Landstar question
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
Good to know. My current carrier requires inspections every 180 days @ $75-100 each time. No age limit here either.
The answer to your question is yes.
Diane and I were with FedEx CC for eight years and Landstar Express America for two years. We left the business in 2013 to pursue a non-trucking business opportunity. Several times, (I do not have the exact count readily available), we used the Landstar load board to get moving when there was no expedite freight to be had.
Additionally, we sometimes explored other load boards for LTL freight that might get us moving; though, we never booked a load that way. The process with outside load boards would have been to find a load on the outside board and book it through a Landstar agent. You would call the posting broker to confirm details and then call a Landstar agent to work with that broker to book that load. You would need to find a Landstar agent who would be willing to do that, which is not a problem, but not all Landstar agents would say yes.
This outside-board option never turned into anything for us because freight on those boards pays little to start with and with both Landstar and the outside broker taking their cut, there was not much point. It was better using the Landstar load board to do LTL but getting freight directly from Landstar Express America agents was the best.
One thing to keep in mind is that when you book a cheap load off an outside board or a breakeven load off the Landstar carrier group board to get you moving, you are tied to that load from the time you agree to take it to the time you deliver. In what may be those 1, 2 or more days, a number of much better opportunities may surface that you would miss.
It may very well happen that waiting another day may produce a very sweet load while taking cheap freight to get moving could keep you at breakeven for a week or worse. It may happen that deadheading to an active area where you get a great load may put more money in your pocket after expenses than taking a cheap load from the area you are in now.
It's not about the miles you drive. It's about the money you make. When we moved to Landstar, our run count dropped significantly but our run pay increased. We ended up sitting more, putting fewer miles on the truck, hauling fewer loads and making more money. With expenses down and revenue up, profitability soared.
It always troubles me to hear drivers complain about how they are not moving. There is a difference between meaningful activity (driving) and meaningful results (profits). No expediter likes sitting for long. But taking a cheap load for the sole purpose of "staying busy" may do more harm than good.
With all carriers, it's not like there is a uniform system of freight flowing out there. (Though the cheaper the freight, the more reliable and predictable the system becomes. You can always get miles if you are willing to run at a loss.)
A host of variables are in play, including driver and truck variables, shipper variables, seasonal variables, day of week variables, and many more. You learn your carrier's system as best you can. You study the techniques that work best within the set of variables that you find yourself dealing with. And you apply those lessons as best you can to best position yourself for your next load.
When we were with FedEx, we developed a spreadsheet that helped us predict the next best place for us to be to get freight. At Landstar, we developed agent relationships that made it more likely that they would contact us when they needed a truck and team with our qualifications in the location we happened to be.
For more about how Landstar works, see:
How to Market Yourself at Landstar
On a related note, think also about the value of your time. When you are sitting, do you do anything to increase your value to the industry by enhancing your skills?
Do you use the time to work out, take care of your truck, or study something like how to use a spreadsheet or how to prepare a balance sheet? Do you use the time to read all the materials your motor carrier provides so as to better understand the system in which you operate? Do you sign up for the free trial of a load board and invest a dozen hours to study it? Do you select and put planned time and focused study into one of many great online resources that are designed to educate professional truckers in being more professional? Do you use the time to read up on how to better understand tire tread wear patterns so you will be that much better in extending the life of your own tires? Do you ask yourself, "What am I going to study today that will make me a better expediter tomorrow?"
Do you keep a journal of the load acceptance and deadhead decisons you make and spend your sitting time reviewing and thinking about your strategy? When looking back over the last dozen accept/deadhead decisions you made, can you actually answer the question, "What was I thinking; seriously, what was I actually thinking when I made that decision?"
There are lots of ways to make the time you spend sitting valuable. Or, you can lay in your bunk, watch TV, eat potato chips and complain about sitting too long.
Sitting is sitting. Whether it is productive or unproductive is up to you.
The question is not, "If I choose carrier A, will I sit more than if I choose carrier B?" The question is, "Given the system my present carrier has, how can I optimize my opportinities within it, such that I achieve what I want to achieve as an expediter?"
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"Never stop learning" has always been my motto. Most of my downtime is spent learning. I rarely turn on a TV. I agree, keeping busy just for the sake of having something to do does not appeal to me at all. Thanks for the great info.
Best part IMO. Sage advice . Thanks.