Truck Driving Jobs

Matt777 · #1 03-25-2007, 09:02 AM

Hello, I have a few questions. First of all, I have a plan to help my brother pursue trucking as a young O/O. All I want, is a cut of the pay, A mere quarter of it. Basically, hes's working on his CDL, I have the money to buy a 50,000 dollar used tractor, and I want him to grow in the industry. You know, start young. My question is, what would be the best company to go with that would take a no to low experienced driver? Or even how can we get a contract with someone w/out having experience at all? please give me some input. I have the money sitting now. I wanna make this happen. thanks

GMAN · #2 03-25-2007, 01:33 PM

I don't know of any carriers who will lease on an inexperienced owner operator. The first thing he will need to do is get 6 months to 1 year of driving experience. Because of insurance requirements that is usually the minimum level of experience required. By the way, you don't need to spend $50,000 to get a good used truck. You can get a good one for about half that amount. If you plan on leasing a truck to a carrier, I suggest going with one that pays percentage rather than mileage. You will usually make more money. As to recommending which carrier to lease to, it depends on what you want to haul. CRST Malone will lease new owner operator with only 6 months experience. Landstar requires 1 year. Mercer and others require at least 1 year of driving experience. Some will also require that you either purchase your own trailer or rent one of theirs. There are some who have started with no experience and gotten their own authority. I don't usually recommend that approach starting out. It is best to have a good nest egg, if you want to buy a truck.

#3 03-25-2007, 01:54 PM

I'm not sure if this is correct or not but if you click on "Truck Driving Jobs" at the top of this page on your left you can see companies that will hire an O/O with no experience at all. I typed in Massachusetts with no experience and it listed 14 companies.

merrick4 · #4 03-25-2007, 02:49 PM

Hey Mr. Gman, what do you think overall about CRST? I thought from reading on this board they weren't rated too hightly, however I recently read that you use to lease on to them. Do you feel that one can still manage well there?

Matt777 · #5 03-25-2007, 03:07 PM

Hey thanks guys, i really appreciate the input. Also, with the money that an O/O makes (say $120,000 a year) How much of that is going to al of the trucks expenses?

tracer · #6 03-25-2007, 03:53 PM

American Truck Business Services (www.attrucktax.com), an accounting firm that specializes in helping owner-operators, has a useful booklet called "Partners in Business". I picked up my free copy at the recent MidAmerica Trucking Show in Louisville, KY. The book has plenty of sound advice for o/o, especially since ABTS services about 30,000 o/o and can determine trends and "pinpoint benchmarks".

For example, according to ABTS average O/O spends about 68% of gross profit on business related expenses:

Fuel - 39%
Truck payment - 15%
Maintenance - 5%
Insurance - 4%
Licence and permits - 4%
Cell phones and other communications - 1%

This means you get to keep only 32% of your gross monthly profit, no matter how big the settlement check is.

Now, if we assume a COMPANY DRIVER does 9,000 miles a month and get paid 35 cents per mile, he or she will get $3,150 a month in NET INCOME and will have no expenses after that, except taxes. For an OWNER-OPERATOR to get the same kind of money in NET INCOME, he or she has to make GROSS: $3,150 divided by 32% or $9,843 gross per month.

If this O/O wants to work as much as a typical company driver and do 9000 miles per month, the pay per mile would have to be MINIMUM: $9,843 divided by 9000 miles or $1.09. So if you collect $1.09 per mile you will only make the same money as a company driver! This should help you choose the company to lease to as O/O.

If your expenses are going to be average (as in the example above) and you don't want to spend 30 days a month in the truck, make sure the company you lease to will pay MORE than 1.09 per mile gross so that you can make at least more money than a typical company driver. Otherwise, the whole "business enterprise" is not worse the headache it'll take to get it started.

I just applied to Mercer, and they pay 74.2% of the gross but you must have your flatbed or stepdeck trailer (you can lease one thru Mercer for about $500 per month).

GMAN · #7 03-25-2007, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by merrick4

Hey Mr. Gman, what do you think overall about CRST? I thought from reading on this board they weren't rated too hightly, however I recently read that you use to lease on to them. Do you feel that one can still manage well there?

I leased to CRST Malone, which is the flat bed division and operates separate from CRST out of Iowa. I did well when I was with them. They are agent based and your success or failure is more dependent on you and your abilities than the company. I leased to them for about 3 years. If I decided to lease back on with a company, I would consider going back with CRST Malone. A friend of mine just went back with them after going with another company for a short time. He plans on retiring with them. As with most agent based carriers, you will need to be proactive to be successful. CRST Malone is different from some agent based carriers in that they also assign you a dispatcher. You can also run for an agent. You will find those who have had positive and negative experiences with any carrier. There were some things that I didn't like, but you won't find any carrier that you will be content with all of the time. You can make decent money if you are willing to work. Right now things have been slow, not just with CRST Malone, but with everyone in this business. If you plan on making a change, now would probably be a good time since things are beginning to pick up.

merrick4 · #8 03-26-2007, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMAN

Quote:

Originally Posted by merrick4

Hey Mr. Gman, what do you think overall about CRST? I thought from reading on this board they weren't rated too hightly, however I recently read that you use to lease on to them. Do you feel that one can still manage well there?

I leased to CRST Malone, which is the flat bed division and operates separate from CRST out of Iowa. I did well when I was with them. They are agent based and your success or failure is more dependent on you and your abilities than the company. I leased to them for about 3 years. If I decided to lease back on with a company, I would consider going back with CRST Malone. A friend of mine just went back with them after going with another company for a short time. He plans on retiring with them. As with most agent based carriers, you will need to be proactive to be successful. CRST Malone is different from some agent based carriers in that they also assign you a dispatcher. You can also run for an agent. You will find those who have had positive and negative experiences with any carrier. There were some things that I didn't like, but you won't find any carrier that you will be content with all of the time. You can make decent money if you are willing to work. Right now things have been slow, not just with CRST Malone, but with everyone in this business. If you plan on making a change, now would probably be a good time since things are beginning to pick up.

Thanks GMAN. The problem is I have no flatbed experience. I need to do something soon because this driving for 28 cents is ridiculous. I mean I know I'm new and all but I haven't been late for a load yet and I don't play around. The thing is they leave you alone where I am which is big for me and I can always get home really easily if I need to which isn't easy as I live in South Florida. But I need to progress. Again thanks.

GMAN · #9 03-26-2007, 03:31 AM

CRST Malone will train you in securement, if you have at least 6 months of driving experience. CRST Malone does have a few vans that run out of Birmingham. I believe they run into Florida to some degree. It will be difficult to get out of South Florida for most carriers unless you pull a reefer. Some can do all right staying in Florida. I know they get freight out of Jacksonville and Tampa. When I leased to them, I usually planned on deadheading out to either Jacksonville or Georgia.

heavyhaulerss · #10 03-26-2007, 03:34 AM

on that person who applied to mercer.. what do you mean trailer rental will cost about 500 a month? most co that have trailers to lease will have you pay a % usually around 10 % & not a set monthly fee. if you have to pay by the % it will cost you dearly. but that is good, cause then you will get your own a.s.a.p... lol. like i did years ago..