How's it Going at Landstar?
That is a question Diane and I have been asked many times since we made the move in late June from FedEx Custom Critical (FDCC) to Landstar Express America (LEAM). I rarely share our financial results in public but given the amount of interest, I am making an exception this time.
How's it going at Landstar? The short answer is, it's going good. The longer answer is below.
Before I share the numbers, please note:
- I am not encouraging anyone to leave FedEx Custom Critical.
- I am not encouraging anyone to sign on with Landstar Express America.
- That is because the cultures and dispatch systems of the two companies are fundamentally different. Just because you do well with FedEx Custom Critical, it does not follow that you will do well with Landstar. And if you are not doing well with FedEx Custom Critical, it does not follow that you will do better with Landstar.
- If you are a newbie, sorry. Landstar requires experience. If you have safety or health issues, sorry again. It is not as easy to get accepted by Landstar as it is with some other carriers.
- At Landstar, more entrepreneurial and professional networking activity is required to work your way into the decentralized agent dispatch system. If you sit around and wait for agents to call you, you will get calls, but you are also likely be out-hustled by contractors (Business Capacity Owners, BCOs, as Landstar calls them) who are more proactive and better known by the agents.
- It's not like FDCC where if you have a service failure and are still allowed to continue with the company, your truck will automatically come up in the dispatch order again. At Landstar, the agents are free to load and pass over trucks any way they wish. If you fail an agent, he or she may never call you again. If you delight an agent, he or she may pick you first while leaving other trucks sit. If you delight an agent but a more-favored BCO is available, you may be the one left sitting.
- There are additional cultural and operational differences between the two companies. You can get a sense of what they are by reading my daily blog beginning on June 27. That's when we started with Landstar and when I began writing about the differences as Diane and I discovered them.
- A big difference is Landstar's approach to safety. To cite one example, Landstar's "sitting duck" policy prohibits you from parking on the street, shoulder or any ramp. If you violate that policy, your contract will be instantly terminated, and they mean it.
- Equipment maintenance is more rigorous. Inspections are required more frequently. If something needs repair, the expectation is that you will get it repaired now; not later, now.
- The day-to-day work standards are higher at LEAM. More is expected of us now than when we were at FDCC. On the flip side, more information and resources for charting your next move and your career are available than we ever dreamed of having at FDCC.
- There is no TVAL freight at LEAM. Comparing a FDCC TVAL truck (which we were) to a LEAM truck (which we are now) cannot be done on an apples-to-apples basis. There is some reefer freight at LEAM, but at LEAM a reefer is best viewed as an additional service that you can offer, like a lift-gate or a pallet jack.
- The results in the 30 day period mentioned below do not guarantee that we will have the same results in the next 30 days. We might do better. We might do worse. We are still very new and there is still much to learn at our new carrier.
- Diane and I signed on with LEAM in late June but it took a while to get into the groove. That is common we are told. We had to get to and complete orientation. The long Fourth of July weekend got in the way. It takes time to establish agent relationships and learn the system. We had to wait until mid July to get to and complete additional training which established credentials at Landstar that we had with our previous carrier.
- The 30 day results described below begin on July 18. That is about three weeks after we began with LEAM. It is not the date of our first load. It is the date of our first pick up after completing the training that got us fully credentialed and into the groove. We completed several runs before July 18 and cut our teeth on those, mastering the paperwork and learning how to introduce ourselves to and work with agents.
From July 18 to August 17 we...
... completed 13 loads, including two reefer loads, two white glove loads (inside pick-up or delivery, pad-wrap, etc.), and one "double-up" run in which two fully-billed shipments were carried at the same time (one run, two bills of lading).
... drove 12,694 loaded miles.
... drove 2,431 deadhead miles (some of which were partially paid).
... drove 85 personal miles (to the mall, repair shop, barber, grocery store, etc.).
... generated $31,402 in gross revenue to the truck.
... averaged $2.08 per mile for all miles driven (excluding personal miles).
... accepted loads that ranged from $1.50 per mile, all miles, to $18.24 per mile, all miles.
... accepted all loads but one that were offered to us.
It's not the kind of thing that should matter in any big way, but it matters enough to mention. In the above-mentioned time period, our Qualcomm unit beeped less in 30 days than it typically did in one day when on a run with FDCC. We tried to not let the many beeps bother us when there, but now being free of them, the peace and quiet is nice.
How's it going at Landstar? It's going good. We grossed $31,000 in 30 days and find the company to be more respectful and straightforward than the company we left behind.
The map below shows where we drove from July 18 to August 17.
That is a question Diane and I have been asked many times since we made the move in late June from FedEx Custom Critical (FDCC) to Landstar Express America (LEAM). I rarely share our financial results in public but given the amount of interest, I am making an exception this time.
How's it going at Landstar? The short answer is, it's going good. The longer answer is below.
Before I share the numbers, please note:
- I am not encouraging anyone to leave FedEx Custom Critical.
- I am not encouraging anyone to sign on with Landstar Express America.
- That is because the cultures and dispatch systems of the two companies are fundamentally different. Just because you do well with FedEx Custom Critical, it does not follow that you will do well with Landstar. And if you are not doing well with FedEx Custom Critical, it does not follow that you will do better with Landstar.
- If you are a newbie, sorry. Landstar requires experience. If you have safety or health issues, sorry again. It is not as easy to get accepted by Landstar as it is with some other carriers.
- At Landstar, more entrepreneurial and professional networking activity is required to work your way into the decentralized agent dispatch system. If you sit around and wait for agents to call you, you will get calls, but you are also likely be out-hustled by contractors (Business Capacity Owners, BCOs, as Landstar calls them) who are more proactive and better known by the agents.
- It's not like FDCC where if you have a service failure and are still allowed to continue with the company, your truck will automatically come up in the dispatch order again. At Landstar, the agents are free to load and pass over trucks any way they wish. If you fail an agent, he or she may never call you again. If you delight an agent, he or she may pick you first while leaving other trucks sit. If you delight an agent but a more-favored BCO is available, you may be the one left sitting.
- There are additional cultural and operational differences between the two companies. You can get a sense of what they are by reading my daily blog beginning on June 27. That's when we started with Landstar and when I began writing about the differences as Diane and I discovered them.
- A big difference is Landstar's approach to safety. To cite one example, Landstar's "sitting duck" policy prohibits you from parking on the street, shoulder or any ramp. If you violate that policy, your contract will be instantly terminated, and they mean it.
- Equipment maintenance is more rigorous. Inspections are required more frequently. If something needs repair, the expectation is that you will get it repaired now; not later, now.
- The day-to-day work standards are higher at LEAM. More is expected of us now than when we were at FDCC. On the flip side, more information and resources for charting your next move and your career are available than we ever dreamed of having at FDCC.
- There is no TVAL freight at LEAM. Comparing a FDCC TVAL truck (which we were) to a LEAM truck (which we are now) cannot be done on an apples-to-apples basis. There is some reefer freight at LEAM, but at LEAM a reefer is best viewed as an additional service that you can offer, like a lift-gate or a pallet jack.
- The results in the 30 day period mentioned below do not guarantee that we will have the same results in the next 30 days. We might do better. We might do worse. We are still very new and there is still much to learn at our new carrier.
- Diane and I signed on with LEAM in late June but it took a while to get into the groove. That is common we are told. We had to get to and complete orientation. The long Fourth of July weekend got in the way. It takes time to establish agent relationships and learn the system. We had to wait until mid July to get to and complete additional training which established credentials at Landstar that we had with our previous carrier.
- The 30 day results described below begin on July 18. That is about three weeks after we began with LEAM. It is not the date of our first load. It is the date of our first pick up after completing the training that got us fully credentialed and into the groove. We completed several runs before July 18 and cut our teeth on those, mastering the paperwork and learning how to introduce ourselves to and work with agents.
From July 18 to August 17 we...
... completed 13 loads, including two reefer loads, two white glove loads (inside pick-up or delivery, pad-wrap, etc.), and one "double-up" run in which two fully-billed shipments were carried at the same time (one run, two bills of lading).
... drove 12,694 loaded miles.
... drove 2,431 deadhead miles (some of which were partially paid).
... drove 85 personal miles (to the mall, repair shop, barber, grocery store, etc.).
... generated $31,402 in gross revenue to the truck.
... averaged $2.08 per mile for all miles driven (excluding personal miles).
... accepted loads that ranged from $1.50 per mile, all miles, to $18.24 per mile, all miles.
... accepted all loads but one that were offered to us.
It's not the kind of thing that should matter in any big way, but it matters enough to mention. In the above-mentioned time period, our Qualcomm unit beeped less in 30 days than it typically did in one day when on a run with FDCC. We tried to not let the many beeps bother us when there, but now being free of them, the peace and quiet is nice.
How's it going at Landstar? It's going good. We grossed $31,000 in 30 days and find the company to be more respectful and straightforward than the company we left behind.
The map below shows where we drove from July 18 to August 17.
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