O/O Company Advice

Buying the truck should have been the very last thing you sign after everything else is read and signed. Going to plan b before stepping foot into the truck is a pretty bad sign.

What's your long term game plan? Giving a one year commitment to a company that you undoubtedly like doesn't sound like a deal breaker to me.

Also, why is that clause in there? I'm assuming they have contracted freight. I'm assuming they're not just using brokers.

How do you sign on with a company without owning a truck first? Never thought that was possible but I guess I could be wrong. I don't have a problem driving for them for a year either. My problem is that certain clause because they strictly use load boards and do not have any contracted freight! Also the fact that no other O/O driving for them has had any type of contract. This is telling me that for reasons unknown to me or the dispatcher(who also disagrees with contract) the owner does not want me to continue hauling for them. Which brings me back to my original reason for this post! Not to be put down for the choice I made but instead to gain advice as to a good company to sign on as a O/O.

A20 I don’t know what type of experience you have or what your looking for specifically.

I did lease onto a company I had 2 years experience with. It was a good fit for me. Your thinking on pay isn’t a bad one as long as you remember you are taking on extra risk with the freight rates. I’m guessing you saw other people leased onto this guy making good money during the spike last year and thought why not get a piece of that action. I’m also guessing based in your statement about his contract some previous drivers he had burned him by going out on their own and underbidding him on some of his customers. Hence the non compete clause.

I pull a chemical tanker. The rates tend to stay more stable overall in the market, than they do with box van or reefer. I do make percentage, and I know the risk in it. in my situation I am willing to take that risk. OS is exactly right rates are volitale right now and in the process of basically self correcting after the crazy spike last year. They will average out. Spot rates are dropping like flies, and so are a lot of people who went out and bought pickups/trailers running hotshot.

If you are interested in tanker I would suggest contacting Quality Carriers or Dana. They are the 2 biggest in chemicals. I work at QC and do well. If your interested in more info on them I will be happy to share what I can with you.

That said, You will have to bust your butt wherever you go. I see folks all the time complaining they aren’t making money here. The next 2 sentences always follow. I’m not pulling anything under 3.00 a mile and I am going home every weekend. With that mindset you won’t make it anywhere. I’m not saying you do have that mindset, just telling you what I see alot of.

I can tell you the spot market for reefer stinks right now. Loads last fall that we’re paying $2.00 a mile are barely paying $1.35 a mile now. Feast or Famine. Right now it is Famine.

I can tell you the spot market for reefer stinks right now. Loads last fall that we’re paying $2.00 a mile are barely paying $1.35 a mile now. Feast or Famine. Right now it is Famine.

Precisely why going the percentage route would not work.

Which brings me back to my original reason for this post! Not to be put down for the choice I made but instead to gain advice as to a good company to sign on as a O/O.

Look, you really need to toughen up. I never once put you down. I don't mind being misunderstood. It comes with the territory.

Here's what I do in here... I try my best to make people think. You can't even understand the simplest of concepts in this cut throat business. It was obvious to me why your chosen company decided to start using a non-compete clause and a contract. They are sick and tired of teaching their drivers how to compete against them.

I obviously haven't been able to penetrate your fortress. I'm not going to keep trying. You will do what you'll do, and you'll one day realize how much tough love I gave you. I'll never hear about it, but I already know the outcome. My experience in business and life tends to just naturally spill out in here, and it's quite often rejected. That doesn't bother me. Remaining silent while watching people make unrealistic decisions and choices in business does bother me. So, I'll speak up, and hopefully be understood occasionally.

Of course I want to see you succeed. It's a common theme I stress all the time in here. Unfortunately, I don't think you've chosen the correct way to get there.

Tbh, this is NOT the year to try and enter the O/O game. Maybe next year will be a better year. Rates are in the toilet and predictions are for them to stay this way for the rest of the year.

It sounds like you were a little more than impulsive with your decision to become an O/O. You have no clue what the market is doing right now. Why would you attempt to jump into the game in the middle of a rate slump?