Taking the leap - O/O vs. Company Driver

Welcome- and congrats on earning a retirement!

You're used to stress- but the stress of changing careers can be tough. Probably more stressful than trucking itself.

Doing the O/O thing right away can be done, but it's the hard way to go, Cali is hard nosed and unforgiving to trucking- Your state won't cut you any slack and you'll be subject to a higher level of scrutiny than the rest of us.

I'm betting that you can do it, you might even like the challenge. The only thing I'de like to warn you about is to be careful parting with your cash. I'm guilty of doing it myself, but will tell you from personal experience that if you invest a large downpayment, or invest funds from a second mortgage, if you use your IRA or borrow from a resource you've spent your life building, you'll lose that money and it may never come back to you.

Trucks are loaded down with pollution controls lately and Cali will make sure you have them all installed and working properly. But they kill your mileage and mechanical reliability. Used late model lemons that look great but get poor fuel mileage and constantly need repairs on the frail emissions systems are becoming too common.

Separate those hard earned funds and buy silver. (So that it's harder for you to liquidate and use). Store it, bury it, lock it up- and look into 100% financing. But watch out for west coast trucks, they'll cost more than usual. 100% financing could include Lease Purchase deals or a truck from a dealer. Purchase or lease something you can get out of with minimal damage if the truck turns out to be a lemon.

But the best thing you can do is to study what you're about to get into- everyone else knows how to steal your money by leveraging what you don't know. It sure wouldn't hurt to spend at least a year as an employee, learning the business from the inside out so that you'll have a better understanding of the traps ahead of you.

We're proud to have you join us!

 

May I ask if you know what the trucking life is like already? Before you invest in a truck you may want to see if you like it first. My dad retired from the Army and he tried to drive for Schneider but he either quit or didn't make it through orientation (never knew what happened, he was the type of person who never told you the negative truth). He passed away a couple of years ago so I will never know.

Knowing his personality though, after it settled in that he was a civilian again, he may have wanted to be at home for the first time instead of always being on the go and taking orders all the time. I want to see how it is like driving for a company and if I love it I plan to get my own truck with some nice upgrades such as a larger sleeper with a shower and a nice surround sound system

 

Sounds like an upgrade from what you are used to for sure! You can do whatever you like but you may want to work for a company to build connections and to see how they handle their trucks. That is how I was able to open my own car stereo business back when that stuff was popular in 1998. I worked for a local car stereo business next to the Army base and learned a lot of things about how to manage the business.

Perhaps the company you work for will have you in different trucks so you can determine which one you like the best before buying one. I don't think you would have anything to lose by driving a company truck for a while before getting your own. However I am the new guy so I may be wrong. The pros here will give you a lot more info than I can.

 

Get your feet wet as a company driver and experience the "life" before you invest into your own gig. That's the short and sweet of it in my opinion.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

 

This....


No risk, all reward. If it works for you being a company driver then you can always go O/O after 6 months, a year or two. By then the trucks may even have more reliable emmissions equipment than they do now. The need for quality drivers will only continue to grow in the future with continued safety regs.

 

^^^^^^Agree.

After being out on the road for a few weeks, some people grow tired of it very fast and want out......like me. That's why I am home every night these days!

 

All the above reasons and also when your learning you will likely tear some things up so why not learn with someone else's stuff instead of your own.