Now that's interesting. I wonder if the big trucking companies pay attention to this and plan accordingly. There must be some type of order to the placement of all these trucks like J.B Hunt trucks for example.

Someone pointed out to me, and I have now noticed, that you don't see too many J.B hunt company trucks (with the yellow sticker on the side) and the Leased on trucks (without the sticker) in the same area. It seems like it is all leased trucks or all company trucks.

Seems like they place the leased on trucks in areas where you get worse fuel mileage like in the mountains since J.B hunt has the leased on person paying for fuel.

Anyway thanks no_worries for explaining that. Very very interesting that.

 

the advice here cracks me up

if you get your own authority no matter what trailer

in today's environment

chances are pretty good that

you will lose your shirt so fast

you won't know what hit you

a 12 mile mistake costs 7.00

 

How so? Did I give bad advice by suggesting that he talk to shippers first?

 

You are welcome, Merrick.



You can take it to the bank. Most companies watch trends. Everything runs in cycles. What we are currently experiencing is a business cycle. We know at a certain point during the year business will slow and at another time business will be much better. We know this from historical data. Some cycles are more pronounced than others.

 

Now you have me scared Sonny. I've been in it with my own authority for 1 year on Monday. How much longer before I go under. I don't want to lose my shirt, I don't like the cold.

I think I could make it if I moved to Canada. Is anyone on this forum from Canada that can speaka da English?

 

I dont know about the JBHunt truck area situation, but I do know the big boys want all hands on deck at the end of month because with all of those drop trailers, they know shippers are dropping in loads they didnt book to get inventory off their dock, then they call the trucking company and say why didnt you pickup trailer 53210 loaded for Odessa TX and trailer 53100 loaded for Bangor ME and trailer 53120 loaded for Miami FL? To provide service, the trucking company has to get a truck on it.

 

The shipments don't have to leave the grounds, just as long as it's inside or on a truck. I was asked this week by the owner of where I park my truck if I wanted to rent out my flatbed until the first of the year for a local granite company.

 

Not everyone will succeed in business. Neither will everyone fail. The great part of this country and a free market is that we have the freedom to succeed or fail on our own merit. You can fail or succeed at any time and in any business environment. Things could be more difficult right now, but that is part of capitalism and a free market. If you do your homework, have the resources and plan, you have a good opportunity to succeed. In a down economy it is important to keep debt low. Rates are down and fuel costs are up. I can see a great opportunity for those who run their businesses efficiently. There will be a lot of owner operators who will go out of business. The primary reason is that they accumulate too much debt and run for cheap rates. They don't run their business like a business. We all make mistakes. If we cannot afford a $7.00 mistake, then we need to do something else.

 

There is no room for trial and error at 3.50 per gallon
and The first years are plenty of trial and error

Steve you made it but you came in well financed
you have no responsibities except your truck
and you actually live in a truck
you have the confidence of knowing you can walk away tomorro and go back to an office job with your knowledge

The shock of a 7000+ fuel bill at the end of the month + payments is a tremendous amount of money for the average new independant

There are people here now who would be in different shoes if it weren't for the help of fellow members
he
but how many times are you going to share your contacts with every Tom Dick and Harry who announces his desire to get his own authority?
This is a busness and in many ways we are competition

There are guys who are doing well but they forget how hard it was to determine a comfort zone and how many ridiculous loads we took to find what was decent.
They cost is so high in the last few weeks that I there is no room for mistakes thus my 7.00 example

IMHO cold calling for shippers is good but it carries more risk and should be approached very carefully
Why is someone so eager to ship with you?
What happened to the last guy? etc