Why obtain your own authority?

Most of them still use brokers that skim profits. They pull the leftover junk the companies can't make a profit so they send it out to the broker division. You'll see them beeping on the load board at truck stops. You can make 95% of a buck a mile though.

 

Most of these posts, esp the one by G/Man, have it summed-up. You are the 'captain of the ship' - both for the glory and the neck-in-the-noose that comes with that position. You will have no one to answer to - except your customers, the state IRP and IFTA, the IRS, and the federal DOT. It will be your name on the truck and yours alone. You can haul what you want, where you want, and when you want to do it - sorta; you've got to keep your customers satisfied (sometimes frustrating) and there will be no one between you and them. You negotiate what rates will be. You keep all the revenue, but then have to pay ALL the bills. You may spend a good deal more time on the phone and computer. If you don't have a decent personality and ability to deal with people on any level, you may not do well; you will have to be an iron hand in a velvet glove.

Lots of choices and all the responsibilites - bottom-line. Then you can call yourself an independent owner-operator.

 

I been thinking about parking mine and lease on to a company hauling containers

 

in a nutshell when you screw up you don't have to worry about someone firing you, but you do have to pay for it.

 

This is what happens when you haul spot market freight off loadboards without vision,a plan, and generally a clue about wth you're doing in the first place. I haul exclusively from loadboards and for the most part they're sweet, easy runs that make a fine profit and most drivers would give their left gonad to be home daily like I am. You've got to have patience and put some thought into it. There's lots of crap loads on there no-one wants that is true. Up to you to separate the wheat from the chaff. Excess good paying loads pop up everyday....

 

Always get a kick when someone says they don't pay for soemthing when they are leased to someone.

Reality check - you pay for everything, period. So a 70% gross company should be paying everything - plates, IFTA, trailer, etc., compared to an 80% that may charge you back for plates and IFTA. You pay regardless but companies want you to think you are getting it for free when it is only costing them pennies per mile.

 

With your authority you can focus on business development, and have something worthwhile to sell once you're ready to, unlike a lease op who just has used equipment to liquidate.

 

Authority = FREEDOM = less STRESS

I have my own authority and the only person I can complain too about my issues is me. I don't have to worry about anything else, don't have to get mad about my pay or how a company is treating me, APU or no APU, APU too loud or too quiet, truck too old or not old enough. I find it amazing what people choose to complain about nowadays.

 

i would say the biggest hassles are your own paperwork. AND getting paid.

by contracting out you know your gonna get paid. going your own route. you do your own billing and wait to get paid. hopefully.

there's a lot more time spend on your end going your own way. might make more money on loads. but at the end you might make the same.

probably do good as long as you got customers and freight lined up. but if you have to resort to the load board. then you have to dicker around for the pay. and also wait for it.

i hear a lot of chatter on the cb how happier they are leasing vs. being independent. but everyone has there own flavor in life.

 

Depends on how you look at it. Public liability, cargo insurance, etc. does not come out of my revenues, it comes out of the carrier's revenues.