Really need help and advice.

I'm sure things may have changed, but when I was at admiral merchant, I did just fine as long as I stayed in there strong areas. If I took a load to where they didn't have a very big presence, I was on my own to find my own load back. And unless you got some strong contacts, that return load will be what you can find off the public broker boards like internet truckstop. and AM is still getting a their cut of the pie. The only thing you save is the agent percentage. so cheap load board broker freight minus 20 percent or so to the carrier, leaves not much for the truck.

Not saying AM is bad, they aren't, but just like every company, you need to learn how to work their system if you want to succeed.

 

I'm not the kind of guy who digs or prys into other peoples private business. They see my wife and I together and some people are friendlier than others and just like to talk.

Being a cynical person,.. I take in and scrutinize everything. I believe maybe half of what folks say,.. the rest I attribute to bragging, competition, or just plain BS.

As I stated,.. I've only been an O/O for a year now. I started with the mindset that I would do everything in cash. The less I financed or made payments on the better. I try not to finance anything that I cant pay off in 30 days. Though some things and situations will eventually require a bit more risk on my part. Dont get me wrong,.. I would love a nice new 389 Glider, chromed out, chicken lights, custom pin striping,.. man that old school look takes me back. But I am very much a realist. Function over form has served me well. As long as its reliable and affordable,.. I'm going to make money with it. I dont mind what it looks like. People can snub me and snicker all they want/ My set up is paid for,.. I can come and go where I want. I dont owe anyone. My bills are paid. I have money in the bank. I can take off or lose a month and other than going stir crazy,.. I'm just fine.

I agree,.. I dont know enough or all the ins and outs of this business. I am learning every day. I am a do'er. If I had it all figured out, I'm the kind of guy who would be at home dispatching a fleet of trucks instead of leased on to someone else busting my balls to stay ahead of the curve so I can survive what ever comes my way.

OTR trucking is a lifestyle more than it is a style of career or just a job. Its tough on everyone in the family. It will find the strengths and weakness in a family. It will bring some closer together,.. and others it will tear them apart.

People come here on TTR almost everyday asking pretty much the same questions. How much do O/O's make? You see guys posting up how easy it is and all the big numbers being thrown out there. Rookies see that and develop dreams of grandeur. The real truths to the question is,.. "How hard are you willing to work?", "How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to succeed?".

Hurst

 

In the first 2 years that I owned my truck I made more than a few mistakes. What saved me was pretty much sheer stubborness and my willingness to bust my butt to keep going forward.

Reading your posts you seem to be that way also and will do what it takes to keep going and provide for your family. I'm not going to sit here and say that you should be away from your family more but grabbing a nice long load on a Friday that delivers on a Monday once or twice a month would be a nice boost to your bank account.

Sometimes the easiest money to make is when nobody else wants to work.

 

Home time is a product of where you live, what trailer you pull, and how well you pay attention to your lanes. I get home quiet often. Every weekend I go home. I work hard to get rates that support it. I find that loads running 300-400 miles work best to my needs as far as getting profitable rates and getting home often. Sometimes I do shorter hauls and sometimes longer but 350 would be typical.

I pull dry van and just happen to be lucky enough to live in a state with a good balance of consumption and production of dry van freight. There are major lanes from west to east and north to south that all seem to converge right thru TN. Lots of freight going in all directions tends to route thru here. That is also to my benefit. I strive to always keep the truck empty and available for last minute lucrative weekend freight around the house (hasn't been any of that in ages!) which can be a job but probably 90 percent of my weekends that truck is parked at home empty. Failing that I am either on a load that picked up locally Friday delivering somewhere or sometimes routed thru the house for a weekend.

Many times I will get thru the house in the middle of the week. That's what happened Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I like to go out and back from TN. The majority of the time I make my best money on my outbounds but anymore I sometimes have to take calculated risks on lower paying loads leaving TN then work back. Anyone who lives in this area pulling a flat or dry van should have no problem getting home often and making good money doing it. In fact I go so far as to say anyone in the southeast or Midwest should be able to do the same thing without too much trouble.

Now if you are working at a company who is weak on freight around your home area you might as well forget it. Or if you live in Denver, CO or Florida, maybe even some other areas out west it is probably not going to happen. You live in Cincinatti. It ought to be a relative cakewalk.

As a company driver what have you been doing for years? Mindlessly delivering loads never recalling any details about areas you deliver and pickup at? I think it helps if one has a "photographic" memory and can recall the most mundane details about freight they've hauled over the years. I worked for 11 years a southeast regional company as an employee and forced dispatched o/o. I have lost count of the loads I have hauled as a driver booking spot market freight off loadboards that were some of the exact same customers they used for TN outbounds and inbounds. I have even found some good ones they don't know about or never had access to.

You have to pay attention and you have to learn thru trial and error as you go. No rich uncle's here, no easy street, I earned it all the hard way on my own and debt free, took years to get here and really feel as though I am just getting in the swing of things and doing ok. It took me a few months to figure out my routines but figure some out I did. - and they do evolve. I would never make it out here if I had to live in a truck for weeks on end. I would sell the truck. Good luck whatever path you follow.

 

Well said Rollin Coal,

I was thinking the same thing, living in Cincy, he should be able to find plenty of flatbed work in the Midwest to get home regular. Maybe just a matter of getting hooked up with the right company. Or possibly getting his Own Authority. I am with you, I have done this many years, 28 to be exact, and made a very good living . Never been away from home over 7 days, never seen any reason to. Im not knocking the guys that do, by any means. Just trying to let Beethoven know, you can make a good living at this without staying on the road for weeks, or months.

 

Me too, Hurst.

 

I have a great reply but now I'm worried that it's not PC enough. Heck, I even thought humor and sarcasm were a big part of the fun in here. I guess I'm a sick man.