Advice to new owner/operator

[JimT]

Sorry to hear your Landstar experience has differed so much from mine. As for the shiny trucks, well, I think that says more about the mentality of the business owners than the income. Shiny is nice, but it doesn't earn me more money. As I tell everyone who asks me, Landstar isn't for everyone. It works well with how _I_ like to operate, but everyone has their own needs or preferences. Location also has a big impact at any carrier as customers and contracts will vary.

As for working directly with shipper/brokers, I can see why a big company like landstar doesn't want the O/O's or BCO's to deal with them directly as there's a lot of little details to handle and not just money/rate related. Personally I've found a few agents that will act on my behalf to secure loads. One even gave me access to her Truckstop.com account to search for loads, even call about them, as long as I booked the loads through her. Snagged some good TL and LTL flatbed loads that way. Personally, I like not having to deal directly with this aspect of the business as a one truck owner operator. Maybe my opinion will change if my business grows to multiple trucks.

I have a friend who's in a lease-purchase through JRC Transportation. They are all owner-op, mostly flatbed and actually have a pretty good track record of guys completing the lease-purchase. They are a more traditional dispatch style. No forced dispatch, but not always a lot of choices. He gets 85% of linehaul, but rates are a bit lower then I see and runs tend to be more local/regional. Fuel discount is also a bit less. He was limited to whatever tractors they acquire (currently freightliners through Selectrucks) and they "discourage" paying off your lease early :( He's home a few more nights a week than I am, but he hauls near max weight (mostly lumber, concrete block and rebar), gets worse fuel mileage, pays a lot more in tolls and grosses about the same as I did (about $1000/day before %, deductions, fuel) before I found my current gold mine shippers.

Again, your costs, both personal and business, will determine how much income you need. Two people can make exactly the same amount of money and one will get rich while the other goes poor. Not trying to knock people's choices, just pointing out that each person's situation is different.