Good Time To Go O/o ?

Hi drivers,

I know this is an awful topic for this forum, but as you may or may not know, the freight market is coming down due to high supply and low demand of trucks. Also, fuel prices are the highest they've ever been. Many carriers will be selling and going out of business soon.

Now, imo, may be a good time to look into jumping into the market to be an o/o, if anyone is interested. You could get equipment once the prices bottom out and ride the rates up when they finally do go up.

If the time is not right for you and you still want to own your own truck, i would suggest you pay attention to what the market does in the next 6-12 months and maybe position yourself in the next downturn.

No hate, if it's not for you. It's definitely not for everyone.

I would say you must have the following if you're thinking about it as a path:

2 yrs experience minimum ( you won't get insured below that, and even at 2 years the rates are high) NO DEBT of any kind. $20-$60k in savings 2 credit cards with no balance driving wise - knowledge of split breaks

Have a nice day folks, and stay safe on the roads!!

Things are crazy right now. First off prices on used trucks are off the charts high. Finding new or used trailers at any price is difficult right now. Your very correct fuel is at the highest level ever.

I would not recommend anyone buying equipment right now. Parts are getting harder to find for repairs as well. Having a truck down for several months is normal these days, look at what is sitting in the deslerships lots.

Your 3 recommendations are spot on in my opinion.

Hi drivers,

I know this is an awful topic for this forum, but as you may or may not know, the freight market is coming down due to high supply and low demand of trucks. Also, fuel prices are the highest they've ever been. Many carriers will be selling and going out of business soon.

Now, imo, may be a good time to look into jumping into the market to be an o/o, if anyone is interested. You could get equipment once the prices bottom out and ride the rates up when they finally do go up.

If the time is not right for you and you still want to own your own truck, i would suggest you pay attention to what the market does in the next 6-12 months and maybe position yourself in the next downturn.

No hate, if it's not for you. It's definitely not for everyone.

I would say you must have the following if you're thinking about it as a path:

2 yrs experience minimum ( you won't get insured below that, and even at 2 years the rates are high) NO DEBT of any kind. $20-$60k in savings 2 credit cards with no balance driving wise - knowledge of split breaks

Have a nice day folks, and stay safe on the roads!!

My understanding is spot rates are in the toilet

Used trucks are selling at a premium, spot market is in the sh•tter, overall rates are starting to fall a bit and fuel prices are rising again. How do you figure that this would be a good time for someone to take that leap? I talk to drivers quite a bit who had to completely change things up and do more local work just to keep a paycheck coming in because they can’t get fuel surcharge from brokers or in many cases have to fight customers over it. Now is the absolute worst time to consider that change.

Robert

When i say now is a good time, what i mean is soon in the next 3-6 months when equipment prices start falling. I don't mean sign on the dotted line tomorrow. Sorry about the confusion.

Does anybody think the fuel prices will come down anytime soon? Or the prices of trucks will be coming down anytime soon. Everybody is obviously price gouging. But the biggest worry has to be the parts shortage. Don’t see that getting any better either.

A Schneider driver told me today that freight is slowing down for them and they have cut back the schedules for some drivers. Also that some of their plans moving forward are being put on hold.

It doesn’t matter what the trucking economy is like, becoming an OO is a huge risk and overall bad decision. That is my humble opinion

Does anybody think the fuel prices will come down anytime soon? Or the prices of trucks will be coming down anytime soon. Everybody is obviously price gouging. But the biggest worry has to be the parts shortage. Don’t see that getting any better either.

Fuel prices will be stuck for a bit until demand goes down. The issue with chips for the new trucks and parts, that’s more of a matter of where those parts originate. There are ships sitting off the coast of China which have been waiting to unload and reload back this way for 6 months or longer. The delay is real and from the economists and logistics people I’ve watched, it’s going to be a long road before things get caught back up. Then factor in the economy, not just ours but globally, along with the tensions in Eastern Europe. I don’t think anyone can predict an effective timeline as to a return to normalcy because it’sa very strange environment right now and when talking a keen look at it, you have to wonder if the actions of governments and this mayhem isn’t intentional.

Rememeber, if China is involved in anything, it's in their best interest, not ours. They will try anything possible to cripple us, expecially, since Trump got us out of that trade deal from 1978. We were forced to cease all trade with Taiwan, to get China on board. I was just out of high school then, and remember it all.

Same with Covid's "accidental lab escape" timing was too perfect, just prior to the upcoming elections, that got us in an even worse pickle. Yep they "accidently" leaked the virus hahaha putting 4 million infected chinese on flights all over the globe, to spread it in a matter of 3-4 days !

Am not getting into the political aspects, it is what it is, because of the brain dead retard asshat in the WH......et al

I looked up the Flying J fuel price in Wytheville VA on Sunday and it showed $5.759/gallon. Went into that Flying J on Monday and it had jumped to that $5.85 shown in the picture.

That's the highest I've seen in the states I run from Idaho over to Greensboro North Carolina. Catlettsville KY was the cheapest, with my company paying $4.83/gal.

Laura