Merrick- Im going to pm you some Florida contacts for that Reefer.

Thanks LoadIt! I appreciate it.

check your pm, I sent you a few

load it
Pepe you're making money, but you dont like the back office work involved with being a motor carrier. Find someone else to do your back office work.

Its good and cheap way.But, just make sure that your papers work done!
if you dont wanna get problem from IRS..

You want to Drive truck, be home almost every night and make more money then you can ever Imagine. Take a stroll out to Colorado and get your hands on Oil and Natural Gas boom that is taking place out in beautiful western Colorado. The housing is fair and the wages are unbelievable. Plus all the independents want that work so the local work for us that have paid their trucks off is up for the taking. Its incredible. A great place to work, live and compete. Even company drivers are making up to $100,000 a year

You sound like a driver recruiter/real estate salesperson...lol

The big pisser for me is this is the only career in America where you can earn less money for more work.

Hourly: Something happens, you spend more time, you get more hours, get more money.

Salary: Something happens, you spend more time, you get paid the same salary.

Mileage: Something happens, you spend more time, you make less money, maybe a lot less money.

It really is a crock.

I hate hourly jobs, because I'm the kind of guy who wants to get it the hell done and go home, and I hate those slow milk the clock days. I hate mileage jobs, because it's total BS to earn up to substantially less money for having to sit around through no fault of your own at all. I think salaried driving jobs are where it's at. Wish I could find another one (got laid off) that wasn't two states away with a company I don't really want to drive for.

Humbug.

(After I raised holy hell about the 20 hours I spent in the shop pretty much getting the entire fricking trailer rebuilt, they finally took a crowbar to their wallet and produced a whopping $45. $2.25 an hour boys and girls. Whoooooooo.)

True but a lease company would give me more time to concentrtate on fewer things...this is overwhelming to be honest....n not worth the extra hassel....hate to say it, i a nay-sayer too now....less you have everything lined up before with decent clients, not that good an idea.
All in all i can say, if you work hard...you avoid going broke n you dont have to be all that knowledgable....more knowledge helps, but im as stupid as they come n i am not going broke; I dont see exactly how people do.
The fact of the matter tho, this is just not worth it....if i was better at getting good clients yes....or more agressive, n hiring someone would seem to defeat the purpose. Especialy if they didnt know much n probably as small as i am surely coundnt afford someone knowladgable.
Yeah thought about partnering with someone...that ended up bad as he was just a scam artist that ran illegaly loads under my Auth. until i got it stopped.

yeah that seems to be my problem.....they just blow me off since i only got one truck n trailer.....been close once or twice to getting something going but always just falls thru

Yeah afraid tho i am a nay sayer now.......well not tottaly, if you can get things lined up ahead of time, good shipper connections, its a good idea....doing it seat of pants like me wasnt that good n idea.....I can keep afoat, but why work so hard for so little when the same $ all in all leasing somewhere good?

Where i really screwed up tho most....is dry van....if i had it to do over again id had gotten a flatbed step deck from day 1., I always knew others made more then us in dryvan, but I didnt dream of this much disparity in pay when talking O/O n own authority, n all the big carriers gobble up all the good dryvan freight at cheap rates.....n put grandparents in the truck cuz almost anyone can do dryvan.

Hmmmm I couldnt post a link, but as a former driver trainr for big companies I could verify its true.
These kids would come in thru a Govt. training program started thru Bill Clinton n not completly phased out by Bush (tho cut back) hmmm win or something crap like that (I called it trainer loses)
Basicly if they showed they were poor (1 was in jail n flew under radar checks honest no BS) the Govt promised they would reinburse their training cost to the big Co's n even promised $ incentives for hiring them (so the whore big Co's went for it).
Hated to pick them up to train them to be honest....it wasnt just dumb luck they were poor....usually bad work ethics.

But again i ask....umm this is owner ops area isnt it....shouldnt the question be can i make $ if i own a truck.. I mean Steves the only one here who just bought a rig n went driving from scratch n he gets blasted for it (LOL).

So hows about a list of places I could possibly lease to since we have determined own authority can suck :lol:

Pepe, I get it. You're done and you're going to try the lease-on thing now. I just had a question. How come you left the board? Wouldn't it have helped when you were trying this thing to have people help you left and right with every little thing? You know every little answer is here if you ask. Seems there's some real hand holding available.

That's because I'm having fun and I enjoy it. If your mean, nasty, unhappy, truck falling apart then your OK and they will leave you alone and give you all kinds of advise.

Pepe, if it is the paperwork that is getting you down, there are those who offer a service that will take care of that aspect of the business for about $50/month or less. If you want to lease to another carrier there are several who pay percentage and are usually in need of good owner operators. Landstar, CRST Malone, Mercer, Jones are a few who come to mind. You didn't mention whether you want to haul van or flats. If it is flats or steps you are interested, there are a few others who come to mind. Some require that you have your own trailer others are power only. If you pull a flat with most of these carriers you will need your own trailer or have the ability to rent one. Either from them or someone else. If you want to stay with vans, Landstar and CRST Malone has a lot of drop and hook. If you want to primarily stay in the West, there are some regional carriers who stay in that area. You can make a good living running up and down I-5. Of course, if this fuel situation doesn't change that may not continue to be the case. Right now rates seem to be somewhat lower in the Western states.

Keep in mind that all of the carriers I mentioned pay percentage. All of them have cheap as well as good paying loads. Other than the paperwork, it is much like running your own authority. It takes time to find the better paying brokers or agents. This is true whether you run your own authority or lease to a carrier. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you lease to a carrier you will likely give up about 25% of the rate. If you are running cheap freight right now, then it may not make much difference to you. You can also broker loads through most of those I mentioned. Schneider, JB Hunt and a number of other large carriers broker freight. Some pay fairly well.

That made for interesting reading. Would you, by any chance, have any idea of something along those lines that one can look for in the Pittsburgh PA area ?

There is a lot of steel which runs from Illinois to New York that pays pretty well. A friend of mine did well with the shorter runs and was home most every night. He lives in Lewisburg and pulls a flat. He has another truck that he owns and it runs back and forth from Michigan to Pennsylvania.

Thanks Gman, for your response....would you happen to know who your friend works for, or company the company that he's affiliated to ? Also, would you happen to know of any such companies in that area ?

When your costs, will catch up with your "revenue", it will seems like a lot of money, to you...! :wink:

Ummm didnt actually leave, just busy out running some months so too much going on to log in: I usually stay out a whole month or so at a time since the only real place actually live now is the Philippines at the wifes.

Once n a while I could log in here, but my connections were erratic since my air card with cingular was a disaster, so what ever connection time I had were spent on getting loads.....them n AT&T are garbage.

N....hmmm done, not exactly sure, cuz when i go to lease probably could get the screw job from trucking Co's n say no thks n just keep running own auth.....a good offer from one n yes im done, but wont hold my breath there, was a driver trainer long enough to know all these Co's out here are really just pimps n think your their whore......bastards!

Love a mom n pop place, bt dont know any around here, there probably all back east cuz family owned stuff just doesnt do well in CA...they choke the life outta them here ill tell ya :p our little commie congress here :p

I've been to just about every state so far and Verizon is the way to go.

Yeah been too busy to worry about it now.....have cable at my godparents where i park now....n just get close to a big motel on the road or buy the pilot for a week at $10 rate......usually only once per month all i need.

Cingular has gotten much much better. I remember first time in Montana and North Dakota I couldn't make a call, now I barely was getting dropped and the Aircard is getting better too. Much better connections now.

Pepe you know I am newer than you, but I agree with the advice given here. Person is right, a lot of hand holding (mostly mine :) ). Also I don't know what paperwork you are having trouble with, but I pay $38 a month and these people take care of my fuel tax and all license and permit issues. They give me prepaid selfaddressed envelopes and when the stuff goes to the house I just have the wife drop it in an envelope and off to them. Also they have my credit card info on file so they do everything and then just charge my card and then send a statement to the house for me to review. I realize you don't live here in the states but maybe you can get your mail forwarded.

Also as far as getting ripped off, I signed up with D&S Factors (in spite of what I read by Joymax) and before I take a load (only been doing this a couple weeks on my own) I just call them and ask if they are factorable, if not then I won't use them.

Anyway, I don't know you but you went and got your own authority for a reason so it might be worth hanging in their for a bit. Whatever you decide good luck.

Hmmm I quess im not explaining myself well:
1. Never actually left the board...just inactive lomg periods cuz im busy...not to be sarcastic, but theres a real world out there...n m in it most of the time n just get too busy to post here untill times like now where im bored as hell.

2. Its not just the paper-work....all the million details I manage versus the lease company handeling them for me. I cant help but looking at my rates n saying why bother?.......true I have my freedom n independence, but doing some wondering now if it was worth it that im just so stubborn. So may just lease cuz its not really been worth it in the long run.....just a judgement call im mulling over.

What type trailer do you pull? If flats, I would contact Pittsbg. Logistics Sys, I am thinking about dedicating a couple of trucks over there. If van or reefer let me know. Anything else, I'm no help.

I pull for Pittsburgh Logistics when I'm in the area. I like the way they do things with there load board if your setup with them. You can see the loads and bid on them then either get rejected or accepted. It's also nice to see the check come in more than what you bid because they add on the fuel surcharge to your settlement.

chuck at pls is cool to deal with.

At present, I haul dry bulk....cement, sand & fy ash. I plan to move to New Castle, near Pittsburgh, by around Sept-Oct of next year, 'cos my fiancee lives there, and we plan to get married. Ideally, I'd like to do exactly what I'm doing right now, which is hauling tanks, but I'd like to keep my options open.

If I'm unable to find anything with tankers, my second preference would be van, if only to gain US driving experience for a year or 2 ( incase my Canadian truck driving experience doesn't count, which is most likely going to be the case ), before trying for tanker jobs again.