Own authority: dont assume it has to be OTR
 

There is a small group of here with our own authority and a lot of people who dream of getting it.
You don't have to run 48 states.
You can make a go of it just running in your region
This is the reason I got my own authority to begin with
To stay close to home.
You can behome most nights
and still have your own authority

I guess it depends on where you live. You're up in the Northeast so a lot more things happening. I don't think I could do that in South Florida nor to be honest would I want to. (Except I would love to stay out of the cold)

BTW you know I read in one of your earlier posts that you live in NJ and are driving to Mass and such and still in your own bed at night. Man you must have nerves of steel to be sitting and driving in all of that every day. I tell you, you deserve every penny that you make.

I run between Boston and Harrisburg,York, etc
I have some catching up to do so I am sleeping in truck twice a week to stay legal
will only run 1900 miles this week
I prefer frozen ltl both ways
it takes 2 days to get rid of 5 stops
eg Tue my first stop was 3/4 of the trailer
my next 4 stops was 8,000# total
I prefer brokers who are freight forwarders
They have predictable "runs" on a weekly schedule
And sell that fact to customers
There is plenty of heartburn
doing ltl
But the brokers will kiss the behind of someone who can do ltl work
It took my quite a few months to put something together
I try to key my week on one steady load and then fill in the others
Unfortunately my key load picks up late fri and delivers Sun nite
So I have to baby sit the reefer on the weekends
and sleep in the truck sun nite
even though I only drive 3 hours away

Baltimore area to Toronto and back twice a week. ~2000 miles. $720 to the driver. Home 4-5 nights.

You have the right idea
I figure if I cant find a load......
I just go home.

What exactly is a freight forwarder? Is that like freight consolidation? That is a truck takes it to a freight forwarder's warehouse and drops it there and the warehouse puts it all together (several different loads) and onto another truck?

The guy at H&M was explaining the LTL thing. I am going to try it out. I want to explore many different things until I find my niche. I can't haul fish right now anyway as I don't want to ask the insurance company cause at it is they want to cancel me. (5 more months and I'll have 2 years on my CDL then I can choose a better insurance company)

I saw a load going to Stoughton, Ma today. A reefer load. Kind of surprised me and I was about to call on it but I don't think I could get out of there. It was a load from FFE.

BTW I have been meaning to ask, I don't know the new Boston (post Big Dig) but I remember heading into Boston from the South Shore right before the entry to the Mass Pike they had all the meat warehouses. I went there once to buy a case of meat. Are all those places still there? They made so many changes that I probably wouldn't even know how to get around Boston now.

Now that I think of it, BJ's is out of there, well Natick I think, and I know for instance some of their stores in Florida carries stuff that I would say for sure come from up there like Pearl Hotdogs. I think Burris Logistics does a lot of BJ's but they must hand out a lot of that stuff too?

Broker: A freight pimp that does not take possession of the frieght.
Freight Forwarder:A freight pimp that does take possession of the frieght.

At least I think that's how it goes.

A freight forwarder puts blocks of ltl shipments together.
For instance I go to an area and make a few pick ups.
Then go to a central location called a cross dock At this place the freight is taken off and mixed with other drivers who did the same
trucks are reloaded
and we are on our way
Boston is very easy post big dig
Not so much meat but refridge warehouses none the less
Boston is mostly frozen food
BJ's is in a mega complex in Uxbridge

That's what I'm trying to work on as well Sonny. I have time to see if anything materializes while I get the truck ready. Going all 48 isn't really what I want to do now, I want to see if I can put something together where I can be home most nights and still make good money.

Another reason is the smaller the radius, the cheaper the insurance.

rank, I'm going to try to pm you later this evening, I have some questions about border crossing. Also, does Canada have a website for border crossing requirements for CMV's? Something like our FMCSA?

Canada stuff. I think Rank sent me this pointer.


http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/tr...instnbc-e.html