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

I could see a construction company having them to use as a time card, but also using them to prove how long they are on location getting loaded, unloaded, etc. It’s super easy to look and see exactly how long you sat somewhere. Any time I turn in for detention pay I write arrival and departure times on the BOL and submit a print out of my log for that day along with the BOL. Nobody questions it when you have proof. So on an hourly deal like construction if someone is complaining about the time it’s taking to make a round or something they have solid proof of where they were.

 

My advice is if you are going to go the route of O/O with your own authority is to do it with 5 trucks or more.
Reason for this is if your route was to take a turn or the customer was to take a lower bid then at least you got 4 other trucks that can pick up the slack.

To be an O/O with 1 truck and having your own authority is very hard because I have done it. The insurance cost, truck payment, trailer payment, this payment/that payment you never really get ahead with 1 truck. Most dedicated customers want to see 5 trucks or more.

 

Too many headaches, yeah i give up 15% to the company I'm leased to but the fuel discounts and not having to pay the insurance premiums or do collections is well worth it to me not to mention that they find the loads and negotiate the rate and then offer it to me and if i Don't like it I can turn it down and get paid weekly

 

Right. If you have a dedicated customer and your 1 truck is down..you are 100% down.

 

The fuel discounts you all speak of. From being leased on.

Do they compare to buying local fuel or is the local still cheaper?

 

We have the Ambest fuel card, do you consider mom and pops local fuel?

 

Anything that's not one of the 5 nationwide chains.

We have the fuelman card. By Guttman Energy. No discounts but we can fuel up just about anywhere that sells fuel. So far I've only seen one local truckstop in a small town that's not setup for the card. There fuel was around $.40 cheaper then Loves across the street.

We buy Maverick as it's on route and usually the cheapest in the city. They are a west coast company minus Cali. Google says almost 250 locations.

 

Our office texts us this list (Ambest locations for the areas we run) whenever the cost changes. Sometimes it’s daily, sometimes it’s every few days. Depends on if the pump price is fluctuating or not.

 

I'm guessing that's what you pay and your savings off pump price?

We just get told NOT to use the national chain. The difference has been $.30 to as high as $.60 between local and J being pretty much the only option. None of the other chains are on our routes.

 

Yes, our cost and discount off pump price. I have fueled at Casey’s locations and some QT’s before and they’re in the ballpark of our cost at Ambest.