Becoming A Owner Operator
Topic 31511 | Page 1
How long have you been driving? How long have you been driving with your current employer?
I got my CDL by myself still new to the industry
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
...geez, at least Big Scott won’t be swooping in on this post...
Are you trying to haul freight TO those DCs or pull loads to their stores for them? Those companies have contracts with large companies to haul loads to the stores that their drivers can't cover.
Do NOT go O/O especially at first. You know nothing of the industry and you will make mistakes. Make them working for someone else on their dime. Its highly unlikely you'll even be able to get insurance as a brand new driver. Even if you find somebody to insure you it'll cost so much that you could be working for free. The fact you're unsure of how to get loads solidifies that you're not ready. If you want to pull for Target, Walmart or DG find out who their service partner is and try to get a job with them. It's possible you'd need to spend a few months OTR to gain some experience before they'd put you on those accounts.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Seriously, get on with a company and start driving. Learn as much about the industry and read ALL the information and threads on here pertaining to what you want to do. In the meantime, send me all of your money and I’ll send pictures of the nice stuff I buy while you are married to the truck. It’ll be fun, I promise.
I already have my own straight box truck 26 feet trailer i was never able to drive it because of the air breaks & the size of the truck is for class B i was thinking of running loads with that for a while
I already have my own straight box truck 26 feet trailer i was never able to drive it because of the air breaks & the size of the truck is for class B i was thinking of running loads with that for a while
Have you looked at leasing THAT on ... with anyone???? LandAir? Amazon? ShipEx? Might be a good start. Other than that, as a 'freshie' with a CDL A ... I'd go straight here >>
- Truck Driver's Career Guide
- Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
- High Road CDL Training Program
- CDL Practice Tests
~ Anne & Tom ~
ps:
...geez, at least Big Scott won’t be swooping in on this post...
Doesn't TFI do LTL now ?!?!? ;)
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
LTL:
Less Than Truckload
Refers to carriers that make a lot of smaller pickups and deliveries for multiple customers as opposed to hauling one big load of freight for one customer. This type of hauling is normally done by companies with terminals scattered throughout the country where freight is sorted before being moved on to its destination.
LTL carriers include:
- FedEx Freight
- Con-way
- YRC Freight
- UPS
- Old Dominion
- Estes
- Yellow-Roadway
- ABF Freight
- R+L Carrier
Finding a company that will insure you is the primary issue with your plan. You received excellent advice here...please reconsider your path.
Good luck.
I already have my own straight box truck 26 feet trailer i was never able to drive it because of the air breaks & the size of the truck is for class B i was thinking of running loads with that for a while
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I'm very interested in buying my own truck and running my own freight for Wal-Mart Dollar General and target reason why is because I live very close to all three distribution centers so I guess I'm a little confused on how or where to go to get the loads I already have a good start I am qualify for financing for my own truck but I haven't signed any paperwork yet be i really have no idea where to go from here to get the loads