Profile For BatMan

There are a ton of trucking companies out there that will lease or sell you a truck and then provide you all of the support services you need to run that truck - freight brokering, routing, fuel discounts, tags, insurance - the whole 9 yards. Basically they'll do whatever it takes to get you to own or lease the truck so they can book freight for you, take their cut, and give you what's left over - which will be next to nothing. And then you'll take that next to nothing and give it back to the company in the form of repair bills, escrow funding, and whatever else they can come up with.

Well, it makes sense then why I see all the ads in The Trucker, Overdrive, Expediter Online, etc., almost pushing trucks on you. Just another angle to make money for the companies. I was wondering why they were all selling or leasing tractors, all with 400,000 to 500,000+ miles on them. Seemed a bit odd. Now I understand ~ probably the fleets getting dumped before the big repair bills and maintenance items hit. I read somewhere also that something like 70% or more of leases never get completed and the O/O walks away or can't pay the remainder of the lease. What a great way for companies to dump older trucks! Instead of selling it at a loss (after depreciation), you can lease it to a driver and have them take over responsibility for all maintenance/fuel and insurance while the company is still getting paid for the truck. Brilliant!

Thanks for the warning. It all makes sense now... Company drivers for us!

We appreciate your reply and your honest opinion. It's pretty hard to cut through all the hype surrounding the industry for a new driver. At this point I think we'll follow your advice, particularly on not buying a truck. Even with my limited exposure to the industry, I've studied the numbers enough that I can't see a great profit margin in truck ownership, unless you're in a position to own several and employ drivers. Even then, it seems very risky ~ lots of downside with very little upside. I'm a complete newbie, so maybe I'm missing something. There are sure a lot of O/O's out there...

Believe us, we didn't survive in the military for 34 years by being unreliable or non-committal. If we sign on to a company we will do our level best to provide the best service we can. I'm sure we will succeed. We're no strangers to hardship or hard work.

I'll keep everyone posted on the forum as we proceed. Sequester doesn't make things easy right now for us in the services. Thanks again for the note of support and hopefully we'll see you all out on the road in the future!

Hello All -

My first post in the forum, but I'm having a great time reading the site. Solid information. After 34 years in the military, my wife and I are researching 2nd career choices. We're both in our early 50's and in a couple of months we will be "empty nesters." We're getting a retirement from the military and have no mortgage, so we're in a lucky position to not have to totally rely on an income from a new job to survive. We're not lazy people and we both want to work until we can't anymore. I've been trying to learn as much as I can about the trucking industry with a thought towards both of us becoming team drivers. Actually, this was the wife's idea, but I'm 100% onboard. We're trying to decide which way to go: OTR or Expediting, either one as team drivers. Here's a few questions:

1. Which segment would be easier to initially find jobs? Either way we go, we plan on getting our CDL A's and paying ourselves for school. Luckily, mine will be mostly paid for by the GI Bill. We plan on being company drivers for at least a year or two before we would ever decide to buy a truck.

2. For a married couple (we've worked closely together before and it was a good experience), which segment would you recommend and why?

3. I've lurked around on both trucker and expediting forums ~ both are fairly negative on the industry right now. Over-regulation and slow freight seem to be the common themes. Honestly, is this the right time to get into trucking? Is there a "right time" in your opinion?

4. What part of the trucking lifestyle to you find most challenging and why? What's the best? I'd be interested to hear from any female drivers to see what their perspective was on these issues.

5. If you had it to do all over again, what would you change in your decisions concerning your trucking career? What would you do to avoid big mistakes?

We're both willing and able to work hard in the industry, and we're not trying to take shortcuts. I know these are newbie questions, but honest answers from you all will really help us make the right decisions. Thank you for your help.

PS ~ Thanks for the site Brett! What a great resource.