Why pay Landstar over 30% of the load when you can have 100% with your own numbers?

Oh yeah, and brokering. That could be up to 20% by itself

 

Good attitude here -

This could become a great eye-opener thread for many. What usually happens is folks get their hackles up and a pissing contest ensues as to who gets what and why.

Like I said - apples to apples, on a spreadsheet, with no ego involved, and folks can make a good decision based solely upon their position.

 

Also don’t forget corporate fuel discounts, maintenance discounts, national tire account pricing, easy loans for equipment purchase and repair if necessary, etc. in addition to everything else already mentioned. I agree that it’s not an apples to apples comparison, you’d have to run a spreadsheet over multiple years to get a fair comparison if you wanted to make an unbiased decision based solely on the money.

 

You'll have to clarify whether you're talking van/reefer/flat/ or specialized, and if the below doesn't assist, then I apologize - but here's an example.

2 loads on the board (well, they never hit the board).

Mine - (Load 1) pays $17,000 on the board at 15'6" wide. 2100 miles

The other (Load 2) is $14,000 at 14' wide. 2100 miles.

At 14' wide, it's right on the borderline of needing more escorts, route changes, etc. I know from experience that the shippers' tape measure is faulty, so it could be more or less. Who knows till you get there, and they don't want driver contact.

Load day comes. It's me and an outside carrier. I've been helping him 3 days prior because I've done the lane/load before.

2 loads are identical. 14' 7".

I've permitted for 15' 11" - he permitted for 14'. He burns $400 in permits, I get to run with mine, altering one state at no charge to route easier. He comes to me pretty ####y about having beat the agent up for another $1500. Good deal, I tell him.

2 hours later, his face is pale as he asks "So - we have to run an escort the WHOLE WAY?"

I say "Yeah - and 2 in this state, that state and the other".

Base line - he took it for 12k, got it to 13.5k, and didn't know a thing about what it would cost either way. At my rate, I still think I'm running it too cheap given the current market, but the agent has been responsible for about $30k of revenue to me so far, and it's an easier job the second time around. So I took it knowing what I'm in for.

All said and done - I made over $2,000 more on the same load than he did. Don't get me wrong - $17,000 on the board results in $9,750 to my truck. The bigger numbers always force bad decisions. He made less than 8k - and his carrier cuts their percentage BEFORE the permits and escorts, who knows - he may have pulled it for less than $3/mile all told.

He was rather concerned at getting a reload out of the PNW, said it would 'make or break it' - I did it knowing I'd have enough fuel to deadhead 2000 miles home if I had to.

You can run your own authority and pull loads for LS - no problem. But they'll never offer you the full rate unless they're absolutely screaming for a truck, and after all is said and done, like @spyder7723 said - it'll be within a close ballpark of what I'm getting, as to what you're getting.

Sorry for the drawn out example.

 

Landstar direct customer freight pays really good sometimes (I have seen some crazy numbers on their board) and those loads wouldn't get posted on public load boards. However, a lot of times Landstar agencies take freight from another brokers, so leased Landstar guys get much less than independents.

 

My dads leased to a company with a mix of flats and vans. Based in the northeast and avg around 400-550/600 mi a day home nightly weekends off. They pay tolls and usually avg .35-.45c fsc on top of 4.00-4.75 mi one way freight come home empty most of the time. They take 23%.

My dads putting on another truck there and after paying me a decent wage there's a decent chunk left for him/truck. My dads getting up there in age and he's happy here doesn't have to chase money around and they treat their drivers well. He was throwing around some options and getting a wagon and run for a local broker, over 4.50 a mile and light loads but it was a new england run almost impossible to turn unless things lined up perfectly. My dad didn't wanna run 3500mi every week not at his age

 

70% of $250,000
100% of $175,000
Which is more?

Different strokes for different folks. Most people that are independent owner operators would be in a better financial position if they were leased to a carrier.
Most people that own a truck would be in a better financial position if they didn't own one.

Some people know how to run a business and own a truck or trucks, and are successful.

 

Was waiting for you to chime in.

Different strokes for different folks indeed. Being leased on to a carrier suits my situation as it is now. That's not to say in 5 years time the same will apply.

 

A better question is how do you think the business works?
Let’s say XYZ shipper has a van load. It pays $1000. They call Landstar, and a couple brokers. Just using straight percentages, the Landstar driver with his own trailer will make $720. Bobby Brokerage puts it on DAT and tries to sell it for $700, and negotiate with a carrier to take it for $800. If Bobby could have sold that load for $500 he would have and the carrier that hauled it would never know that the broker took half the money. I just did a legal load, $3200 on 350 miles. A broker truck would have been bragging to his friends about his $4 a mile load, while the agent was keeping nearly $6 p/m.

 

I think the trailer rental fee is extra at LS....