Trans Am Still

to be a true owner operator is very expensive as there is a lot of start up cost plus you better make sure you have serious reserves cause stuff is going to go wrong. The one advantage to leasing is you do not have to do anything you do not want to do but the catch is you still have to make those payments and if you reject enough it starts to restrict what they try to give you. You ever see that movie Goodfellas? Just like that resteraunt owner who went into business with Paulie leasing is a lot like that. Oh you had a bad week ## give me my money, your kid got sick and you couldnt work ## give me my money. That is how I relate leasing to new guys same concept only they control your money. Now some get lucky and live in lanes that the company runs so they get to go home but if you do not live in those lanes you lose money almost everytime you go home. So most do not understand that they have to make that payment and they go home very often and then they get in the hole and once there it is hard to get out.

Anyway got to run the rest of this load

Be safe out there

 

My neighbor, at my mom's, is an owner/operator. When George was in trucking school and checking out options for a job, our neighbor told him to not even consider O/O. You are responsible, as you said, for gas, insurance, all repairs, etc. Imagine the cost of filling the tractor with fuel each time. Then think of the price of tires. Maintenance is most likely quite pricey too. I couldn't answer for how hard it is, just telling what neighbor says.

Another advantage with being a company driver, as opposed to O/O is, if the truck needs extensive work, the company you work for would assign you another truck to keep you on the road. As O/O you would have to wait until repairs are done, possibly being shut down for several days.

 

You mean like the pint of World Class Chocolate in my freezer? Lol! I couldn't pass up on some ice cream.

 

Get to the guard shack and my appointment is not 0900 but 1900. Could have ran this load way different if I knew that and had hours to run tomorrow.

 

Does this happen a lot , I can see it messing up your schedule

 

Yes I agree there are a lot of things that could go wrong. But there has to be a reason why some do it.

A very big investment , so if you fail you will lose a lot. But if done right maybe it is ok.

 

No it does not happen often in fact the first time to me in this company and has happened one time at another company but I was paid for that cause there were some other factors in getting the load there

 

The owner operators who do it right make a lot more money but they also take a lot more risk. High risk high reward. If your turbo goes $3500 or more, drive tires $2700-$3500, transmissions to fix $3500 or more, these are just some of the examples. If the truck does break down some will rent a truck to complete the load as even a reschedule delivery will affect on time % and this affects what brokers pay you. There are more taxes and fees involved and you have to deal with the DOT much more cause they audit you. There is a lot more than most understand and some save up just enough to start and then something goes wrong in the beginning and no reserves to bail them out. Plus there are better paying freight areas, some pay better to run in and then to run out you might have to deadhead to get a decent rate. Example Fl to run into in a dry van pays decent but coming out pays garbage. Plus certain areas are better to run at certain times of the year. You can't just run. You have to think about everything that is involved in taking a load. You also have to negotiate with brokers cause they do not offer what they are willing to pay when you ask about a load. These are just some off the top of my head. There is so much more than I can think of right now. I am sure some will chime in with things I left out. Once you get knowledge and money you can do well but there is a lot to know to be successful.

A lot of people get into this industry cause they think it easy and while I have done harder physical labor it is not easy. You have to pay attention all the time as some do not respect us while we drive out here. We are unique cause we have our own law enforcement agency watching us all the time, the DOT. Not many industries have that, most are just government watch dogs or private agencies contracted to the government but DOT can put you in jail or prison. Some new drivers get into this cause they think they will be vacationing all over but if you have a family in your home that will not be the case. You will not see the Grand Canyon but you can see a lot usually from the US highway or interstate. If you are retired and can afford it you can stop in cities and rent a car then go sight seeing but that is not the majority of new drivers most have bills and this is the best way to pay for them which means you need to keep rolling.

Cranky I hope everything goes well with your move. That is why I got my CDL I was in moving business and the ones who had CDL always got work. Moving is the second most stressful event of most peoples lives.

Be safe out there

 

To be an O/O, it helps if you are also a mechanic, an accountant, a good negotiater, etc. Driving is only a very small part of the job. You need to know your lanes, the commodities, what freight is good in what lane at what time of year. Need to be able to build up good relations with various brokers and hopefully some shippers. Need to know taxes, how much do you pay in quarterly, what kind of taxes do you need to pay, what kinds of insurance do I need, and the list goes on and on.

There is a cat named Kevin Rutherford. He has a book out, that will walk you step by step, thru the process of being an O/O, might want to.check it out if your truly interested.

More questions.... gonna lease on with a company or get your own authority, do you know about IFTA and the various yearly taxes you pay, just to own.a truck. There's a lot of things you'll need to find out , before even laying down the money for a truck.

Oh yea, let's not forget this..... how do you expect to get paid? Bill directly or use a factoring service, what will you do if a customer doesn't pay, is the billing cycle 2 weeks or 30, 60 , or even 90 days out? Got a reserve to cover all that?

That ought to give you enough food for thought for now, sides, getting tired of typing on this little phone.

 

Cranky, I think you were the one that asked. The TA driver is still here and doing ok. Actually, there are 3 of them here, counting me.