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The more replys.. the more I am thinking company drive.......THIS A GREAT SITE........

I have been reading this site for a few months. Finished CDL school, drove bulk grain for a farm in a blue Peterbuilt (picture) and after all that, I KNOW I want Company Driver, not O/O!

Thanks Bill....... Im still on the fence, but leaning......

Garry, I'm retired from my privately owned custom sign business, and driving a truck for a second career. I owned six big trucks in my sign business. I learned one thing about big trucks during that thirty year tenure - they are money pits - big time!

I seriously considered being an owner operator at the beginning of my career, I was accustomed to being the boss and had a great handle on accounting and what it takes to make a dollar. No matter how hard I tried, I could not pencil out a plan that made an acceptable amount of profit when considering the full picture. Trucks are pieces of equipment that regulators are continually demanding improvement on, so you just can't expect to keep one for a really long period of time and expect it to keep making you money. The guys who are turning the kind of miles that they should be to make a dollar are going to need to replace their equipment in just a few short years. The profits are dismal in my opinion.

I met an owner operator one time who named his business after what was really going on with his balance sheet - Don't make the same mistake that he made.

You should go company first and learn the ways so to speak a lot of companies will give you that nice new truck. Some will give a nice used truck at first but after awhile they will turn and give you that brand new truck. Once you learn the ways which will take awhile learn how to run when to run get good fuel mpg and never late. If you want to try the lease thing after awhile go ahead some companies have a walk away lease so if it doesn't work out you can always go back to company for them and they won't down you for it. You never know until you try right? Best of luck be safe out there

I spent the day with a retired veteran owner/operator turned instructor; a serious no bull manure slinging man. For conversation I asked him to consider lease operating and replied, "absolutely positively NO!".

I then continued asking him if his thoughts were the same for lease purchase. He said, "Yes, no lease anything!". I asked him why. He replied, "If you want to starve go for it. They'll give you just enough miles to make the truck payment. The smart move is to go company driver".

Coming from a VERY knowledgeable man (take my word on it!) I would seriously consider his opinion.

Continued. ..

I further inquired: "In today's trucking world, you wouldn't advize anyone to go it alone even if they paid cash for their rig?".

He looked at me and said, "Are you a good mechanic? You'll be doing all your own repairs. No owner operator could afford to pay someone to fix everything on their truck. The only things that most owner operators don't do themselves are the engines and transmissions. And that costs THOUSANDS to repair".

Concur.......Company Driver is the BEST for newbie..........Thank all ya"ll smart and experience folks for your input...School is 2 weeks away and after it off with my trainer for 6weeks.......Reading the CDL book and taking tests here ............

Bless everyone and thanks again

Here's a basic company driver's job description: Pick up, Deliver, Drive safely, Follow the rules, Don't mess around.

Treat your equipment well. PM service, tire issues, engine problems, drive in to the nearest terminal shop. (This happened to my mentor: oil drops under the front end, he took it in. Got a brand new 2016 rig! Just try this as an O/O.) Yes owners get paid more, but they get these problems as headaches and business costs.

Just today I drove in with a scalloped steer tire. I thought it may be alignment. The mechanic found it was bad shocks. New shocks, and two new steer tires without even asking! It cost me one afternoon of time, and I was on my 10 hour anyway. How would an O/O have to handle this?