Company Driver Or Owner/operator?
Topic 24095 | Page 1
I read a lot about drivers that drive for shipping companies...are there many drivers with their own rigs, schedule their own loads, etc? I think that part of the "allure" to driving is having your own truck, and driving for a company where anyone else can drive the truck you are driving seems like it would kinda stink. Am I wrong?
I have zero experience here but all I can think when I think about O/O is paying for gas and insurance. No thank you!!!!
I read a lot about drivers that drive for shipping companies...are there many drivers with their own rigs, schedule their own loads, etc? I think that part of the "allure" to driving is having your own truck, and driving for a company where anyone else can drive the truck you are driving seems like it would kinda stink. Am I wrong?
It's tough for an O/O with one truck running under their own authority to make it these days, not saying it isn't done, but multiple trucks owned spreads the potential success
I read a lot about drivers that drive for shipping companies...are there many drivers with their own rigs, schedule their own loads, etc? I think that part of the "allure" to driving is having your own truck, and driving for a company where anyone else can drive the truck you are driving seems like it would kinda stink. Am I wrong?
I have zero experience here but all I can think when I think about O/O is paying for gas and insurance. No thank you!!!!
JoAnne, not to mention the cost and hassle of running under your own authority, that's a big reason many O/O's lease on to companies
I think that part of the "allure" to driving is having your own truck, and driving for a company where anyone else can drive the truck you are driving seems like it would kinda stink. Am I wrong?
Yes.
Paul thinks...
I think that part of the "allure" to driving is having your own truck, and driving for a company where anyone else can drive the truck you are driving seems like it would kinda stink. Am I wrong?
Yes you are deadnuts wrong.
As a rookie driver put the slightest thought of O/O or L/O out of your head. Most of this forum is comprised of company drivers, many with assigned trucks many making 70-80k annually. Nothing “stinky” about it...
The below link is one of many in the blog section written on the subject.
Confessions of an Owner Operator
Once you have read through that dose of reality...take a very good look at these links:
- Truck Driver's Career Guide
- Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
- High Road CDL Training Program
- CDL Practice Tests
The above is where your initial focus should be. Good luck!
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.
Owner Operator:
An owner-operator is a driver who either owns or leases the truck they are driving. A self-employed driver.
driving for a company where anyone else can drive the truck you are driving seems like it would kinda stink. Am I wrong?
What type of driving job are you thinking of? As an over the road driver, I've logged over a half a million miles in my company truck and nobody else has ever driven my rig. How could they? I'm the one living in this thing.
Paul, owning your own truck is an option, but a really foolish one for a brand new driver. This is a fiercely competitive business where the big players hold all the advantages. What's worse is they will, and do, cut the prices to starve out the independent operators. It's a commodities business, meaning the cheapest price generally wins the bid. National profit margin averages are in the 3 - 5% range. That means if you're doing well at this you keep 3 cents of every dollar you generate. Do you really want to lay out the necessary capital and take the unavoidable risks so you can work for a rate like that?
We don't promote truck ownership here. A company driver can do really well in this business as long as he does a great job at it. There's just not enough reward for the risks involved.
When Is The Best Time To Be An Owner/Operator?
Over The Road:
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.
Sorry.
You know when that allure of owning a truck died for me? When my truck died on the side of the interstate as a company driver. I literally sent in my breakdown macro, then got paid to watch tv in a hotel for the next two days. Didn’t have to arrange the tow, or repowering the load. Didn’t have to spend any time in the driver’s lounge like some owner ops that had been sleeping there for days. Didn’t have to pay the five figure repair bill. And still got paid.
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
Being a owner operator can jet you more money than being a company driver, but you will have to work pretty much all year with no time off, and you are always one accident or break down away from financial ruin.
Owner Operator:
An owner-operator is a driver who either owns or leases the truck they are driving. A self-employed driver.
Think about this train of thought, as an owner operator , or lease operator, you have all the same responsibilities of the company driver, plus, you have to run a business on top of that for not much more money,,, less money if you have major breakdowns, injured and out of work for awhile? Those truck payments and insurance, and etc still need to be paid!
Owner Operator:
An owner-operator is a driver who either owns or leases the truck they are driving. A self-employed driver.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.New Reply:
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Leasing A Truck Owner Operator Truck Driver Salary
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I read a lot about drivers that drive for shipping companies...are there many drivers with their own rigs, schedule their own loads, etc? I think that part of the "allure" to driving is having your own truck, and driving for a company where anyone else can drive the truck you are driving seems like it would kinda stink. Am I wrong?