O/O looking

I have a friend who was leased to Mercer. He really liked them. He left to go back to running his authority when things got really slow a couple of years ago. Since you are in Alabama, you may want to check with CRST Malone. They pay percentage. Right now they are paying about $1.99/mile (fleet average) from what I was told a few days ago. They will rent you a trailer for $185/week. If you don't have your own securement equipment you can buy through them and they will finance it for you. As long as you have a good truck that will pass a DOT inspection, there should not be a problem. They are a good company. If you stay in their freight lanes you should do well. Living in Alabama, you could probably get home often.

 

if you wait for that price, you'll go hungry, even $2.00 cpm will be very hard to find as a lease

 

I would say that the average will fall between $1.50-2.00 for an owner operator who is leased to a carrier paying percentage. If you pull vans it might be a little less. Specialized could pay more.

 

As long as you have recent driving experience you should not have any problem leasing to most carriers as long as you have verifiable experience, a clean mvr and CSA. CRST Malone would probably put you to work in a couple of days if you want to pull a flat bed. You can also rent a flat from them until you can afford to buy your own trailer. Landstar, Mercer or any of the other carriers should put you to work with a minimum of 6 months to 1 year of driving experience. Some carriers do require more driving experience due to insurance, but I have never heard of an experience driver being turned down for lack of owner operator experience. Have you been out of a truck for a few years? That is the only reason that I can think of where drivers would consider you a rookie.

 

Yea, you DO need recent experience. If you have been out of this for about a year or more, your considered NEW nowadays.
It's weird...

So you want to haul cattle.....
Ok...how about contacting the owner of USCattlehaulers.com ?
Dan Little....

I will send you a PM. If anyone can offer you what/where/when and stuff like that (about hauling cattle) - he is the guy.
Unless cattle can stand and balance themselves on my flatbed, I won't be haulin' them...
PM sent.....

PS: You will find it easier to lease onto someone. Getting your own authority (while fairly easy) starts you out very new
and many brokers won't touch a new or fresh MC until it ages. Presuming you want to do this, I hope you have looked into
insurance costs and all sorts of new and exciting fees/taxes and whatever else these dam States and Feds can come up with
to ding us on. Leasing sorta hides alot of that stuff....Insurance as a new O/O will be your biggest financial hurdle.
Also, one last thought...You need to have a decent maintenance fund as you start out. Or, one mechanical issue and you can be
put right out....

Best of luck to ya man! - Just go about things the right way. I wouldnt haul anything for under $2/mi unless it served a purpose to
where or what I needed to do.

 

You kind of jump around with what you want to do. First you said you would like to get into heavy haul, then you seem to be leaning toward flatbed, then you decide you want to haul cows. I don't know what is prompting these changes in opinion, but it would concern me if I was your banker. Whether leased on or truly independent you now run your own business. Poor choices can put you in the poor house. It is not about what you "want" to do, but about what puts the most cash in your pocket. The rate for hauling cows might look great, but there are a lot of other things to be considered. You will be pulling a parachute...no MPG, high fuel bill. Lots of empty miles. Questionable HOS compliance. High claims? Animal down...you pay. High potential for personal injury. I would never try to break into this field as an ind cont. I would try it as a company driver first, see what it is like & if it works for you. I certainly would not invest money in a trailer without ever having hauled a single cow.

You are in the heart of Southern flatbed country. I would lease on to Mercer, CRST, etc. Haul the short loads with high minimums. You will probably be able to line up 2-3 loads in advance. There should be plenty of work and it probably won't be too seasonal. If you are a hard worker with some business sense, you should be able to get ahead quickly. You will work out your lanes and get the feel of the business. After a year or two, you should be set to look into your own authority. You may even develop a relationship with a shipper or two that will benefit you in the future.

If you really want to get into hauling equipment, give me a call. You can pull our trailer. You would be running from IA-GA & AL. Ind Cont averaged 1.81 on all miles (loaded or empty) in the 2nd quarter.

Good luck with whatever you decide, and feel free to PM me if you have any business related questions.

 

I love the BS I see thrown around.... Only 2+ mile freight you are going to find on a steady basis is short haul. Lets be real here guys.... Short haul may be OK and sound good because the rates are high but you have to look at the amount of revenue you bring in by the end of the week. For example, my trucks need to bill out 5K a week. That is the avareage I need to pay all expenses, and put some in my pocket. I am billing that with an average cpm rate of 1.6 to 1.9.. Sure I have some 3, 4 and even a few 5 dollar a mile loads here and there but they are 200 miles or less and tie the equipment up for 30 hours or so.... if you break down the rates vs. the mileage vs. the actual amount of cash you need to pay you, your bills and put a little away for your company, with dilligence and detremination you can achieve that with a rate of 1.6 to 1.8 per mile and run 2500 to 3200 miles a week. Dont get hung on a specific rate as you will spend a lot of time sitting and getting aggrivated vs. rolling.

 

I have a email addreess for you dunctruck379 jus pm me. she is out of alabama. how can sumbody in va tell us what the rates are down south. our rates are way differ than yours. I find rates above 2.00 every single day so lets keep it real.