not accounting for guys that never look at the board...

But thats just keeping it really real... (FYI I have a BS in math with a minor in computer science and was a computer programmer for 10 years including 4 years writing truck dispatching software. I LOVE to grind numbers).