[Orangetxguy]

Originally Posted by devildice

Just got a message from Lone Star telling me that I have a green light for orientation on Monday the 15th..... but before I commit, I was hoping to hear some more about them.

All I know right now is what the recruiter and terminal manager has to say. In fact, the terminal manager was telling me that the average line haul rate is over 2.50 a mile for legal loads. Would like to know if that is really true as well as any other info......be it good, bad or ugly.

So if anyone else has some first hand knowledge about them, I sure could use it ASAP.

Thanks in advance........




"Orangetxguy" and "downsouthdriver", thanks for the info you all provided thus far.

I wish I had better info for you DD. Keep us up on what you do..and How you do, if you pull the trigger.

[devildice]

Originally Posted by Orangetxguy

I wish I had better info for you DD. Keep us up on what you do..and How you do, if you pull the trigger.

it's all good, thanks for what you did provide and I will definitely keep everyone posted on what, if anything, I do.

[devildice]

Just want to bump this thread up in case there is someone out there that has some info on Lone Star and may have missed this thread.

I've searched multiple truck forums with little to no results. been down to the truck stops here in San Antonio and have struck out trying to find some current drivers. I guess I could look at this as "no news is good news"....

All I really know so far is that they have about 800 power units, their safety-stat score is 34, they haul mostly permit loads, was told by the terminal manager where I would be attached to that 99.99% of all loads are at least $2.50 (for legal) and go up from there (for OD) and that there is plenty of freight to keep me rolling as hard as I want. that I could stay busy running Texas and be home weekly or could run further if I wanted to stretch my legs. The one and only driver I ever talked to from Lone Star was extremely happy with them.......not a whole lot to go on and I would hate to go in "blind" but I am close to pulling the trigger and would really like more info than what have.

So once I again I am asking if there is anyone that has some info to please let me know.

thanks.

[hamboner]

Devildice, My uncle was leased on to them for quite sometime out of the Memphis, TN terminal. That terminal is indepently owned, but I can assure you that he did extremely well there. That particular terminal did not have any trucks operated by the terminal owner. My uncle started out pulling a drop deck, which most of the time he was pulling jet engines and different equipment for Fedex. He has been in this business for 30 years or longer as an O/O and he swears it was the most profitable he ever was. He admits that it was not always the best company for hometime and that sometimes he had unwanted layovers, but they always had damn good freight! Now I can't speak for every terminal, but for what everyone else has said about the others on here.... everything seems to be on par with what I have heard about them. One thing to keep in mind.... remember that starting out with them you will have to learn their system and earn everyones respect before you will get some of the gravy that some of the veteran O/O's for them will be talking about. Just work hard, do your part and I am sure you can be very successfull with Landstar - Not a doubt in my mind!

[devildice]

Originally Posted by hamboner

Devildice, My uncle was leased on to them for quite sometime out of the Memphis, TN terminal. That terminal is indepently owned, but I can assure you that he did extremely well there. That particular terminal did not have any trucks operated by the terminal owner. My uncle started out pulling a drop deck, which most of the time he was pulling jet engines and different equipment for Fedex. He has been in this business for 30 years or longer as an O/O and he swears it was the most profitable he ever was. He admits that it was not always the best company for hometime and that sometimes he had unwanted layovers, but they always had damn good freight! Now I can't speak for every terminal, but for what everyone else has said about the others on here.... everything seems to be on par with what I have heard about them. One thing to keep in mind.... remember that starting out with them you will have to learn their system and earn everyones respect before you will get some of the gravy that some of the veteran O/O's for them will be talking about. Just work hard, do your part and I am sure you can be very successfull with Landstar - Not a doubt in my mind!

Did you mean Lone Star? I do appreciate the info. The terminal manager where I'll be assigned said she only keeps 28-30 O/O's. According to her, this way she always has plenty of freight for "her guys" and as I mentioned before, she claims nothing less than $2.50 mile.

If I do pull the trigger and head there, I would be going to orientation Monday the 22nd. So i have until then to gather as much info and make a decision.

[2]

I've been a little reluctant to say anything due to the similarity to rumors, so you can do as you will, with it.

It was a couple of years ago, someone suggested that Lonestar was pretty anal about some stuff. They are forced dispatch, and tell you where to go and when.

This may or may not be factual, and things can always change.

Also, if you are getting $2.50 + to the truck....
If that is before their cut, then you would really need to dig deep, to see the volume at those rates, before you could really make an informed decision.

Otherwise, it might pay to be a company driver.

[scythe08]

Hmmm, seems interesting DD, keep us posted

[devildice]

Originally Posted by 2

I've been a little reluctant to say anything due to the similarity to rumors, so you can do as you will, with it.

It was a couple of years ago, someone suggested that Lonestar was pretty anal about some stuff. They are forced dispatch, and tell you where to go and when.

This may or may not be factual, and things can always change.

Also, if you are getting $2.50 + to the truck....
If that is before their cut, then you would really need to dig deep, to see the volume at those rates, before you could really make an informed decision.

Otherwise, it might pay to be a company driver.

Thanks for the info.....they (Lone Star) tell me it's not forced dispatch. As far as them being anal, it wouldn't surprise me. During one conversation with the terminal manager, she mentioned that Lone Star is pretty strict and frankly a pain in the you know what to get on with, but once you're on she says I'd be happy. She went on to tell me that the "youngest" driver she has at her terminal has been with Lone Star for 6 years. The oldest was 19 years and he just retired.

Again, according to the terminal manager, the $2.50 rate was only the line haul before Lone Stars 25% cut. So subtract that 25% then add in the FSC (which btw, she claims ALL of their customers pay) then its not too bad of a rate IF all of this is accurate.

[devildice]

Originally Posted by scythe08

Hmmm, seems interesting DD, keep us posted

Sure will......As I stated in a previous post, I am REAL close to pulling the trigger. Only thing holding me back at the moment is I am waiting on my 2290.

[hamboner]

Originally Posted by devildice

Did you mean Lone Star? I do appreciate the info. The terminal manager where I'll be assigned said she only keeps 28-30 O/O's. According to her, this way she always has plenty of freight for "her guys" and as I mentioned before, she claims nothing less than $2.50 mile.

If I do pull the trigger and head there, I would be going to orientation Monday the 22nd. So i have until then to gather as much info and make a decision.

Opps...... I did mean Lonestar... NOT Landstar! The Memphis terminal was not forced dispatch at all! My uncle would do his best to cover everything that was important to maintain good relationships, but he also spent plenty of time taking extended hometime. It can be really important to help terminal managers cover their a$$ on certain freight that needs to be moved for certain clients. That scenario probably holds true for most any company. I do know they have some excellent drop deck freight. For the last 3 years my uncle pulled a double drop with a flip axle hauling almost exclusively the big boy Airbus engines. There was also lots of tugs and oversize equipment he would shuttle between airports for FedEx also. Probably 90% of his runs were dealing with FedEx engines and aircraft loading equipment. They have lots of permit loads and oversize. I would say he easily pulled for more than $2.50 a mile gross when he was running just a single drop. I feel like you have made an excellent decision signing on with them.