My bad...I read the company profile wrong on this site.
http://www.classadrivers.com/truckin...es.php?Cid=136

Funny you should mention a 3 axle step deck. I ran into one of their BCO's a few weeks ago when I was pulling an over-sized load. He says that he is doing very well with them with the 3 axle. I don't recall him mentioning his average rate. Before I would go out and start buying trailers, I would check with some of their agents to see what would work best. You could get a 3 axle with a lift. Those are a little more versatile, but you will pick up some added weight. Some of their more specialized people seem to do pretty well for themselves. One thing to remember with Landstar is that some of their agents have freight in other parts of the country other than where they are located.

Thanks for the replies. I was just asking because I run for a fellow that has 10 or so trucks and he also runs with us but I see it as 2 or 3 people taking there cut before I receive mine. I basically run everything now, I pay for the baseplates, taxes, and everything else. The guy I run for gets his loads for JB Hunt and Werner. It just bothers me that other people are making money off of me. But yeah, the only thing the guy I run for does for me is pay for cargo insurance and find my loads, I do everything else. Thats why I was asking if I should just take that next step and get my O/A? The only thing I'm worried about is finding good loads. I was hoping to find something dedicated. Anyways thanks for all your time, I really appreciate it.

I would look at what you are getting and how much money you are making. If you are happy with what you make then you could stay where you are now. It can take time to find the better paying loads. Most of the time you can find loads, but the better ones can take more time. Where a lot of independents get into trouble is the paperwork. Most detest that part of the business and procrastinate. It can later get them into trouble. Your IFTA must be filed in a timely manner or you can be fined and ultimately lost your IFTA certificate. If you do your paperwork along it isn't too bad.

When you run your own authority you need to know what areas to stay out of due to the cheap or limited freight availability. If you pull a van, there are some brokers that have dedicated freight from time to time. Sometimes they only require power. Do you currently pull your own trailer? If not, that is something you will want to buy when you run your authority.

I didnt want to buy a trailer but if it makes it easier then I will do it. How would I go about finding loads? Would I call the companies themselves or should I trust a broker? I dont think it should be this complicated. I used to run for fed-ex national here in Pa. and when I let my customers know I was leaving to become an owner operator they told me to let them know if I need work. I just thought they were saying that to be nice but now that I'm thinking about getting my o/a I dont know. Either way I live in central Pa. there should be plenty of work I can find on my own. Maybe I'm wrong. Thanks for all the help.

Pennsylvania is a good area for freight. I have a friend who lives in central Pennsylvania who does very well leased to a carrier and he is home most weekends. He runs from Illinois to New Jersey and upstate New York. It will be difficult for you to run your authority and not own a trailer. You may find some power only loads, but they aren't going to be as profitable as something with a trailer. If you have shippers who will give you loads, that would be great, but you will probably need to deal with some brokers. Dealing with brokers isn't very complicated. You need to be able to negotiate. Everything is negotiable. If you don't want or enjoy negotiating, you may be better off leasing to a carrier. Most people use load boards or brokers to get loads, unless they have some of their own shippers.

I'm leased to LS I used to be an indie.

Leasing give to LS is an exacting process, they hire only 2% of applicants on average. You will be required to have hazmat but won't be required to haul it , you would also be required to have tanker endorsement if you haul tanks.

The thing I like most is that I can take a month off (I'm lazy) and within a week of coming back to work I have money in the bank. I choose when, where, what I haul as there is no dispatchers. You can despite what some say make money off the board but it can be tough as there is a lot of cheap loads, I normally don't have much trouble getting good paying loads unless I end up in an area that is considered a black hole.

If you want to pull open deck do yourself a favor and buy a specialized trailer like a stretch trailer, I see loads that consistantly pay in the 7 to 8 dollar range for overlength, you can make decent money with a standard flat but the bigger money is in specialized. A word of warning when it comes to specialized, if you don't have experience you will have to work your way into it.

Now for the bad; Corporate is loaded with nazis, you will do it their way or you will be gone, they can be a real pain when it comes to safety but the upside is scales generally don't look at you as they know how tough LS is when it comes to safety.

LS also offers discounts for fuel, tires, parts, etc. To give an example, due to the recent wholesale decrease in diesel I am currently paying as much as .35 cents per gal. less than pump price, couple that with the FSC and my personal minimum rate I do pretty well....when I work

Crap! ...I heard it was more like 10%

Well...guess I'll have to tell them I'm a member of CAD...that has to put me in the top 2%. :?

...anyway Chief...get to work. :P

What is the full name of the company your lease too?
thanks

That 10% is bits and pieces of Mercer, Daily, Ace Doran and nefarious bedbuggers that are cobbled together and made into BCO's :lol: The 2% I speak of is lazy bastards like me that could never get into trouble as we rarely work and when we do it's usually for low miles and high pay

2% or 10%, LS has standards that I like :wink: