Thinking Owner Operator

As of July 1 has been a major milestone in my life. This year marks 8 years that I lived in NY and put down the drug that almost ruined my life (meth). And it has been one year since my career in trucking has started. Now I am considering taking my career to the next level and becoming an owner operator. The dedicated run that I do does require me to go into very tight quarters and sometimes where trucks really shouldn't be if you ask me, but as a new driver I surprise alot of people that have been doing this for years with what I have done. But my concern is, what kind of truck to get. I was looking either a Volvo 780 or the kw t680 I was interested in the t700 but I can't see over the dash.

Well Brian....before you even consider being an O/O...you will need ATLEAST $50,000.00 in the bank. That MAY and I say may, because its different in every state, get you started. We have been O/O's for the last 15 years, and have just sold our truck, trailer, and equipment. And it was HUGE load off of my mind. The economy is crappy, and will take years, if ever to recover. The profit margin in trucking is real close to being nonexistant. If you buy a used truck, you had better have enough $$$ banked to do the biggest fix.....replacing a blown engine. For your future knowledge, it will cost around $27 to $30 thousand ..depending on the engine, and how bad it got trashed before you parked it, or it froze up. Our engine blew due to a defective crank. It was covered by the warranty, AFTER I fought with them for 3 weeks. Our truck was in the shop for 9 weeks. Thats over 2 months with no income. The outcome? The CAT company put just the necessary parts in the block, added all our parts off the old engine they could, and gave it back to us with no warranty at all. We didn't even have 400,000 miles on the truck. And being without income for 2+ months nearly ruined us. But I'd scrimped and saved and had JUST 2 months worth of bill money set back. Basically, if you don't have $75K sitting around, then you have no business buying a truck. I've seen good men lose their truck, their job, their home, and their marriage over trying to make a living in a business with a profit margin that you couldn't cut with a scalpel.. Weigh your options carefully. when that truck pulls a chair up to your dinner table, you will remember my words....

I thank my lucky stars every day that Starcar is hear with first-hand owner operator experience. I try like crazy to talk people out of buying or leasing a truck with a long list of facts about razor thin profit margins, the inability to differentiate yourself in a competitive environment, the pitfalls of being the owner of a commodity-based service, etc. But nothing I say has the credibility that it has coming from Starcar because they did it for so long.

My opinion always has been the same - do not consider buying or leasing a truck.

Brian, I think you get our ideas on being an owner operator from the previous responses, so I'll just say that I agree with them.

But, I did want to congratulate you on quitting the meth. I know that is a major accomplishment. I've talked to several meth heads who absolutely couldn't give it up. The only time that they ever go without it is when they are in jail, which often times is fairly frequent. I know one person who after three years of prison time started right back as soon as he got out. Now he's down for a ten year stint.

I, for one, am very proud of you. Keep clean, and enjoy your new career!

Brian, I think you get our ideas on being an owner operator from the previous responses, so I'll just say that I agree with them.

But, I did want to congratulate you on quitting the meth. I know that is a major accomplishment. I've talked to several meth heads who absolutely couldn't give it up. The only time that they ever go without it is when they are in jail, which often times is fairly frequent. I know one person who after three years of prison time started right back as soon as he got out. Now he's down for a ten year stint.

I, for one, am very proud of you. Keep clean, and enjoy your new career!

Thank you very much old school and brett. I talked to the owner operator recruiter today and she said that I would be chancing it but theae two people on the same account I am on are making out alright and still more than what I make now but I still have a lot of thinking to do. I drive for Swift and I am on the Family Dollar account which is very well paying especially being a new driver

Keep thinking it through. But as a business owner myself and someone who has followed the business world through the stock market for over a decade I'll say this:

Competition is fierce when you're a business owner, I don't care what business you're in. In a free market, anyone can pursue anything like they. If there were easy opportunities, people would flood to them and they would quickly become highly competitive.

Quite simply - there is no easy money as a business owner. It's all hard.

So the #1 place I think every business owner should start when considering a business to pursue is:

"What competitive advantage do I have that will allow me to be at or near the very top in my industry? How can I differentiate myself? What is it that I have that almost nobody else has, and almost no one could ever duplicate on my level?"

If you can't come up with a way to be truly unique and special, then you're almost certainly going to fail. And by fail, I don't mean you'll necessarily go bankrupt. It means the financial risk and additional workload you're taking on as a business owner won't be rewarded with high enough profits to justify the risk. Therefore, you took a lot of risk and did a lot of extra work for nothing. That's a failure in the business world, and the trucking industry is rife with failures.

Trucking is a commodity service. In other words, only price matters. There's no way to truly differentiate yourself. You're just another driver with another truck that does the same things the same way as everyone else does it. Therefore it's a very poor business to pursue.

Think that over.

I met a Swift driver at a Georgia Pacific plant yesterday and he actually gave me paper that employees are given for leasing. Frankly what I saw in the paperwork scared me. Not because I could not do it because I have had 2 trucks before and know what it takes to be a lease Op and I know the issues involved in leasing but what I saw makes me scared for any new person wanting to lease a truck because they make it look good. I through the paperwork in the trash which is still in my truck. I was not interested. Basic numbers were $714 dollars a week for a 2012 truck and $739 a week for a 2013.... . $2856 to $2956 a month. Why would someone pay that amount for a truck when you can get brand new trucks all day long for $2000 a month?

Hope you think about home time and space in the truck......You will not be going home like a company driver does. YOu might get home every 2 to 3 months instead of every two to three weeks and you will need to get into training so you can keep those wheels turning all the time.

Yes, this site is amazing. I've pretty much decided the only way I'll own a truck is to buy an old one to restore for show purposes, just for fun! I always wanted to own my truck, so I could put on whatever steering wheel I want! (oversimplified for comedic purposes) so I'll just do that on the old show truck! Maybe an old '70's W900 like my uncle drove, since that's what got me into this love of big trucks! It was an awesome shade of purple!

Brian, I think you get our ideas on being an owner operator from the previous responses, so I'll just say that I agree with them.

But, I did want to congratulate you on quitting the meth. I know that is a major accomplishment. I've talked to several meth heads who absolutely couldn't give it up. The only time that they ever go without it is when they are in jail, which often times is fairly frequent. I know one person who after three years of prison time started right back as soon as he got out. Now he's down for a ten year stint.

I, for one, am very proud of you. Keep clean, and enjoy your new career!

Thank you very much old school and brett. I talked to the owner operator recruiter today and she said that I would be chancing it but theae two people on the same account I am on are making out alright and still more than what I make now but I still have a lot of thinking to do. I drive for Swift and I am on the Family Dollar account which is very well paying especially being a new driver

Having owned non-trucking businesses, please consider this; there's more to life than the money. As a driver, you have many headaches, but you never have to worry about having $1,100 saved for replacement tires. You never have to face the fact you failed to pay estimated taxes each quarter (and the IRS doesn't forgive like some radio ads want you to think).

Will you have the discipline to put those extra bucks you're making away so that when that truck starts having problems you can pay for them?

When you strip away that pretty paint job, remove the hood, pull away the pretty dash, what do you have? Engine, wires, hoses, tanks, gauges, rods, arms, shafts, drums. All stuff that can deteriorate and break.

The grass is always greener, but that doesn't mean it is better.

Good luck!