O/O Truck

I've been asked several times in the last months about driving for o/o ? I would still be a company driver. Can anyone tell me how this works and the pros and cons?

Id suggest typing owner operator in the search bar and read the forums that pop up. Lots of juicy conversations on here about it. The short answer to your question is its not recommended here on this site but if you must, get a couple years u der your belt and tread carefully.

Hopefully Kearsey will see this. We've been missing here lately. I remember her answering this really well once before.

This is a somewhat unusual arrangement that takes place at Prime. You still get paid like a company driver with your taxes and social security being taken out and handled by the company. The person leasing the truck gets to determine how much your bonus money is. So they offer you a higher CPM , but you usually don't make more money because they keep a share of your bonus money. It is the usual bait and switch game just to enable the company to lease more trucks out. The person you are driving for gets more revenues and you keep earning a similar amount of pay that you were before. That is if everything is going well.

There is really no reasonable motivation to do it in my opinion, but it still goes on. If you build a good solid relationship with your dispatcher and are doing a great job, there is no reason to go to this arrangement.

Donna, you didn't really tell us what your motivation is. If you want to share it might help us answer you better.

The thing you always have to remember is these trucking companies have around a 97% operating ratio. That means the potential for you to make extra money by joining in on one of these schemes is about a 3% increase if everything were to go perfectly. There is just not a bunch of extra money floating around that we are missing out on. The money we are leaving on the table is from our own inabilities to be productive. That's where we make up the difference and increase our take from trucking. Efficiency is money, not time.

Unless you know that owner operator very well, I don't recommend driving for an 00. My personal experience was with a lease operator, and he was struggling financially, which I couldn't see but did find out later after I fired him for bouncing a paycheck and then not paying me my last two trips.

When you work for an 00, you are a W-2 employee just like you would be for a bigger company. They have to take out taxes, notify the IRS that you work for them with a W3 form and then they are to pay into your federal and state taxes and Social Security. If you go with him, you need to find out up front if they pay detention pay, breakdown pay, etc. Many of the small companies don't pay that extra pay. Hope this helps.

Laura

Hiya, when I started for this company 3 months ago the truck i was assigned was one of 7 owned by one of our maintenance guys. He leased the truck to them and i drove it. I was not considered working for him but for the company. I recieved everything any other company driver was entitled to. Had I not been told he owned it I'd have never known. If your situation is the same (you work for the company not him) then you are just another company driver. He and the company has it all worked out where as he is basically a middleman that is responsible for all of your pay including layover, detention, stop pay etc. I used a company fuel card, scheduled maintenance and repairs through the company, recieved my checks from them. I didn't deal with him for any of it.

If you are actually in talks with the owner of the truck you'd do well to find out who you will answer to, who approves repairs, who pays for fuel etc. If it's like my situation...no problem, if its directly for him through the company I'd be leery.

My only question is why make the change in the first place?

If everything has gone well to this point (from your posts, it seems to be the case), why reinvent the wheel?

I meant to comment on this earlier but forgot.

I agree with Mr. Packrat and Mr. Old school why add a middle man for no reason? Seems like a lot of potential problems for no real gain.

I still can't find the 'WHAT' i'm looking for... but, read on:

O/O at Prime... Kearsey's summation.

Wish you well, Donna. Sure thought you had Kearsey's contact info... she's posted OFTEN on this, but there's a start.

~ Anne ~

It only took Kearsey about 10 minutes after my post to call me and get my thinking straight. I've just been thinking about a new truck, getting out of a light weight! These guys offer brand new trucks with all the bells and whistles and .60 cpm. However if I figure my bonuses I make way better than that plus I get a good bit of extra pay, a gift from from my fm , i guess never questioned it! I can't see, changing fm I don't believe prime would be the same under a different fm. I think like a company driver more miles more money! O/o think less miles on the truck more money on the load. That would be a problem. And as Kearsey said we're company drivers, believe it not we're not use to being micromanaged. I receive a load run it the way I want as long as I make the appointment, then receive another. Very little interaction with fm. I may be a little to forward....or outspoken to deal with a middleman.

Good call!

Personally I believe the less people between me and my paycheck the better!