All Those O/O's Making "so Much Money"

Mouse I don’t mean to be rude here, however just how much experience do you have as a lease op or O/O. You speak as if you have the total unequival facts for all trucking companies.

That said I have facts on one company. The one I’m leased onto. My dispatcher gets me the highest paying of what’s available where I am each and every time. The reason is very simple. I run my butt off, I don’t complain, and I get the job done. I get called upon fairly often to handle blown loads, the company calls them rescue loads. I take it on the chin on those. So why do I do them?? Proves to my dispatcher I am willing to do whatever needs done. My bottom line at the end of every month is always above my expectations.

I know for a fact Schneider uses a load board for their lease or O/O’s. All the loads are there. The drivers pick their own. Whatever is still there within 24 hours of pickup the dispatchers look for a company truck to put it on.

That is just what I know the facts on. So please don’t say lease and O/O’s are always getting the cheaper loads.

It doesn't necessarily have to be art for the Smithsonian to pay enormous rates. Sometimes it just takes a bit of thinking out of the box. This was a mine move in northern Minnesota that the company I work for pulled off. It was a one day move going a whopping 3 miles and paid very very well.

Guess who runs the artwork? Fedex Custom Critical O/O teams. They have special procedures and classes you take to be qualified.

I know many suspect the higher paying loads go to company drivers but if i pick a load out of the terminal , they offer me loads before asking my truck number or "company or lease" They need the freight moved.

A lease op friend of mine swears she was given a $5 per mile load "by accident" and the next load offered was like $1.30 or something. She swore up and down that $5 was given to a company driver, but who knows?

Just like with all the billboards and ads of "make $100,000k"... these realistic numbers must be taken with a grain of salt.

It means there will be some making much more and some making much less. I would.imagine the newer OO or lazy ones are at the lower end. It takes a long time to figure the fuel costs and pick the freight. Also, some will do repairs themselves to save money and others have no mechanical ability at all.

On a trip that pays $9.47/mile if I was a L/O O/O. Pays $644.25 on 68 miles. Sounds really awesome until you get to the rest of the story.

The trip before this one paid $61.51 on 53 miles for $1.16/mile. The trip before those was $1.17/mile. $1851.51 on 1561 miles.

$2,557.51 on 1,682 miles is a gross average of $1.52/mile. Now for a fun exercise. What's the net $ that goes into your pocket? Lets use $1250 truck payment (includes tags, permits and insurance). $0.10/mile maintenance fund ($168.20) Lastly, fuel @ $2.3642 (Prime's price). Last weeks average MPG was 7.3. So ballpatk fuel cost is $544.74.

$2557.51 - 1250.00 - $168.20 - $544.74 = $594.57 ÷ 1682 = $0.35/mile. WOW! Lease Op / Owner Op thing sure is a great deal!

I'd have lost $0.09/mile from what a company driver would have been paid AND be looking at a bill from ThermoKing to fix the APU that just took a dump!

Disclaimer; there's still 3 days left in this pay period for the potential of a lot more miles... and, I think there is local P&D money that isn't calculated in. Have to check on that one.

Being an L/O O/O sounds like a great thing until one runs the numbers on a give scenario. Then doesn't sound so good.

Now please excuse me while I put in a road assist call to have the company fix the APU and DirectTV receiver that it fried. :(

P&D:

Pickup & Delivery

Local drivers that stay around their area, usually within 100 mile radius of a terminal, picking up and delivering loads.

LTL (Less Than Truckload) carriers for instance will have Linehaul drivers and P&D drivers. The P&D drivers will deliver loads locally from the terminal and pick up loads returning to the terminal. Linehaul drivers will then run truckloads from terminal to terminal.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.