Why not get your own authority if your o/o?

Warning. I'm new to all of this. But I've googled and googled and I'm trying to understand why owner operaters sign on with a company. All I'm hearing is possible fuel/tire discounts etc. Plus they find loads for you and deal with brokers and payments? But you still have the boss man to report to right? With your own authority, is it that difficult to find decent loads off a board and keep up with your own paperwork?

Just asking cause I've always wanted the most independence in my work. Thanks.

 

For me the reasons are:

*Dedicated freight with specialized equipment
*Fuel discounts that are usually 30 to 40 cents
cheaper than pump price
*Anything I have done at their shop is $70 an
hour labor rate
*Cheaper insurance
*Whatever I turn in by Wednesday is paid on
Friday

 

I've been at for 10 years. You do make more with your own authority but...

You have to keep track of EVERY dollar you make, spend and save. And that means data entry for everything you do in QuickBooks or something. It's easy to get behind on taxes and in trouble. And you have to keep track of ever gallon of diesel you buy(IFTA) and what states you burn it up in.

I like driving but if I can find a better way to make a living I'm leaving the trucking business

 

I'm sure insurance cost and cash flow are the #1 and #2 reasons to lease vs authority.

 

Most have it all wrong......

The ONLY time someone should get their own authority is if they have customers lined up and ready to go....

It's a lot of work being an independent trucker/carrier.....

Your giving up 10 to 30 percent to the brokers.....why good through all that work?

If you don't have any customers...your best of leasing on with a carrier that'll give you 75 80 percent

 

Even leased on you should be keeping track of every dollar that comes in and goes out to the penny... Your still running a business. IFTA is handled by the company your leased to so that can be the exception...

 

Because just driving a truck and owning a business is two different things. Anybody can go and be a factory worker, but not everyone can run that factory so it keeps making money.
In fact, people like you, OP, are one of the biggest problems in spot market freight. You come unprepared, not knowing anything about rates/lanes/negotiations and end up disrupting/ruining the market. Some people end up learning and staying, but majority end up leasing to someone else, because they now only want to drive and not deal with headaches anymore

 

I asked a similar question when I joined here and started driving.

You’re new. The reasons on why are as varied as the freight people haul on why they do and don’t get their own numbers.

Do you want to do collections?
Do you have $50k to float everything
Are you experienced in all sides of this Industry with more than a cursory knowledge. Do you understand: agents, diesel mechanics, banking, time tables, e-logs et.al.

I think a lot of guys realize that’s not for them. They can lease on and not worry about things from trailer maintenance to cash advances.

To each his own.

 

It is simple

A lot of people don't want to deal with the back office crap and don't want to chase money.

 

Generally, It is difficult to find well paying loads from brokers just like that ... by login in to DAT and make a phone call on a load confident that you can persuade typically some greedy ##### to give you a good pay.

To succeed on a spot market, you'd be better off to study a life of a vulture on a Wild Life channel than reading some lame books on negotiation methods.

Paper work is the least problem. As a matter of fact, if you can't handle the paperwork organization with all the tools available, this means that you might have problems while being leased on too.

Having said that, I would never want to go back to being leased on...I'd rather sign up to a Walmart Fleet as a driver dressed in a neat uniform and conduct a simple life till I retire.