Landstar question

Greg · May 4, 2014

If you lease on a D unit straight truck with Landstar Expedited and there are not any expedited loads in a particular area, will/ do they offer general LTL freight to you?
Given a choice of general LTL or nothing at all, seems like a way to cut down on DH and make a few $ to get to a better location.

jjoerger · May 4, 2014

When we were at Landstar the agents offered you what they had that you could carry. There is a load board that you can access with all the loads they are trying to cover. If you see a load that you want and will fit on your truck you call the agent and book the load. Any of the 800 plus Landstar agents can load your truck with freight.
In the 8 months we were there we only managed to get two loads off the load board.

Greg · May 4, 2014

Thanks for the info. Only 2 loads?

beachbum · May 4, 2014

You have to understand that the load board is on the carrier group side of things, Express side has no load board and its a different animal within Landstar

Greg · May 4, 2014

I do understand that. I was just wondering if an expedite straight truck had the option to get a general LTL load when no expedite loads were available. According to jj , I guess it is an option, since he got 2 loads from it.
I would hope that they have enough expedite loads to keep their trucks rolling, I was just wondering about options.
Thanks for the reply bb. Have you driven or do you now drive for Landstar?

zorry · May 4, 2014

I have never been with Landstar.
I've researched a little, like many here.

If I had a Van, $printer, Cube, they'd be my first choice.
For TT , they would be high on the list, depending on how I wanted to run.

For a C or a D, I see benefits.
Lack of freight to me is the big downfall.
If they had plenty of freight, I believe their fleet would be much larger, at the expense of other expedite carriers.

Just the opinion of someone that has never been there.

They are Carrier TCU friendly.

Greg · May 4, 2014

Thanks for the input zorry. I will continue my research.

zorry · May 5, 2014

I've never met someone at Landstar that did not like it.

gunnerwife · May 5, 2014

We have not had any trouble with getting loads. The agents are really good about finding stuff for Express trucks.

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Rising_Cow · May 5, 2014

I drove a D unit in 03 with them, and I had the same issue, and I used the load board to get loads to keep from sitting. Sounds like D units still don't do well? I went back to a van after that. But if you use the load board? Work it so u have more than one stop ( multi able loads ) better $$ united rentals was my fav for that. Good luck.

Turtle · May 5, 2014

zorry said:
I've researched a little, like many here.

If I had a Van, $printer, Cube, they'd be my first choice.

You should do more research.

paullud · May 5, 2014

If you have some straps that would work you might be able to pickup some partial flatbed loads.

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Rising_Cow · May 5, 2014

I hauled those scissor lifts, loaded quit nicely by two's. Load bar in front and strapped in also. In the d unit

beachbum · May 5, 2014

I've been with Landstar since 1996, I did leave for a year and a half because I didn't want to drive truck anymore. I came back on the Express side 3 years ago. I'm in a superB with Express. I do know that Landstar Express on the straight truck side will have new ELD's in the next couple of months, where before they only had QC's and paper logs.

Roamin said:
I do understand that. I was just wondering if an expedite straight truck had the option to get a general LTL load when no expedite loads were available. According to jj , I guess it is an option, since he got 2 loads from it.
I would hope that they have enough expedite loads to keep their trucks rolling, I was just wondering about options.
Thanks for the reply bb. Have you driven or do you now drive for Landstar?

beachbum · May 5, 2014

I agree with everything you said, but one of the problems at Landstar comes from the fact that they are high on most loads compared to other companies.

. There is no such thing as white glove or anything that makes one truck better then another. We're all created equal in the eyes of corporate, but not the agents who load who they trust first no matter if you have been in town for days.

I just checked and on the straight truck side we have 112 in service and 39 of them under loads. I didn't check and see teams or solo or refer.

zorry said:
I have never been with Landstar.
I've researched a little, like many here.

If I had a Van, $printer, Cube, they'd be my first choice.
For TT , they would be high on the list, depending on how I wanted to run.

For a C or a D, I see benefits.
Lack of freight to me is the big downfall.
If they had plenty of freight, I believe their fleet would be much larger, at the expense of other expedite carriers.

Just the opinion of someone that has never been there.

They are Carrier TCU friendly.

Greg · May 5, 2014

beachbum said:
I've been with Landstar since 1996, I did leave for a year and a half because I didn't want to drive truck anymore. I came back on the Express side 3 years ago. I'm in a superB with Express. I do know that Landstar Express on the straight truck side will have new ELD's in the next couple of months, where before they only had QC's and paper logs.

Thanks for the info. Good to know about the ELDs .

zorry · May 5, 2014

beachbum said:
I just checked and on the straight truck side we have 112 in service and 39 of them under loads. I didn't check and see teams or solo or refer.

112 in service. Do you know how many straights are in the fleet ?

CharlesD · May 5, 2014

I don't know about driving for them, but if you have your authority or are thinking about starting up as a carrier, there are worse things you could do than get Landstar approved. Once an agent likes you, you'll find yourself having to turn down loads. They're pretty good to work with as a partner.

CharlesD · May 5, 2014

zorry said:
112 in service. Do you know how many straights are in the fleet ?

If we've got over 30 in service, I would venture they have more than 112.

zorry · May 6, 2014

112 in service, ready to roll. With about 1/3 dispatched. I'm curious how many OOS to figure total fleet size. ( straights).

Heck, 39 under dispatch, Layout probably turns down that many offers on a day he feels cranky.

Wait, that's most days. Lets edit that to " Days that he is crankier than usual."