Percent pay @ Landstar vs Schneider Choice

Sure, there are hundreds that are making diddily at LS and by the same token there are thousands that are making dang good money. It is up to each, individual operator to determine what they make here, that is not controlled by LS, but by the operator.
As to the landstarbroker.com board, I've never seen a rate posted there, myself. If you have access to the LS in house board for BCOs, you will see the gross money on the load, to LS. On a LS load, brokered out, LS Corporate will get their percentage of about 12%, of this there is no doubt as they are not a not for profit organization. The Agent can play with the other percentage. If anyone has gotten a load from LS at 90% of the gross freight bill, the Agent not only gave up their full commision, but reimbursed LS for the percentage of their commision that was given away. I don't know many Agents that would work for free, much less take money out of their own pocket to move a load.

 

Yes, Bill, there are some Agents that represent more than LS. There always have been, but they are in the minority. Even my domicile Agent flies two banners. The fact of representing more than one carrier is not a big deal, it's what the Agent does with those two Carriers, that counts.
If he has a direct customer and books me a load with them under LS, that is fine. However, if he books that same load through his other carrier and then brokers it to LS to me, that is not. He knows that I have no problem checking to see which way he did it, as all I have to do is look at who LS sent the freight bill to, for payment. By law, a Motor Carrier that has a percentage contract with an O/O must allow that O/O to see any rated freight bills (invoices) pertaining to the loads that O/O has pulled for that Motor Carrier. LS is very compliant on that point, in fact, I don't even have to ask for them as they are posted online for me.
When I look at who the bill was sent to, if that matches either the shipper or consignee, that is direct freight. If it does not match, then it is most likely a broker or 3PL.

 

Before this discussion, I knew nothing of Bill's business model and now I still don't know much about it. I do know this, people that try comparing percentages are doing themselves a great disservice. While 90% may sound wonderful, compared to my 73.5% + + +, it may well be disasterous. A person has to look at the total package to determine what is best for them.
In my 30 plus years, in this business, I have seen and been involved in a lot of different deals and studied them closely. Very seldom have I ever seen a higher percentage deal be more lucrative than a lower percentage deal, when all the facts were laid out on the table.
The other week, I was talking to an O/O leased to Long Haul, out of Minnesota. He gets a much higher percentage than I do, but when we compared actual numbers, we found that we were about even on the money side to the truck. One difference we did discover was the discount programs. While his wasn't bad, he liked mine better.

 

The lease shall specify that payment to the lessor shall be made within 15 days after submission of the necessary delivery documents and other paperwork concerning a trip in the service of the authorized carrier. The paperwork required before the lessor can receive payment is limited to log books required by the Department of Transportation and those documents necessary for the authorized carrier to secure payment from the shipper.


Our lease does specify this. Nothing in the regulations say that if the lessor is not allowed to chose different pay options. We give them the option to make additional money if they want wait till we get paid. Our drivers gross between $200,000 and $250,000 a year. At 3% that is $6,000 to $7,500 in additional income. But it is a choice and nothing that is forced upon our drivers.

Two separate attorneys say how we do this is 100% legal.

I understand that you are new. But please understand that I take personal offense to anyone saying that I am doing anything illegal or cheating my drivers. My biggest passion is exposing abusive leases.

It is ironic the person supporting a 67% percent lease has issue that I give my drivers the opportunity to get 90%.

 

You are right. Comparing percentages means nothing. But I was not the one trying to use percentages to prove a point that someone giving up a bigger percent was making more money.

So my drivers compare "to the truck" rate. These are not newbs in the industry and have had plenty of conversations with LS drivers. And they all support what I have learned, LS van drivers are not close on what my drivers are making.

Now I love LS. My drivers love LS. We all respect and appreciate the dedication that many LS drivers show to their company. We have model much of what we do after LS. We participate in the ACG program. We are working on dedicated accounts with LS. We have drivers that run regular lanes with LS that are making twice what the BCO that does the same lane makes. And while I am not going to share the details, there are people like Rollin that can verify this all to be the truth. Marine has spoken to several of my drivers that are not on these boards and will tell you they say the same thing.

So while I admire you passion for Blue Star there is still a lot that happens that is not geared towards the BCO.

 

What Bill is doing with the extra 3% is nothing new, there are lots of carriers that have been willing to do this over the years. Most carriers won't even mention it for two reasons. 1. They know most owners would never have the capitol to wait for their money. 2. They would much rather keep that extra 3% for themselves.

The regs state that once the paperwork has been turned into the carrier the carrier must pay within fifteen days. Nowhere in the reg does it say that the owner op is not allowed to waive that fifteen day period and wait for the carrier to be paid so that they can then be paid extra for waiting.