Thinking of getting my own rig

I am a company driver and have been thinking of getting my own rig, Something I want. There is nothing wrong with the company i drive for, actually they are a great company to work for and have never had a problem with them. They have been in business for nearly 85 years now and have remained about 20 North-East US (i'm in that group), 10 eastern US down to almost floride, 5 florida area drivers, plus 20 or so ciy drivers that deliver our loads, and pick up our loads to drop them at the terminal. Great set-up come back from the US fuel the truck, drop the papers off in the office, park the trailer, go home. However i have been thinking about my own rig, they do have about 5 brokers/ O.O.. Basically i buy the rig, put the company logo on it and i drive only for them with the exact same loads that i am doing right now. My truck can still have it's maintence and repairs done at the shop with no charge except for parts. Fueling can still be done at the terminal, obviously way cheaper than at a station (with 2x150 us gal. tanks almost all trips can be done with one load of fuel). They would be paying me $1.44 per mile plus drop+pick up, boarder crossing, inspection time (for produce), tarping (some flatbedding) and some other little perks. I know there is much more to it than getting paid more than a comapny driver, i know alot of that extra pay goes right back into the truck. But all in all, if i am very pleased with the company and very satisfied as a company should i stay that. Or would being an OO be a waste of time. Except one major perk is i can chose my own truck. (They have leased freightliners, new ones every 5 years, but the mercedes motor are gutless, and they are the models that the jakae brakes really don't do anything unless your empty, which sometimes does'nt feel safe). Just woundering i could get some professional thoughs and comments from some helpfull fellow truckers! Thank You

 

Sorry'bout that missing abit of info there...Running out of canada (about 500 ft from us boarder lol) $1.44/m CDN, Company pays fuel surcharge and tax, but i always fuel up at the terminal, they have their own pumps and reefer fuel, I beleive they pay for the tags, and beer permit for New Jersey. I beleive i pay half of shop labour fee for repairs but maintenance is on the house. And i would be guaranteed anywhere from 2250 to 3000 miles a week. The other perk is that when i get back from a trip i don't deliver my load they have about 20 city drivers that take care of that, as well as when i leave the terminal my load is allready there all i gotta do is grab the papers, pin up and scale out. They treat their workers really well, they're a fimily run business. We just had our x-mas party, there are 8 drivers that have been there over 20 years, 5 drivers for 25, 6 for for 30, and 2 for 35 years. As well as the head mecanic just got a trip to vegas for his 40 years of servive. To give you an idea as a new driver/company driver staright out of school, did some training with them as well, (all in CDN $) .335 cents/m + .07/m for expences tax free + boarder crossing paid + meat/food inspection paid by hour of waiting + loading and unloading with extra after 3 hours of waiting, and they pay layovers (extremly rare), and half layovers after 6 hours of wait, very rare as well. Really i was woundering if it's worth it with all the extras of owning your own truck or better off pretty much hassle free as a company driver. I've been there 1 mont now and allready 2 drivers under me which gives me choice in my loads (when the disp. calls me and there is multiple loads left i can choose which ones i wanna take which is kinda nice.) It's not something i'm gona jump right into, a new driver is a new driver, i wanna wait about a year of so before i jump in so i can understand the industrie and how things work before i dive in. Thank you very much much for the reply!

 

I do live in canada so yup paid in cdn currency. The price here now for fuel, we all know what now means...:S , is about 1.09 canadian a litre which about 1.23 ish, us a litre, not sure what that is per us gallon. Yup like i said i am right out of school, but not completely virgin, i have 6 family members that are drivers as well, so i do have a bit more insight than some other newbies. I will definitly be getting more experience as a companay driver first for sure. Just does'nt seem smart at all to go buy a rig and really not being sure of anything, more like a big bomb! lol Definitly sounds like a good idea to pick the other o/o brains when i get a chance. I am only thinkin' about being an o/o, getting opinions from every corner i can, maybe bringin' somethings to light that i might of not thought aboutht. I am someone who really digs through things before jumping in, Hate doing something and not being sure of myself. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years or after some thought maybe not. Allthough somethings are for sure the way I see it, leave the shiny chrome in the shop for now, keep overhead down, pretty does'nt mean reliable and profitable. And don't worry about seing the newbie in that shiny Pete or Ken or anything, would be perfectly happy with an older clean reliable Freight. FLD. For now gonna let the pot simmer! Bur definitly thank you for all the come backs and more to come i hope. Greasy side down, eh!