Owner Operators - Which Lane Do You Prefer To Take?

Hello everyone,

I just purchased my first Pitterbilt a few weeks ago. Have 3 years of experience but never been an owner.

I was wondering if anyone can suggest some route they take, and what do you guys make?

What I do, of course, rates change every week and we need to adapt to them, but my ideal week looks like this: 1. Chicago, IL (I live here) - PA,NC = $3000 (780-820miles) Del on Tues 2. NC, PA - short run to midwest (TN, OH, KY included) = $1200-1800 (500-600miles) Del on Wed 3. Midwest - MN = $3000 (1000-1200mi) Del Fri 4. MN - UT, OR, WA (whatever pays better) = $4000-5500 (1300-2000miles) Del Monday.

Would like to know how you guys run, maybe we can share some good locations.

Thanks,

Rather than focusing specifically on lanes, you might be better served by focusing on specific customers, ones you might be able to establish a consistent relationship with which will give you reliable freight vs relying on brokers and load boards. Those relationships come with time but you’ll be more successful having your own “customers”

Hello Max, and welcome to our forum!

We focus on helping new entry level drivers figure out how to make a good start in the trucking career. There are only a few owner/operators in here. We allowed your post for discussion, but I don't think you will find a lot of help in here with your question. Perhaps you will find some helpful information from some of our members. We will watch how this one goes and see.

All those rates are about 5% of the numbers you need to worry about. Three years driving and went out and bought a truck.

How about insurance, IFTA, maintenance, fuel, fuel surcharge, fixed costs, accounting, incidental costs, depreciation, withholdings, savings, maintenance costs per mile, etc.

Are you running on your authority, or leased to a carrier?

Just my 2 cents, as a Petercar enthusiast...(slingo for Peterbilt, btw...) if one cannot 'SPELL' the brand name; perhaps you don't even HAVE the wherewithal anyway?!?

re: Lanes/customers >>> look up PJ and his threads/comments!

Best to ya!!

~ A ~

Three years driving, bought a truck without knowing exactly how you would run it. During those three years you should have researched everything. By your question, it seems you didn't.

I have been OTR for about 4 years. I have zero desire to own a truck. I have two friends who own trucks and are leased on to companies. One thing they both have in common, they don't go home.

This is Trucking Truth, we give the cold hard truth. No sugar coating.

Running those lanes, you'd better have a little extra put away for fuel. It doesn't get any higher than those areas.

Hi max,

Let me first say, you are pretty far off on your expectations. You've got the mindset of a company driver and you'll learn quickly the differences between a company driver and an owner.

First, o/o's don't run as many miles as a company driver. I run between 1500-2000 miles per week. This is because our trips are live load and unloads which take up a large portion of out time. We don't drop and hook.

Money wise you should figure roughly $2.00/mi. So aiming for $4-5k a week should be a realistic goal.

You also can not schedule your week out that far. What if your equipment fails on the first trip?, Cancelling loads is a huge black mark on your carrier.

Being an owner means driving is about 30% and all the back office is 70%, imo.

Best of luck.

Thanks Sid!

I knew those numbers were askew. I hoped one of our O/O's would point that out. I could have said something, but I knew an O/O's word would carry a lot more weight in here with a new guy. What do I know? I am just a company driver.