Some numbers for new O/O

when my uncle retired I was running under his authority and he had a local account that we used to get out and used the dat board and a few landstar agents (approved carrier ) to get back , I payed my aunt to do all the bs because she was doing it before anyways and they were running 4 trucks . after a couple of years are main account closed down so I went a few months just working for a couple of agents and dat board. my aunt got sick and no longer could take care of the paper and office work and I didn't really want to do more than I already was doing and they sold the other 2 trucks they had left I had a reefer trailer and another guy wanted to buy it and I was tired of all the bs in the reefer game so I sold it then signed up with landstar just to try it and I was netting the same and a little more with landstar so I stayed there pulling company vans doing primarily landstar loads and about 50/50 drop and hooks . when we had the local account it was a good set up and made it worth while to deal with the extra bs involved, but primarily counting on the spot market and the load boards it has its moments but over the long haul your losing money . and just starting out you are just going to make too many mistakes when the rates fall. its not rocket science but you still need to learn the ropes . I think too many guys got into it the last couple of years and you could make a lot of mistakes and make bank and not learn anything and eventually they will be back in a company truck

 

I pay 60k+ a year for fuel with a discount and sometimes 400/mth for tolls.

 

Cause your stuck to that company and alot of lease programs are built to fail.

 

Dude you work waaay to hard to be spending that much on fuel. That's a whole lot of miles.

 

True is that nowadays this is not a job for making money, more for being busy doing what you love, like a hobby.
For making money, go driving a Walmart truck or go drive for a union company, you will be close to six figures a year and reasonable home time.
Having my own authority for 3 years, and truck and trailer paid for, my revenue last year (with a dry van and going home every five or six weeks) after all expenses was $27,000, much much less than when working for a company. (My daughter working in a nursing home did make $38,000 last year).
You got the freedom of being your own boss and going and doing what you please, yes, BUT you paid a price for that. Finding a contract with a company is almost impossible if you got only 1 truck (I do still working after 3 years out of DAT loadboard), and working out of a loadboard isn't the best thing in the world.
Brokers are out to make their own money, not to help you, keep that in mind. They are not shame to offer you loads for $0.85 a mile, and when you complain about, they just laugh out of you, if you don't take it, some other idiot will, they know that already.
Keeping tractor and trailer in shape, cost a lot of money, fuel is expensive and will bleed you out, repairs come when you least expect them and going on vacation is out of the equation at least for me in the last three years.
For what I see, we are the cash cows of this industry, everybody make money out of you, and what you keep, is close related to the market, that for the last 6 months is been as bad as it can be.
Like everybody else you will paid for tractor, trailer, fuel, tires, repairs, maintenance, ifta, permits, tolls, fines, showers, food, and many others things that sometimes you don't expect but will be happening anyway.
Good example of that, in my last trip got a dot level 1 inspection, they found a leaking chamber in trailer and one of the wheel brakes out of regulation, slack adjuster have gone bad, got an out of service of course with a $250 fine by, have to call road service to work onsite, cost of repairs $495, that's a lot for a new chamber and a slack adjuster but you can't argue with them, you are the cash cow, remember that. Further with the trip I rode over a piece of metal on the road, I saw it on time but was having cars on the left line and could not get to the right to avoid it for being in a construction zone, have to ride over it anyway, destroyed a 16 ply front tire month and a half old, cost of replacing it on the side of the road $925.
Revenue on this two and a half day trip, -$200. (Minus $200).
Have you not being prepared for that and have to pay for insurance or any other payment in a hurry, (or do have got another breakdown) in a market like its today, you have to get a loan in a hurry or ask friends or family for money, things that do not happen in any other profession you may have.
Like I said, it's not for everybody, there are guys who got lucky and have found some contract just after six months on the business and are doing better than myself (very few), there are others (the most) that have invested $20,000 and are out of business within a year, and it's gonna keep happening unfortunately.
Everytime the market get the seasonal high, there are the couple of stupid guys calling everybody on the phone telling how much they have make these week, or month, and there are the couple of stupid guys running to the bank getting a loan to buy a truck just to find three months later than they have to choose between paying the truck or paying the house loan, and guest what, dealer gets truck back laughing out loud and looking for the next idiot to fall for it again.
I am not saying that you should not consider going on your own, but for the sake of it, take a good look before you do any investment and consider all variables and ups and downs of this business. If you are out just to make money, you may consider doing something else.
The times when driving a truck was a respectable profession and did leave the O/O some money in the bank are long gone. Thanks to Ronald Reagan and his industry desregulation, the only ones doing money nowadays are big companies with a lot of trucks, they make just few pennies on the mile but got a lot of trucks for almost nothing and lots of drivers for less than that making lots of miles for them. (Same that has happened with Walmart and all the mamma and pappa local shops in your city).
The future is gonna be worst, big companies are investing in railroad transportation, more people looking for jobs coming from everywhere ready to work for a 1/3 of what you make, and the industry going to automatized (read robots and self driving trucks) as much as they can to save on drivers cost, it's not a good moment to begin thinking in become a O/O with a safe future. Just my two cents.

 

Well being a 1 truck company has never made true sense your better off with at least 5 rigs theres more head ache but more pay off the day of the 1 rig companys has come to an end its get at least 2 rigs or no rigs. Heck get another owner op and have him as a driver and then u can get contracts,fuel discounts everything why causs your seen as more of a COMPANY not a guy who just went and bought a rig and FOR CHRIST SAKES DONT GET A #### LOAN. You save your cash and buy a rig right out for cash then your not loosing cash your MAKING cash.

 

Insurance companies dont let you get that much trucks, not at once and not about a longer period of time, "rapid grow" they call it, and they dont like it, dont let you go with five trucks unless you have more than 4 years in business and by them only 5 trucks, no more than that, that's what they tell me when trying to get few o/o to work with me.

 

How many trucks do you own?
Your own authority?

 

1 truck, own authority.

 

Im not a driver yet but if u look at the numbers ot makes sense my plan is go to a diesel tech program get that then my cdl get a job fixing rigs save up cash buy a rig that needs repair fix it hit the road save buy a 2nd rig fix and get a driver and so on.if i can make enough at the diesel mechanic job ill buy 2 rigs and fix em up.