Why am I a owner operator..........it's simple

It sounds to me like Bayou may have his own authority. Personally I don't blame him. The way I see it the shippers need us as bad as us truckers need the shippers. In all the time I been doing this I have only had one place to the extreme I just got in my truck and left. I don't talk to folks that way but won't be talked to that way either. If my numbers are close enough I can't stand some dead head or a few days off I'm not gonna make it anyway. Since I'm still buying chicken lights and chrome I guess I'm ok

 

I'm with Bayou.
Same thing with the LTL gig, no more shippers and recievers and limited guff with truckstops either. I'm a bit of a brat - the last time I put up with being yelled at was school. I don't see a need to put up with it anymore.

Attitude is everything with me. If I even catch a whiff of a bad attitude from others I re-evaluate how much I really need to continue the interaction.

Life is like a CB radio to me, or a forum - for that matter. There's a squelch dial and an off switch if needed.

 

I hope so.

There are a lot of drivers who call themselves "owner ops" who don't actually own the truck they're driving. They are leasing the truck from their employer. They can't take their truck and go drive for another company with it. These "lease ops", if you think about it, are little more than company drivers with bigger bills and taking a bigger financial risk that, hopefully, earns them a bit more money.

 

Isn't it lease to own though so like when you pay off the truck you can go on your own?

 

It's one of several paths to potential ownership. You can purchase outright with cash, conventional finance with a down payment and monthly payments on a loan and develop true, cash value equity as you go; or you can lease/ lease purchase which is similar to "rent-to-own". The big difference I think MsJamie was referring to is that lease/ lease purchase Ops don't actually own the equipment (but some call themselves Owner Ops) until they complete the full agreement and buyout and are given the title. THEN they actually own the equipment. Until then the leasing company actually owns it. In conventional financing you own the equipment and the title is in your name from day one. It just has a lien on it from the financing company; it's collateral (or security) in a loan.

Although the aspect of financials and title are legally quite distinct between an OO and an LO/LPO, they (WE) share a very strong entrepreneurial spirit, a willingness to put it all on the line in pursuit of our desire to be truly independent and in control of our own destinies while doing something we love to do. Most of both have very strong ties to (varied) loved ones, strong Faiths (though those also vary as to which Faith) and a VERY deep sense of pride and commitment to the Great American Dream - Independence.

While none on earth are TRULY independent (even the richest man on earth is dependent upon his maker for his next breath), it's the ideal of Freedom and Independence we embrace and are all willing to put everything on the line for. OO, LO/LPO; doesn't matter. It's the Independence and Freedom we work harder than most and risk it ALL for. We just have different bankers and financials. You know; I just did a Bing search for: "How many independent truck drivers are there in the US?" I thought it would be neat to throw in how many of us are brothers and sisters in arms for a Dream. The first two pages were all about articles on Independents losing their shirts and bailing because of the rising cost of fuel and stagnant freight rates.

So, my question to the forum on: Why become . . . it's simple . . ., is this: Are we CRAZY or BRAVE? Were our Founding Fathers crazy or brave, when they risked their entire own personal fortunes, then borrowed out the yang from France and anyone else they could get to, on this Great American Experiment called The United States of America and an unheard of form of experimental government; a Democratic Republic. [Scoffing Voices all across this world]: "Upstarts! Rebels! INSANE! Democratic Republic indeed. You can't be both! You are a Monarchy, Democracy or Republic. Make up you mind. Ten years. That's the most. Then anarchy, failure, ruin, discontent and we'll be there to POUNCE and it will be OURS!"

Guess Old G.W., J.A., T.J., B.F. and the rest of the crew fooled 'em then and us Independents; OO, LO, and LPO alike, are still foolin' them now. Odds totally stacked against ALL of us yet we still keep singing Old Blue Eyes' song . . . "I did It MYYYY Way", and we "Just Keep Truckin' ONNN".

We got a tough row to hoe in front of us boys and girls. Gonna be a long, hard winter this year. Get your Big Boy and Big Girl drawers out cause we all gonna need to be wearin' 'em next month and for a few months after. We got this though. We'll kick Jack Frost's butt the Independent way.

OUR WAY

 

To me the “Owner” in “Owner/Operator” means you own your own company, not necessarily the equipment. There are plenty of large carriers that choose to lease equipment instead of own it. It is a business and tax decision whether to lease or own equipment. Trucking seems to be the only business that seems to try and belittle others for leasing equipment, this is probably due to a lot of really bad lease deals offered by many companies. Leasing equipment is done routinely in almost all other types of businesses.

Everyone likes to lump all leases in to one big category but that is not the way things really are. Not all leases are done through the company that someone is running for. You can lease directly from some truck manufactures (Western Star has several different lease programs as dose Paccar) or from a third party and not from the company that you are leasing on to the authority of if you choose to lease instead of own.

I do agree that most of those company offered lease deals are stacked agents the individual. It is just a bad idea to enter into a lease agreement with someone who controls all your income and leave yourself in a position where you cannot change carriers. Not all company sponsored leases are bad as some due allow for you to lease on to other authorities as long as you make your payments or allow you to run loads off of public load boards. The L/O needs to do their homework and fully understand what they are signing.

IMO an L/O must think of themselves as an O/O or they are bound to fail. They own their company and it is up to them to make smart decisions (like not entering into a lease agreement with someone that controls their income) to succeed.

 

Hell of a post!

 

You could probably make more money in MMA fighting, and get more satisfaction from your job.

 

talk about hijacking a guys thread.