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Good Luck!!!

My words and logic can speak for themselves, although I see that some want to downplay my points thru credentials.

Not here they don’t.

Comparing a contract to slavery is buffoonery.

What are your credentials you claim are being downplayed?

I don't think it's buffoonery. When a company is taking advantage of an individual, possibly not well off, by threatening to go after them financially if they don't fulfill a contract, is not a far cry from slavery or better indentured servant. Alas, some of these contracts extend beyond one year, keeping the driver under contract from exploring better opportunities outside their current company, until fulfilling their contract. This would be the choice of last resort. But hey, it may be the only choice for some, so be it. My advice is to keep one's options as free as possible. Thus more possibilities/choices.

My point on credentials is that it shouldn't be a rally point for disqualification. Logic and words can stand on their own, sorry to hear that they don't apply on this forum?

My words and logic can speak for themselves, although I see that some want to downplay my points thru credentials.

I'm not saying that going the contract route to gain entry is all bad, it's just the last resort I would take.

I got my CDL A, plus all endorsements, thru a grant at an independent State certified trucking school.

If a company is doing everything right for it's drivers there is no need for a contract. It goes both ways, trust.

Really? Let me ask you something........why would a company that has thousands of trucks and has been successful at the highest level in the trucking industry for decades trust some guy off the street who has never driven a truck one mile in his life? Explain that to me.

Let me ask you something. Why would anyone trust a company that needs to constantly hire new drivers because of high turn over rate and subject those drivers to a contract (slavery)? What are they doing wrong that makes them need to resort to such tactics? Explain that to me.

Any driver should stay with his first company a year at least. My point is that I think the contract issue is really a moot point.

I agree that one should stay with a company for the entire first year. Then a lot of doors open up. Unfortunately the whole contract thing is not a moot point or tuition reimbursement without contract. Often these terms are over more than a year, gradual at first and bigger payments in the end. If one can avoid both, one has more power at the end of the first year to survey the open market. Get your schooling paid for by a grant or GI is the best deal. Then you have more opportunities to look at several companies, some even offering a bonus up front. If a company is doing everything right for it's drivers there is no need for a contract. It goes both ways, trust. This would be the last means for getting thru school, contract, that I would recommend. If your going to go this route, at least try for a future high paying job, like Old Dominion or Estes.

Very good, Old School. Please allow me to play devils advocate and give rebuttal to your article.

According to other OO's (some Landstar) in other forums, I find the following a common logical scenario.

Money is not the only motivator to becoming an OO. Some want to control their time off, not just weekends. More often a third to half of the year, intermittently. Their success is that they don't accept any loads that don't fit into their minimum guidelines to a pre determined profit/net. Many find business directly with a company, bypassing brokers. Funding their own operations with cash can alleviate the immediate cost of time (this is old school). Thus you don't put any miles on your most expensive asset, the tractor, unless it is paying well. With no payments, time is not of essence. In the end they don't need to run their tractors more than 100,000 miles per year and a new tractor with warranty can last as much as five to six years, before trading it in for a new one.

Obviously, just like any small business, this is not the path for everyone. Most small businesses fail. Becoming an OO is no different than a small business. There are many reasons for failure, often poor money management is first main reason. Most drivers should remain company drivers.

Name one you know.

But, undeniable, there are successful OO's operating independently.

How about a whole authority called Landstar, with 10,000 OO's. I agree, this talk of OO's is not for the new driver.

How is that your GPS was so far off? If you did match up the directions on your GPS with your paper maps, how did you come to be off, the second time? Good recovery though, good thinking. I use Google maps for the automobile all the time on my GPS phone. It's never off.

If you haven't seen the breakdowns by Rainy I'd check them out, although those are LO with prime.

Thank you. Yes, I did read the LO with Prime thread by Rainy. If anything, it just reconfirmed my suspicions about LO's or for the matter OO's, signing on with carriers. It's a stacked deck against you, that could go awry at any point, since you hold a short hand and compete with their own company drivers.

But, undeniable, there are successful OO's operating independently. To deny this is just as much a fallacy as to describe, since we don't get any good OO's laying out there successful formula here on the forum, then there is no such thing.

Mark, these kind of comments are what make it so obvious that you don't have any understanding of the trucking industry. There aren't any little tightly held secrets to success among a special group of owner operators that keep them at the top of the food chain. This is a commodities business. There aren't some kind of regularly available super great runs that you can cherry pick. The rates are up and down all the time and very cyclical. There are times when nobody can make any money at it, and the competition is fierce.

Even a commodity business has relationships within. And if there is one golden rule in business, relationships can trump the overall market to a degree. Remain near that cost structure, foster those relationships, along with excellent/dependable service.

That would be a concern, when megas are willing to work at a loss to squeeze out competition. The only problem is that there are far too many players in the business, from what I see, to achieve that level of monopoly.

I agree, you want to be well insulated for those low points in the cycle.

That's why we don't appreciate you trying to teach people in here about your business methods - you don't understand this business. You may have been successful at other businesses, but that doesn't tell us anything about your business acumen as a trucker. We are happy to have you in here if you want to learn, but please stop with all the advice! Thanks for confirming the things we pretty much knew already, but try to educate yourself in here instead of coming on like you are some sort of expert. You are only making it obvious that you are not.

It was never my intent to try to come off as a know it all, far from it. I agree, to listen far more here than become vocal, wise words. But I had to say something on this matter because, so far, all I've seen on this forum, is a one sided discussion that fails to address counterpoints that seem obvious to my eyes, from my own business experiences .