Advice to new owner/operator

[Paccardude]

(07-21-2021 )Chamberpains Wrote:  You have to be a wise go getter in this industry. I have a feeling Mr. Loo is filled to the brim with wisdom but the streams running dry on the go getter side. It's nothing bad on him. We will all get there. This industry is a daunting beast of burden.

I make it just fine as a lease operator pulling the vast majority of CHRW freight. All Ive heard for over a decade is how bad they are with rates and how bad they are to work with. Yup, they suck in a lot of areas and are dumb as dumb gets in the industry but we've learned to work with the good offices and personel and flat out go around around bad ones. and here I am well over a decade later still doing my thing making it just fine on what most people call garbage freight.


Just like with any avenue you take in this racket you have to be persistent with protecting your best interests or someone will take advantage of you. I as a lease operator have to occasionally fight with brokers, customers, shippers, receivers and the company I lease to. It's not constant but it's always present.

If a guy is looking for a smooth ride in this industry it ain't gonna happen. If it does its only temporary. Enjoy it while you can because this is a roller coaster ride. If you want to have a good picture of what trucking income looks like have a 5 year look at ANY of the publicly traded trucking companies stock line. That squiggly line is what this roller coaster looks like for everyone. Including the big guys making the freight markets.

Squiggly lines, Roller coasters, rackets, fighting!?!??!? What?
This is what I love about this industry.
The tough times seem to propel you to the next level if you don't give up and helps to find other avenues to swim in.
The other day I took my first flat bed load. It was power only and needed to be tarped and strapped. It took me nearly four hours because I didn't have the proper equipment. I bought the U hook straps instead of the flat hooks that fit the holes on a flat bed. I also bought the wrong size tarps and they were the cheap poly instead of vinyl. I would have bought the vinyl but there wasn't any place nearby that sold them.
I could have given up, but instead I improvised by using the black bungees to hold the hook in place on one side while securing/ ratcheting the other side down. The wind was blowing the light 30×20 poly tarps all around and that was also very frustrating. I had to work with the wind and finally got both sides down over the load. I then had to throw extra ratchets on top of the tarp to prevent the wind from kiting the tarps across the county.

It's good to be diversified in this field, just in case one side falls flat, you can pick up and keep moving in another direction.