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Good luck. I would love to see you do well. I tried my own authority about a year ago and did not make it, but want to try again some day, so I know just where you are coming from. I hope you keep us informed about your experiences.

I am sorry to hear things didn't work out for you at Schneider. Much of what you stated is correct about these large carrier's. They seem to get to a point when the only thing that is important is profit. They forget who got them to the where they are today. I suggest you check on insurance before jumping into getting your authority. With only 4 months experience, rates will be high and difficult to find. I would also expect restrictions on how far you can travel, for at least the first year. This can severely restrict your ability to do well during this time. I understand where you are coming from, having been self employed most of my life. Good luck.

you go. like your attitude. when service falls off, you can only compete on price.....and when big carriers provide poor service, rates fall.

I find that profits in trucking are very regional and seasonal. Also, drivers can be flaky or careless and can cost yo a bundle in repairs. Be careful.

Thanks for the encouragement.

I'm getting quotes for $10,700 for 48 states, and $8,700 for Texas regional. I think I'll take the 48, and go ahead and run in Texas until I get the 48 state authority. This will give me some time to check out my truck and get familiar with the whole load boad/broker process.

I wound up buying a 2001 FTL CL-120 with big tanks, Cummins ISX450, autoshift. It has 500,000 miles on it and is the cleanest truck I could find in the the $30,000 price range. It dynoed at 400hp to the ground (90% of advertised which is more than Cummins expected), and passed the blow by test with more than 50% engine life left, the mileage was verified and I had it scanned for abuse and it checked out good. They also said the engine had never been apart. The oil analysis was good as well. I'm having an overhead done and the tranny and diffs serviced as well. I looked at a lot of newer trucks that were more expensive, more miles, and most of them had been abused, so I had to weigh the difference. I hope I made the right decision.

I was trying to pick a truck that would give good fuel mileage without giving up all the power. It seems like a good balance. It showed 11-12mpg bobtailing driving it real easy. I know this is not accurate, but I've never been able to get a Century above 7mpg with a 10spd. I can't wait to measure it accurately. Until then I'll just keep deluding myself. lol

My wife is going to go with me, so the larger space was more realistic. After driving the Detroit/10speed, this truck is much better, and for some reason rides bettter than the Century????

I do have some operating money and a savings account for the truck.

I should have everything in order in a few days.

I have a lot to learn, and I've learned a lot on this board.


My thanks to all of you.

J.
Don't be bitter, angry, and jaded. Do something about it.

jonboy wrote:
Do you mind stating who quoted you the $10.7K for the 48 states? Thanks.[/code]

good luck to you I hope it goes well where are you located

Good for you jonboy! I had a similar experience as well. I didn't even make it 4 months, I told them to shove it. Life is to short to put up with peoples BS.

I just recently bought a truck as well. I'm slowly putting a business together, but that's ok. I'll do it MY way, at MY pace, and I'll be fine, and so will you.

Good luck and keep posting as you go! 8)

I am surprised you can get insurance for 48 states with limited experience. I think you are wise to go for the wider coverage area. You could lose out on a lot of good paying loads by restricting yourself to a small area. In this business, those who are most successful seem to go where the freight carries them. I think a Century is a good truck to get you started. A friend of mine has one and he really likes it. In his case, it was an owner operator spec'd truck with all the bells and whistles. Remember, a truck is merely a tool used to make money in this business. It is like a mechanic and his toolbox. I am glad to see that you found one with the large fuel tanks. They come in handy, especially running the West. You can often take advantage of lower fuel prices in some areas and avoid having to purchase fuel at inflated prices. (yea, like that isn't happening everywhere). Good luck to you, jonboy.

Re: Parked the orange truck................
 

I lasted 6 months with LCT. This OTR for these companies is something else. Seems like they never run out of people to abuse either. Look at CR England. The truck says right on the freaking thing their priorites. Lease = make our truck payment for us. Train= run team for next to nothing and then Drive = you'll get whatever crumbs that are left over.

The only reason I lasted 6 months at LCT is they bent over backwards trying to keep me happy.

I wish you all the best in your new business venture :D

-keep back $10,000 in mait & repairs for the truck in year 1.
-seems like I always have about $25,000 in outstanding invoices at any given time......
-what type of trailer are you contemplating?

I'm really leaning toward a 53' stepdeck, but I'm still realing from the sticker shock, and have found many decent used ones.

There are trailers everywhere down here in Texas but the prices are still way up there for some reason.

I'm still haven't made a final decision on where I'm going to run, I'm waiting on more insurance quotes to come in, but most likely, I will stay regional for a while.

jonboy

Settle on a 48' of you can't get a good deal on a 53'. Many states allow lots of rear overhang anyway.

I personally believe there is more profit to be made by being regional in a good area. Is it going to cost you alot more for ins to plate all 48? Sometimes you get a really good paying load out of your area and trip permits are a pain.

I've been looking at insurance for a 500 mile radius from dallas, and that will allow me to go to Laredo, OKC, and Louisiana, and there is a lot of freight around. I can get plates for Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana and just see what happens. I can also do power only in Texas without getting stranded as an independent.

The quotes I've been getting is about $4000 more per year for 48 states, plus the plates. With my inexperience, I think I might be better off staying close to home until learn how to work with brokers. The last thing I need is more fixed expenses. I'm kind of torn about this because I really want to run out west, but I'm not sure I can make the additional money to offset the higher insurance and plates.

I talked to one of the guys from Boyd Bros. and they they have a pretty cool load board that has the money posted on it. You just click on it to accept the load and you get a confirming email. No calling in.

I'm making a long list of load boards to access.

jonboy

There are quite a few broker who mostly seem to work around Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. You should be able to earn a decent living in those areas. As someone mentioned, you could lose out on some better paying loads going outside of your area, but staying near your base will keep costs lower until you gain some experience. Good luck.

Couldnt help but chuckle after reading your post; i did 1o years as a driver-trainer for a big Co. and now am a own Auth o/op
Funny tho....I seem to get some of my best rates from Schneider logestics

Best of luck Jonboy! Looking forward to you future posts on how it goes.

Thanks Mcnewbie, Pepe, it didn't take me long to figure out they were out sourcing a lot of freight. On the Schneider website is says the Logistics side has grown 150%, and I believe it.

A lot of the major companies are doing more and more brokering to outsiders which should be helping the independents.

In my situation, it is hard to lease on with limited experience, so it has kind of forced my into being independent, which was where I wanted to be in the first place. I'm not complaining, but I'd be lying to say I have my moments of uneasiness. I think I won't feel better till I hit the road in a couple of weeks.

jonboy

Jonboy how much total exp. do you have

I got out of school on April 13th with my cdl, and I went teaming for a couple of months, and then went solo. I think I've been in 35 states. I haven't done any winter driving (except in the simulator). I've only run some small mountains (Tennessee), so I've got a lot of challenges ahead.

I've probably only run 30,000 miles, but I haven't hit anything or let anybody hit me (which I've found to be more difficult). I credit that solely to the training I received, because I've missed some good chances to wreck already.

jonboy

that cool i'm glad to see you are willing to get out there and give it a shot dont let anyone discourage you

Yeah will be kinda ironic tho when your pulling Schneider freight he-he....they to pay pretty well. and easy to set up with.
I have yet to even set-up with USX........just the thought of it nausiates me lol

Geoman, sorry for the delayed response to your question. I had a lot of problems getting insurance, not because it is not available, but because of flaky agents. A lot of the ones in the magazines in the Texas area couldn't speak english well enough to even give a quote.

The guy that told me $10,700 for 48 states, has trouble returning calls, and I won't do business with people like that.

I met an agent at the GAT show out of OKC who reps for Progressive, and they were a "real" insurance agency.

I took the 500 mile radius, $1,000,000 liability, $100,000 cargo, $30,000 comp/collision on the truck with a $2,500 deductable.

It cost me $10,227, and I took it because I was tired of messing around. I am wasting more than what I can potentially save, by more shopping, after all, I have a truck at the dealer I can't move, and I couldn't get my Texas authority finished up, so I went for it.

The bottom line is, the four months experience is the killer and I've just got to suffer a little. I'm not really sure what the same insurance would've cost someone with more experience, but compared to what other things I'm purchasing, it is not my biggest concern.

Anyway, tomorrow is my 50th birthday and I'm picking up my truck, and I hope to have my plates, taxes paid and be ready to roll by the end of next week. It has taken me two weeks longer than I wanted, but I'm glad I learned all this the hardway, because this won't be the last time I do this hopefully.

I did meet a broker today that would get me loads for 10% commision and make sure I got paid, and 40% upfront. He actually invited me to his office and offered to show me how to use the boards and negotiate with brokers. He also encouraged me that I could find plenty of freight in Texas. I need to hear that about twice a day right now...........

I'm going to roll out power only, and see what happens dragging some vans around for other people, and then pick up a trailer after that. I'm going to go flatbedding, but will probably wait till I get a year in for insurance reasons and when I have my 48 authority.

I was tempted to make the call to "lease on" somewhere in all this frustration, but I snapped out of it when I remembered FORCED DISPATCH.

Steves posts and the responsive comments from you guys have been real encouraging, so I guess Steve has infected another and the disease is spreading. lol Mamas hide your children!

jonboy

I just got a call from my insurance agent, and they reduced my insurance for 500 mile radius, from $10,200 to $8,100. That is the difference between my credit and my business partners credit rating. My partner has got the highest rating I've ever heard of.

I would highly recommend this agency. They really know what they are doing.

Glenn Harris and Assoc.
Oklahoma City
michele cell 405-659-3622 office 405-842-5385

Jonboy...what's the latest? Are you up and operating in the great republic of Texas?

Jonboy I enjoyed reading your posts. It sounds like we are doing exactly the same thing for the same reasons.

I just haven't pulled the trigger yet on buying a truck. Trying to lay all the groundwork and penciling it out on paper before I make any actual purchases.

Progressive quoted me $281 a month with a 300 mile radius. Now to find cargo insurance.

What did it cost to have your truck dyno'd and checked out before you purchased it??

Thanks Steve and GMan for the help.

I just finished my first week as a carrier, and this is how it went.

I did four loads from Monday afternoon till Thursday night that grossed $1800 to the truck and netted $1200 after fuel. Three were 250 milers and one was about 350. I was hoping to stay above $1.50 and I was lucky my first week. I'm learning a lot and have connected with some good companies that will pretty much offer their best rate up front. I questioned a guy that had five trucks about $500 for 250 miles, and he said I could not beat that unless I left Texas and went interstate. I picked up a long load Friday that took me through the house to deliver Monday. It was Odessa Texas to Beaumont Texas, and it grossed $850, and will probably use $300 in fuel, but it met my needs to go home. My total fixed expenses on this business is about $2600 a month, so I at least heading in the right direction.

I tryed a couple of times to get more and they just told me forget it. I've been trying to avoid the heavy loads, but there are plenty of them that only pay about $1.20. My truck is getting about 7+ with under 10000# loads, but it goes to 6 mpg for 40000#. It looks like the idle time knocks about 1/2 mpg off the average mpg???

I've been receiving faxes in the truck via MYFAX, and as long as I'm in an area that has full broadband, it is somewhat tolerable. Outside the fast network areas, it just is not worth it. I didn't realize I would have to receive 10 or more documents every time I got set up with a new broker, so this has been a little annoying. I finally resorted to faxing from truckstops to stop wasting my time. I'm looking into using my cell for a fax modem, instead of this data card. I check the card and MYFAX, and it turned out to be the Sprint network that is the problem.

I think I'm going to work through a factor to not only help my cash flow, especially on these heavy loads, but to simplify the process of sending in the bills. One fax number and one criteria would suit me because every company seems to want it a different way and different terms to pay. I'm burning up my reserve in fuel, so I'm going to put a stop to that.

I learned from last weekend, that if you didn't have your loads booked by Friday, you might not be able to talk to anyone over the weekend, so I made sure I had something lined up for Monday and Tuesday.

The truck is running great and I bought a used Werner trailer with new tires on it and they both ride real smooth.

I'm teaching my wife map reading and logging, and how to contact brokers (as if I know how), and she is catching on.

Next week I hope to get my gross up around $2500, and try to run from one side of my 500 mile radius to the other, mostly to reduce the load and unloads per week. I have been rejecting a lot of longer loads that don't pay good though, so I don't know which is worse.

I hope to have my 48 state authority in October, so I can get out of Texas as ways on some longer loads.

Sorry for the long post, but some have asked me how it was going. I also had some guys want to know my actual expenses to get started, and I hope to post it in the future after I get a little time on the road to see what they look like.

Hopefully, next week I can relax a bit more and visit the board.

jonboy

Scottt, what little I know, tells me 300 mile radius is not enough to be totally independent. I don't believe there is enough freight on the boards with those limits. I'm seeing mostly 250-450 mile loads in Texas. The reason being that is how far it is from major freight cities ie. Dallas, San Antonio, Odessa etc. etc. In other states this would most likely be different.

I would look for someone to broker all the loads for you if you are going to stay that close to home???? There are probably companies that specialize in this, but they wouldn't put that kind of freight on the boards for otr drivers.

Someone else would probably be better able to advise you on this.

I paid $220 to Cummins in Dallas for the dyno/blowby check.

jonboy

Re: Parked the orange truck................
 

i myself am new to trucking after 30 years in construction management. and that was the first thing i noticed, PEOPLE TREAT TRUCK DRIVERS LIKE DIRT

our entire existence is meaningless, one minor example, you go to a cold storage place and they have you wait in a -20deg room for the receiver/shipper

that is plain inconsiderate, then they talk to you from a warmed room and close the window

i know this may seem pretty petty to some of you because you may be used to this, but this is not the way people treat people

so your company has rules, the shipper has rules, the receiver has rules, DOT has rules, each state has rules, and at the bottom of the food chain is the truck driver

now i must also admit, a lot of this is because truck drivers act like............. uh well............truck drivers

but we dont speak in a unified fashion, i cant believe that suzie square badge security has to look at my cdl for me to pick up or deliver freight

my god, i have a $100,000 company truck, unless the truck has been reported stolen, i think it can be reasonably assumed that i will not steal their freight

but us truckers suck it up, and thats why we get treated like dirt

i could go on, but my wife tells me to suck it up

Raafi, that was the hardest thing for me to take, coming from owning my own businesses and being involved in customer service for thirty years.

I had never been treated that bad in my life, because I had skills that were in demand, and it was not uncommon to receive tips, lunch, etc. etc.

When I got into trucking (at least as a company driver), that all changed.
I went from the top of the food chain to the bottom.lol

I went to a shipper yesterday, that gave me the wrong directions twice, no signs at the road, shipping and receiving on the far end of the building with no sign, crap piled up in the parking lot to hinder maneuvering, and a generally trashing exterior. I guess I should not have been surprised it took them five hours to load 16 pallets. The product was not staged at all.

I finally blew a fuse and called the broker and told him what I thought about his lousy customer, and he called them on a three way, and they didn't think it was a big deal for me to wait 5 hrs. I asked them if they ever hear of the 14 hour rule?

The broker said that had never happened before, but other drivers there, said it was normal. I'm exploring how to get an appointment time with detetion pay on these type of customers.

In hindsight, I think the general disorganization of the company, (exterior of the building speaks for itself), tells me the ownership is the problem, so more than likely, nothing is going to be different if I returned.

I put them on my no haul list.

I wish we could have about a three day trucking strike, just to remind the world that we do perform a service that they NEED.

great thread

Great name pothole.

I hope your not a real clown. Kids would drop dead from fright by the looks of your avitar.

for exceeding my quota at my former (non-driving) company, i got a $7,700 year end bonus

last year, my trucking company gave me a $10 flying j gift certificate

talk about culture shock

me and the wife laughed, i still have that gift certificate

i admire your initiative and drive, hope you the best

Raafi, can you see your way out of the madness?

I'm curious to know if you have any future plans or dreams.


jonboy

The load I picked up Friday in Odessa, I took home for the weekend, and headed out Sunday night for Beaumont, Tx. It paid $700 and $150 fuel. It netted after expenses about

The truck got 5.5 average pulling 43,000, because I idled a lot and had my foot in it going home. I delivered it Monday morning, but couldn't find a decent load going toward Dallas for four hours. It may not seem like long to some people, but patience was never my best character trait.

I had to pick up the plates for my truck, as I've been running on temporaries, so I took a load from Sealy, Tx to Graham, Tx.

It paid $500, and worked out to be around $1.20. It was 44,000, and the truck got 6.0mpg even with stop and go driving on country roads getting around houston. Most of the better paying loads going out of that area are going south or west, so I'll remember that in the future.

I was about reading to deadhead to Dallas after rejecting a heavy load that .90 to the truck at 44,000. I told the broker she was nuts, but she said she had no problem covering these loads for four years. ITS board had this load six times. Either it was the same load with six brokers, or six loads??? I dunno, but I wouldn't help that broker and I made note of that company.

Everybody is worried about the Mexican drivers, but down here in Texas, the problem is the TEXICAN drivers. Somebody is taking that cheap freight.

We're doing better every day, and are netting about $1000 a week on 6 days of work.

Not much money for some, but at least we aren't losing money.

cheers,

jonboy

Jonboy, following your thread is intersting to me, a 54 y/o who retired from the car business.

Im assuming your income will climb considerably once you start rolling out of Texas? Encouraging to see you start out this well.

jonboy, is that 1000 a week after you pay yourself a salary, or is that your salary?

Thanks for the interesting thread and numbers.

If you have the right gig going, you can do make it and never leave a 30 mile radius. Simms Trucking here in Elberton has about several Trucks and they stay within the county. They drive a Day cab pulling a Flatbed trailer hauling Granite Blocks from Quarries. So yes it can be done with the right gig going.

Not been bought Lunch as a Driver? There in Texas I had a customer bought me lunch. I made my drop and as I was getting the paper work done the Secretary came running out and asked me to wait for the Owner, he wanted to buy me Lunch. Which I accepted, had some really nice Texas BBQ.

Never say Never, for anything is possible.

RCR, basically I'm having no trouble grossing about $500 a day.

It takes $100 a day ($600 a week), to cover all the fixed expenses.

I'm using about $150 a day in fuel on the 250-300 mile runs I'm doing. I'm shooting to complete one and a half loads a day. It's not a lot of money, but I feel it is an encouraging start. The work is hard at times, but the future is bright.

Coastie, it's true, you'll get that southern hospitality from certain small companies, especially if you frequently visit them, but when you go to the large fortune 500 companies. ie P&G, Georgia Pacific etc. etc., you are lucky if they let you use a flushing toilet, or stay in the parking lot 15 minutes after delivery. Also, forget about idling the truck, even if it's real hot. You are making me hungry talking about that Texas BBQ. :lol:

Sounds like you've got a good situation. Make the most of it.

Mostly, I've been treated better as an independent, and I don't know why, except maybe it's because I am delivering to more small to medium sized companies???

I'm not getting the bad attitudes from shippers or receivers when asking how long it will take to load or unload. Bad attitudes were common when i drove for the orange army.

I am prepared to drive off from bad customers now, and I am searching for the best customers/brokers to do business with. I treat everyone with respect, and request the same if we are going to conduct business. I am finally able to operate the way I did for years.

Btw, I just celebrated my 50th birthday :D

jonboy