From everything I have read, you and Diane did well at your former carrier and are doing well at your current one, that is likely in large part because you are good business people first that just happen to be running an expediting truck, ....
Thank you, TruckingSurv. Since you seem open to it, let me share a way to think about Landstar that is not commonly expressed.
Some folks like to compare Landstar to their centralized-dispatch carrier and say Landstar is different because dispatch is decentralized. That's true, but what does that tell you really about how to succeed at Landstar?
Some folks like to compare Landstar to working with brokers because you get freight from agents and off load boards. That's also true, but, again, what does that tell you really about how to succeed at Landstar?
Some folks like to follow the lead of Landstar BCO's who say that you succeed at Landstar by getting in good with the agents who dispatch your freight, and you do that best by doing your job well when they put you on a load and interacting with them in a professional manner. That's also true but what does that tell you really about how to succeed at Landstar?
Many people hear the above truths and stop thinking there. They nod in agreement about decentralized dispatch, they sorta get it that a Landstar agent is sorta like a broker, and they do their job well, as they understand "well." With that thinking, they achieve a certain level of success.
But to fully exploit the Landstar advantage, you need to think deeper. You need to stop thinking that you know what Landstar is, and instead open your mind and look at Landstar as if you have never seen anything like it before. Set aside what you think you know about Landstar and pretend that you know nothing about it at all. Set aside the skills and experience that got you this far, and think instead about the new things you must learn and new skills you must develop to fully exploit the Landstar opportunity.
To that end, ask yourself: In what ways exactly is decentralized dispatch different? In what ways exactly are Landstar agents the same as and different from brokers? In what ways exactly does a BCO perform well and act professionally? And ask, where are the best places to go to learn the answers to these questions, and who are the best people to learn them from?
Diane and I learned (and continue to learn) about agents by interacting with agents directly and asking them what, in their eyes, is a good BCO? We also asked (and continue to ask) them a host of other questions about how they experience Landstar and run their independent agencies. We learned about the carrier by interacting directly with people at headquarters and asking more questions, especially about how the compensation system works for us, agents and the carrier.
We learned, importantly, that Landstar agents are not like brokers in they do not have the freedom to charge the customer a certain price and then find a driver to haul the freight at the lowest possible price. The Landstar system says that whatever price the agent books the load at, the BCO gets 62 percent (plus fuel surcharge and accessorials) of that price and the carrier gets a fixed percentage cut too.
As we grew in company knowledge, we began to appreciate the profound difference that Landstar presents. As BCO's, we get to interact directly with the people who dispatch the freight we haul, and these free-thinking, self-employed, entrepreneurial people are some of the best in the business. Many of them are college educated and have been in the business not for years but decades. They are highly skilled sales people, deeply networked in the logistics industry, and there are hundreds if not thousands of them in the Landstar system.
Finding ourselves in such an environment, we explored (and continue to explore) it deeply and developed processes suited to our our strengths. If we were to stay in the business longer, we would continue to explore the opportunity because there is so much more to learn and develop. You talk about our experience. We feel very new at this carrier.
The conventional wisdom about Landstar is easily learned and frequently passed on to others by Landstar BCO's. You can run well by relying on this conventional wisdom, and you can run very well by thinking deeper about the system you are in, what you want to accomplish and how you want to accomplish it.
Centralized-dispatch carriers, because of their structure, cannot provide an opportunity that is as broad and deep as the Landstar opportunity is; and the experience one develops at a centralized-dispatch carrier will carry you only so far at Landstar. What you do beyond that is very much up to you.
