TMC o/o complain that they get the loads company drivers don't want.

Pulling a flat bed is like any other type of freight. You have some who have no business sense and will run for fuel money until the repo man comes to take their truck, house, etc., Then you have business people who know how to run a business and make a profit. There are some areas where freight rates always seem to be depressed. If you run in those areas, then your revenue will be lower than if you run in the better paying areas. It is difficult to give an average amount of pay a flat bed owner operator makes unless you work for mileage. With most percentage carriers, each load can pay a different rate. I turned down a load yesterday which paid $30/mile. Now on the surface that sounds like a lot of money. The kicker is that the load only went 5 miles. That is only $150. I have no doubt someone will take the load. The problem is that although the mileage rate is great, there isn't enough money involved to tie my truck up for at least half a day or longer. Had I taken that load, I would not have been able to take a good paying load which would have made much more money. The broker who called me told me that it would not take long to do the load. I offered to take it for an hourly rate. He would not do that. An hourly rate would have made more sense. He didn't want to take me up on my counter offer because he knew that it would cost more than what he offered.

He does it the same way I do. And Gman.

We are going to lease on to somewhere till we can save up our 15k and get out authority. We are in a lease truck now and making it BUT that is it....no extra money to speak of. We have to wait 45 days to get our money back from maint and deposits which will be about 7k.

DH just isnt interested in the hassle of Hazmat....dont know why....Landstar would have been my first choice and CRST would have been 2nd since I already had connections with alot of their shippers and all. We are leaning toward Diamond Transport....they mainly haul heavy equipment and tractors.

tootie

I am debating on whether to keep my hazmat endorsement when time comes to renew my license. I rarely haul any hazmat. It is a hassle to deal with and rarely pays any more than a non-hazmat load. Some things which come under hazmat should not. If you lease to a carrier, then you may want to have the hazmat. It is required by some carriers, even though you may not be required to haul it. Frankly, I think having to spend almost $100 for a background check just to have the hazmat endorsement is out of line. If the cost is still there when I need to renew, I may just leave it off of my license. As it is, my state runs a background check on me every time I renew anyway, I see no need to pay them $100 more to do what they typically do anyway. ARE YOU LISTENING, SONNY?

I left my hazmat endorsement off the last time I renewed. The lady at the counter tried to talk me in to keeping it and going to get background check. I hadnt hauled a hm load in 5 years and after all of the changes after 911, i decided right there in line that i didnt need it.

They have made it such a hassle to get and keep the endorsement that it isn't worth it. If the background checks really made a difference I might feel the need to keep it. All the fees do is pad the pocketbooks of a few government bureaucrats and individuals. It does nothing for national security.