Yet another CRST MALONE question :)

There is a lot more to open deck freight and heavy haul than throwing a few chains. You will need to know the working weight of your cargo and be able to determine how many chains or straps you need for every load. No two loads are the same unless you are on a dedicated account with the same cargo that weighs the same. Securement rules can change from time to time and if you don't keep up to date with those changes the costs can be very high. Basic securement is pretty much the same regardless of the state in which you travel, but as you get into over sized or heavy haul, there are more rules and those can vary from one state to another.

 

Where do you live?

 

You will not make enough just running between Knoxville, Atlanta and Birmingham to pay the truck, your fuel, and feed your family. Also, u will not be home 4 nights a week, instead you will load in the evening on Friday and leave on Sunday to get the load delivered to where ever at 8am Monday, then go and get reloaded in the evening and bust ### to the next delivery place. There is not enough freight in your area to keep you sustained, and with CRST rates you will not be able to live off short miles. I just had dinner with a CRST driver (he owns his truck, not bought thru CRST) and he said things are hard for him and he lives in Nashville. He has been there for 7 years and said the stuff around your area is mainly all coils and CRSt has gone to a flat-rate system. He was offered a load from Detroit to Georgetown, KY that paid $600 to the truck for a 46k coil. He took a load of pipe up here to ND instead.

Id steer clear of CRST right now since I've heard a few things are in the works for changing up their controlling board of directors.

 

Look into buying a cheap ugly truck and spend a few thousand on any maintenance issues you find. L/p is expensive but you can still make money. If you call a recruiter they can pull up the load board and tell you what loads they have in your area and what they pay. Read the thread "crst malone sucks" Several o/o got on there and explained how to make money with them. You might be looking at working only with a couple of agents running back and forth where you might sleep at home once or twice and be home on the weekend. and you are right about short runs, one of my wifes buddies runs some shorties that pay more than most people will believe-but he has the documentation to prove it. He runs what others refuse to because most people only look at miles and not pay per mile.

 

$5 mile on 100 miles still equals $500.... that's not that great unless he has all his equipment paid for. I won't move the truck for less than $800 on a short run, just not worth it since it will take all day to do. I prefer to do short-haul stuff myself but the rates just have not been there to do it, and I live in a GREAT freight area. The longer haul stuff has been better, but I'm getting sick of being gone for 2 weeks at a time.

 

That is a percent rate. If it was mileage then that 100 mile run would pay $150 if you were lucky. If you can live off $500 a day before your costs then more power to you, but you need to figure in all your costs, and that would be only managable if you had a truck that was paid for with cash. No way could you survive in a L/P truck or even a truck with a payment for that low of a rate and still pay for a house and feed your family.

I'm just trying to help steer you in the right direction before you make some mistake that hurts you and your family. I think you might be able to manage doing a regional thing if you ran from say Nashville up to chicago and back twice a week, and be home on the weekends, but again it won't be do-able with a L/P program, and with CRST's rates.

 

I have been doing 2 or 3 loads running short stuff BUT its coils (negative) im home every night (positive) .... I dont think Landstar does a lot of that....but the money is good