Advice to new owner/operator

[Waterloo]

I'm looking for a home... And naming names...

My "going to retire at" carrier spoiled me, Laser Transport out of Windsor Ontario Canada... Oh well, that is no longer in the cards, they shut down our US operations in December of 2019.

I bounced around a bit, incredibly ugly out here, even went back to the oil field with a job paying $65 an hour driving their fuel truck, with health care benefits that would choke a horse. Covid cured that job. The company was Chem Oil, out of Texas. We worked out of Dickinson ND...

Then unemployment... No work in Michigan, could not interview, covid again. Can't make this sheet up. They are hiring, but cannot hire you because of covid... Whatever.

Landstar, I swore I would never go there... I did, I gave it time, and more time, had one good pay day in 9+ months... Don't get me wrong, I made a lot of money, it just never found its way to my bank account... I wish I could say there was lots of cocaine and high dollar hookers involved, but I cannot...

I hung it up, went back to an old carrier that I left for good reason... Arrow Freight Systems out of Taylor MI... Not much has changed... But!

Bottom line, I made more NET after fuel in my first two weeks, $9800, then I did in a month+ at Landstar. I worked less and with fewer miles and headaches. Both weeks were under 40 hours on the ELD.

My current carrier, Arrow, is heavily into automotive, and that scares me, as do a few other things that I knew going in when I returned, as I used to work here and left for good reason.

But, I make money here, which is good. The bad, they are skimming off the top, they will not give us the rate sheets, and we have caught them before doing this, at least I have.

The other issues, they have no direct deposit, hence the two week paycheck, as the paycheck man is always on vacation... Then the sign on the front door that states, "Drivers and Solicitors use the back entrance", which is the garage door on the other side of the complex, a 1/4 mile away. They don't really care much for us here, which is cool, as I don't care much for truck drivers either... That is sarcasm guys... ;-)

So, I stumbled upon another carrier out of Texas, where I have another friend working... TrueNorth Transportation. I have seen his settlement sheets, and they have the same discounts as LS in regards to fuel and only take 15%, with Americans at the helm. And what is nice, I can use their dispatch to look for loads when I am driving to my destination, or dispatch myself using any broker I choose off of any load board or contact I still have in my phone, including LS.

They supply the big name load boards in their package, and I can use my own brokers or agents, their take, 15%. I can use their insurance or mine, they supply plates at a huge discount vs Michigan, bring my own trailer or rent a van from them, whatever one wants to do.

Just the fact that I can use my own proven brokers is enough for me to jump ship, I know who has freight around here, LS never gave me access.

And if I want to work directly with a shipper, I can do that too.

I am actually pretty excited, this is like having my own authority without all of the headaches, or the ridiculous Landstar fees and chargebacks along with a dispatch service when I am cruising down the road, that is priceless right there. Landstar is not a billion dollar company for nothing, and if you notice, the current fleet of LS trucks are no longer those nice shiny rigs from back in the day... They were breaking me.