Owner Operators and Multiple Drops

The trouble with being inside at Landstar and booking a 100 mile haul paying $500 from ITS is that's going to be about a $1 mile cheaper than what I get. The surcharge and other deals BCO's get ain't gonna make up that buck. I would never drive 100 miles for $3.50 a mile - talk about insult. Landstar BCO might haul that to make work or move over but he ain't gonna be proud of it. Granted, some of what i haul from brokers would pay exceptionally well even if I was a BCO taking 66% + surcharge. How many one truck BCO's pulling a LS van do you expect have a contact list full in their phone of brokers from loadboards? In fact if you ask most that have ever hauled outside brokered they will tell you yeah and it was dirt cheap. Why? Because they don't have the need nor time to figure out brokered freight. Unless they were doing well as an outside carrier and, as a BCO, have their own solid contacts outside of Landstar hauling from loadboards is a big lose, lose, lose. The surcharge doesn't change that. Most loads from ITS going 100 miles will get offered up for $300 maybe $400 talk about insult at 66% + surcharge!) so for someone who doesn't play with them every day using loadboard for cheap relocation load is goingto get boinked.

 

the company im leased on to charges the customer some additional rate and i make most of it.

 

All good valid points but way off topic. The question was "Let's say your leased on at a percentage ONLY...", how are you paid for drops. So there is no right or wrong answer, just personal experience, to debate whether or not one makes more doing it one way vs the other is off topic.

 

A true O/O with his own authority runs each load after signing a contract to p/u at point A etc. and deliver to points A,B,C or whatever. There is no mention of miles or multiple drops just a set price.

 

As a leased independent contractor i'm paid 75% of whatever the carrier gets plus 100% of the FSC. I haul mostly LTL freight so it adds up fast. More work,more money. Personally I stay away from stop offs whenever possible. With LTL each stop is basically a separate load. Each to his own.

 

We demand drop pay, tarp pay, fuel and permits. Our pay is a percentage to the tractor and trailer. Anything left on line-haul means more money for Landstar and less for us. I negotiate the highest accessorial charges I can get.

We have a problem with one agent who adds our accessorial to the load. We get paid for it, then it gets deducted later. He says I'm the only person who's ever complained. He's adding to line-haul, rather than subtracting. I can't believe I'm the only person to complain in 28 years.

Read your freight bills. Your money should be subtracted from line-haul and explained. Stops, tarps, permits and fuel should all go to the driver.

We're always paid on a percentage, we're owner-ops. We're never paid per mile. Our tractor makes 65% and our trailer makes 8% of line-haul. Drops, stops, tarps, permits and fuel are *supposed* to go to the driver. If we had a second truck, that's how I would pay our driver.

 

Have you ever had your own authority? We have. I would certainly charge for drops. We hauled cattle and charged for stops, mileage and transfers. We never had a set price. If we were transferring cattle and a guy was late, we'd charge detention. Every load was different.

We shelved our authority and we're considering going back on our own. I give a fair price and charge extra for delays. If we go into the oil business, on our authority, I will charge for drops.

 

Were you drinking when you wrote this? It has nothing to do with the original question. What's ITS and 100 mile loads have to do with stops, and how one gets paid for stops?

 

No I was stone cold sober. Sometimes the conversation veers and people tend to get a little agitated by it.

The way I look at it doesn't matter what accesorials are. It's always about what the truck turned in mileage at year's end, the gross revenue earned, and the profit left over.

Everyone does it differently. If I am asked about a load that I suspect or know will have detention the linehaul is going to be more over the top to make up for that. Detention pay, whatever it may be, is more like a bonus. Same thing with extra stops.

I do flat rates and quick quotes. Much simpler and quicker that way. I could break all of that stuff out and yes understand I am leaving some money on the table that my company is getting to keep. I'm ok with that. My numbers in the big picture and profit at year's end more than make up for it. I know what I'm doing.

 

I have had hundereds of rate confirmations and they all are flat rate.