Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

Getting there Not really, but I would never make the money I make as a leased o/o or a company driver

 

The logic is to go work for a company where o/o don't have to compete with the company drivers.

 

Well, ya know something, Duane, not everyone has the same goals or the same circumstances. I like Schneider and it works really well for me.
I'm not rich. But at the end of my last fiscal year i was able to donate $15k to the gubment welfare fund, $10k to my SEP, and $10k to savings.
I go where I want to go and I go home when I don't want to go anymore.
And that is my happiness.
Your happiness is probably different, but it doesn't mean that its wrong. Nor is mine.

Good luck

 

I've said from day one that your biggest problem was going to be the low rate you were getting paid. That was the criticism. There simply isn't enough money left over after immediate expenses to be viable long term.

As far as your questions/statements about the cost of tools to do your own repairs... The money you just spent on labor for that brake job on one single axle would more than pay for the tools required to do brakes.

You aren't wrenching every day so you don't need an 80" chest filled with snap on tools. A good craftsman set for 250 bucks will last you a life time.
You don't even "need" air tools, they just make it easier. A 4 foot pipe on a 3/4 inch breaker bar will take off tires and put them on. Heck until a few years ago no tire shop even owned a torque wrench. Unless you're a limp wristed feather weight 4 ft of leverage is going to put more than the 450 to 500 ft lbs recommended on your lug nuts. If you do buy a torque wrench never ever ever use it to remove a nut or bolt. That will ruin it. You use torque wrenches to set torque, not break torque.

 

Leased to the right outfit you would.

 

But you know something Spyder, most of us don't know how to do much more than check the oil. It just is and we don't have the time or resources to learn. So, we're kinda stuck with what people tell us.

 

Not denying that, but I don't know any

 

Does craftsman still exist?

 

None of us were born knowing it, most of us learned by just doing it. My theory is, if you don't have mechanical knowledge and lack the desire to gain it, you are much better off adapting a strict trade in cycle and deferring maintenance to the next guy.

 

While luckily i havent had to take my wife to the mall in the last few months, when we was there doing xmas shopping the Sears store was fully stocked with craftsman.