taking advice from people who have FAILED in the trucking buisness?

i am new to the forum and a 10yr vet in the trucking industry.i have seen the good and bad of being an o/o and a co. driver,but i prefer the o/o position.if life had no challenges,then how would u know when to appreciate it? i enjoyed the o/o angle a bit more than the co driver.i work for a real jerk right now,but with the lord's blessing i'll be back in my own pete in a few weeks.i'm not going to tell u that owning the business isn't time consuming and stressful at times,but if you love what u do it's worth every penny.i'm just trying to find the balance in making it work with this economy.i have been considering leasing to Landstar or another specialized co and pull their trailer til the funds allow me to purchase my own.i haul mostly military equip. right now and the government pays real good.i was introduced into trucking from the independent side of trucking and never really knew about leased o/o til now.i wish i'd explored both sides in order to see what fit best.i don't discourage anyone from doing what u love,but u have to stay focused on the prize.God Bless and keep it between the ditches lol.

 

I failed as an o/o, with help. Leased anotherguys authority for .05 a mile. Paid a lady to find loads and work phone, for 300.00 a week. Didn't know you could make that much money in trucking. Then the money slowed down, so I made collection calls, and found the customers had been paying. Faster than I could unzip my pants, the guy I leased the authority from, took bankruptcy, I lost 20,000.00. Get your own authority if you can use standard trailers, nothing specialized.

 

That depends on your definition of a trucking business. For owner operators of 1 to 3 trucks, very high. For a trucking company of 10 to 50 trucks , not as much, over 50 trucks even less.
I've been at this 35 years and been a owner operator for 30 of them. One thing I found out quickly, lights and chrome doesn't make you any more money and shop rates can get put a big dent in your bank account.
There is no magic number for maintenence cost even though lots will say it is. Its just too variable. Warranties only cover what breaks, not what happens to wear out prematurely.
People fail to realize that, being a owner operator is a business and you will have good months and bad months. If the business doesnt make a profit, you dont get paid. You have to live on a budget according to the profit of your business, if you cant then stay with being a company driver.

 

Listening to those who failed is 50/50. If they have an attitude and blame everyone but them selves. In one ear and out the other. But they say I made this mistake and that one, you can learn from them. But if you noticed, 60% what you read on here, even in the thread of Bad Companies, it all one sided. And if you really think about it, with an Open Mind, you can tell the BS from the Real thing. True they had a problem, but who was really at fault?

 

There is a world of difference between being a true O/O and being a lease operator....As a lease operator you are a company drive making payments on their truck and having little to no control over your own destiny.

 

In the past year I've seen some good O/O's with their own authority struggling or getting out of it . The main problem was base customers shipping far less or giving their business to other carriers that cut the rate and then failed themselves . Some O/O's are now getting calls from shippers that have stopped using them saying the carrier they'd been using is now out of business . Now the shippers know why the original rates were reasonable .

 

Running your own business is risky. If there was no risk, everyone would do it. You have to wiegh the pros and cons and consider what is best for you.
-If you don't want to spend time planning and strategizing or trying to anticipate, owning probably ain't for you.
-If you aren't detail oriented, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you don't want to make sure that the bills are paid on time, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you don't want to know when enough work is done to ensure you can cover the bills, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you don't want to keep records, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you don't want to keep up with tax regs, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you don't want to closely inspect your truck to help anticipate maintenance needs, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you don't want to take a load to someplace you don't want to go, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you must be home on time everytime, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you want to pull into the truckstop every night and sit in the casino, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you don't have the wherewithall to manage a business, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you aren't willing to listen to yourself, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you aren't willing to occasionally put the job first, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you generally blame other people for your problems, owning probably isn't for you.
-If you aren't willing to take responsibility for everything that happens to you, good and bad regardless of the situation, owning probably isn't for you.

Hmmm, I haven't mentioned driving yet.

 

You don't want to take advice from me then. I have not failed "yet", but I am well aware of the fact that I am always just one catastrophic truck incident away from the failure that ends my career as an O/O. That's all its going to take.

What I will have done wrong was not having enough money in the bank to cover myself in case such an event occurs. Any semi truck is always just around the corner from needing a new set of drive tires for $3200+, or a $8K genset since the states have ###### idle laws. Or a $20K over haul, or head, or turbo, or somebody just stole all my fuel, and that $400 I just spent on fuel is gone the same day my truck payment was due. Or, $2000 for tags, or my 2290 is due, and my child just broke her arm, and my chimney on my house fell over. Or, I just got jacked out of two days hard running because some broker is a punk Or, or or or or or or or...

I just refuse to go farther into the hole getting loan after loan or buried in debt. When it happens it will be my fault, and there is nothing I can do about it. I wont lie about it, its simply what it is. Lack of funds. Oh, and if you ask me why. Ill probably just tell ya it was NONE OF YOUR GOD #### BUSINESS!

 

I guess I see it differently, I will only take advice from one who has failed. I would prefer however to take advice from one who has failed one or twice and then has succeeded.