GMAN, et al......Do I understand this correctly? As a BCO with Landstar you only pull their freight, but as an Independent you broker loads through them the same as with any other load board/broker? If Landstar didn't have anything out of let's say CA then you could broker a load through someone else with your own authority?

 

Like most other large carriers Landstar brokers some of their own freight. Some agents broker freight they get from another broker. In any case, when you have your own authority you can broker freight through Landstar or anyone else you want. It is your decision. I don't use Landstar exclusively. I haul for whomever has the best rate. If you are a BCO, or owner operator, who leases to to Landstar you only haul loads you get through one of their agents, sort of. For instance, if you get to an area where there are no agents with loads then you can find one off one of the load boards or your personal contacts. The catch is that you will need to have a Landstar agent to book the load and do all the paperwork. Landstar doesn't want their BCO's to have their authority while leased to them. At least that is the way it was when I leased to them.

 

GMAN, thanks for the response. I'm actually surprised Landstar let's a BCO look for freight in a place without them having any until you said it was the company that would actually broker it.

 

I have talked to several Landstar drivers at the pumps...or the fuel desk in my travels

They say its slow....but they would not go back to the big companies after having

the freedom that they have at Land Star.



Also the trucks most of them had looked more practical and affordable as opposed

to a new Pete or something.

I am interested in them to...but am gonna hang on to my current gig for a while.

 

They prefer you not broker any loads, but you can as long as you go through one of their agents. Of course, they will need to approve any load you haul before committing to it and the agent will need to review any paperwork and sign any documents. There are a log of their agents who are brokering freight of their own anyway.

 

I am in total agreement with what GMAN is saying. Be very careful with signing up with LS. I was with LS up until this last week. Freight rates on the board are the really cheap freight. I started in mid August. I worked the system the way we are taught (Lane match, load match,etc) to the best of my ability. I have been in private business before. I feel that I have good business skills and discipline to run brokered freight. Started developing some decent agent contacts in certain areas of the county. It takes several months to really get things working smoothly. It did seemed that some of the better (larger) agents to have enough mouths to feed and really don't want to deal with a new BCO. I really loved the freedom of running the way LS has it set up. However, if you don't have the time or financial backing to hold on till you catch up with the system it will be difficult.

Spoke with several BCOs and most said that unless you have your truck paid for and have a significant other at home helping with the bills, it is very hard to make ends meet right now with rates where they are. It is true that they nickle and dime you with all sorts of charges. At first flush it seems that 64-65% (64% for your first 120 days for dry van) would be good revenue. Take your % of the rate then subtract for fuel. Not much left over for all other financial obligations of business and personal.

I started reevaluating my present financial situation and what I was generating per mile. I started looking to go back to a dispatch issedoff: with set rate per mile system. I put my feelers out to see what was available. Had a few companies of interest contact me.

I decided to talk with BCO advisor a week ago about what else I could do to increase revenue with LS. Since signing on with LS, my financial obligations had changed with more revenue needing to be made (lost renters in house having to pay mortgage again and a few days down with truck repair). I also asked that if (notice the word is if) I decided to terminate my contract what steps I had to do to fulfill contract obligations. Also spoke with a orientation leader about my situation. Both of these men said they understood my situation. Never in either converstation did I say the words or any words that were close to "I want to terminate" or "I want to cut my contract". Just checking out options. To make a long story short they decided that I wanted to quit and they terminated my contract without my knowledge. Found out that I had been terminated after trying to sign on to the load board this last Wed. :hellno:

Lucky, I had a safety net developed after having a few cpm carriers interested in me. I will be signing on with a new company this week. When this economy improves, freight and rates improve, I would consider returning to the LS system. I really hate giving up the freedom but one must do what one must do in business in order to survive. Sound business decisions must, at times, take priority to what the heart really wants to do.

If you are making your business and personal expeneses presently with your currrent carrier, my suggestion is stay there. Wait till things improve in the trucking industry before making the move to a LS style of running.

 

This sounds like a honest response, Thank you for posting this experience for others to look at and learn from.


I cannot believe that they terminated your lease for the reasons you posted above. What was their official response as to why they terminated you?

 

Thanks everyone for your encouragement. I had to make some fast decisions since I was suddenly out of a job. Will be looking to Risinger Bros for my next gig. All I want to do is get back to work and try to have some steady miles (the best that we can right now).

There has been no "official" reason for the termination. When I spoke with a supervisor she gave me no reasons as she had not talked with the two individuals I had spoken with. Plan on following up on this in the morning.

I plan on from time to time check in on this board just to see how things are doing for all of you.

 

They may have thought that you wanted to terminate your lease so they just moved the paperwork through for you. I would expect that you could stay on with them if you chose to do so. But, it sounds like you may need something else that is a better fit.