Newbie Nissan NV3500
- Thread starter EYDJ
- Start date
My only thought is that if you are that unfamiliar with the process, you should probably find a carrier to sign on with to gain experience. Try Bolt, they are a good place to learn, although I am not sure if the would take a Nissan??
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.... this seems to be the unfortunate choice of many , Nowadays ....
" LOAD 1 "
Mark, Mark, Mark - you're right but I was taking the high road
.
Anyhow, this sounds like an easy field to jump into. I hope you have thoroughly researched the Newbies Paradise posts for a year (or more) going back. It's not an easy field at all. You face many obstacles, including (but not limited to) high insurance requirements, super high in some states, where will you get loads, brokers don't easily give out freight to new carriers until "at least" 6 months or more. Nissan is a fine vehicle but it's only 2 skids so where will you have your "personal" living space while on the road. Figure on burning through a LOT of cash getting started the way you want. I'll jump off and let people smarter than me jump in this post.
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.Anyhow, this sounds like an easy field to jump into. I hope you have thoroughly researched the Newbies Paradise posts for a year (or more) going back. It's not an easy field at all. You face many obstacles, including (but not limited to) high insurance requirements, super high in some states, where will you get loads, brokers don't easily give out freight to new carriers until "at least" 6 months or more. Nissan is a fine vehicle but it's only 2 skids so where will you have your "personal" living space while on the road. Figure on burning through a LOT of cash getting started the way you want. I'll jump off and let people smarter than me jump in this post.
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Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Improving the safety of commercial motor vehicles.
www.fmcsa.dot.gov
To answer your question directly, no.
It's not rocket science.
Curious ... what past experience, if any, do you have in shipping/trucking?
My only thought is, if you can't wade thru that website, you probably aren't interested enough in this business. Even those that are, some are finding it tough right now
I once came out here with a van, a sleeping bag, a lap top, and 600 dollars in my pocket. I used five hundred of that to drive from CA to Bolt headquarters in OH. Left on Friday night and was just in time for orientation at 5 AM the following Monday morning. I pulled into Toledo sometime late Sunday night, took a shower, got some sleep and there I was. I lived off advances for 6-7 weeks and worked every single day until I had finally made 12k in savings. It can be done, but you have to be crazy to do what I did. No money in the bank, and no credit cards. One breakdown, heck, just one blown tire would have left me stranded and out of business. Looking back now just lets me know how stupid I really was. I didn't care about the read this many pages, or have this backup money, or any logic. I just made it happen. But I was one lucky SOB. I'd never attempt to try that again.
You have to figure out what the business is before you try and conquer it as a company owner. You need to have your DOT number active for at least a year before most carriers will even agree to sign you on as a partner carrier. That means no business for the first year, but a big expense in insurance payments. Getting signed on as a partner carrier might seem like a big deal, but it's merely the beginning. A lot of carriers have a small handful of companies that they automatically award their loads to as long as the bid is competitive. Even if your bid is better, they will still award the load to their favorite carrier. That is because they don't know you and don't trust you yet. One day, they will have no one else to call upon and they will finally accept your bid, perhaps for a shorter load. Then you will begin to prove yourself to them over a few more loads. That is when you will finally become a player. Also, every broker will pay at different times and you have to hunt down your own money. Sometimes you will straight up get ripped off.
A carrier/broker is going to pay all of their biggest accounts/customers first. They could care less about a new start-up carrier getting paid. They will hold off as long as possible on paying you your money. Not all are like this. Load -1, Panther, and even quite a few of the smaller carriers also have good reputations for paying in 30 days. Bolt is another carrier that pays promptly. I know which carriers pay and which ones are slow because I've dealt with them all. This is a crazy game to get into. If you're just going to operate your own truck, it might simply be cheaper to run for a carrier. You have to have more than one truck on the road to make owning a company worth it. How are you going to book new loads while you're driving and sleeping? Just owning a company, you can be online booking loads for 18 hours a day. There's little time for anything else. Some of these loads are posted and already awarded to carriers within seconds of being posted. You have to be lightening fast. Sometimes you will bid on 30 loads a day and not even get one response. It is a brutal business.
That being said. This is how it can be done. You get your company set up, LLC or INC. Then you get your insurance and operating authority DOT number. While you're aging your company, you sign onto a carrier that allows you to run for them or even them and other carriers. If you choose to run for one solid carrier, you need to find one that requires their O/O's to provide their own cargo insurance. You will be able to run for them even if you are your own carrier with your own authority. That is how you build up your time in business while learning the ropes and making money at the same time. From there, ask a lot of questions. Learn as much as you can about the source of the loads you are moving. Then start to build up your business. That is the only way you're going to be able to do it.
You have to figure out what the business is before you try and conquer it as a company owner. You need to have your DOT number active for at least a year before most carriers will even agree to sign you on as a partner carrier. That means no business for the first year, but a big expense in insurance payments. Getting signed on as a partner carrier might seem like a big deal, but it's merely the beginning. A lot of carriers have a small handful of companies that they automatically award their loads to as long as the bid is competitive. Even if your bid is better, they will still award the load to their favorite carrier. That is because they don't know you and don't trust you yet. One day, they will have no one else to call upon and they will finally accept your bid, perhaps for a shorter load. Then you will begin to prove yourself to them over a few more loads. That is when you will finally become a player. Also, every broker will pay at different times and you have to hunt down your own money. Sometimes you will straight up get ripped off.
A carrier/broker is going to pay all of their biggest accounts/customers first. They could care less about a new start-up carrier getting paid. They will hold off as long as possible on paying you your money. Not all are like this. Load -1, Panther, and even quite a few of the smaller carriers also have good reputations for paying in 30 days. Bolt is another carrier that pays promptly. I know which carriers pay and which ones are slow because I've dealt with them all. This is a crazy game to get into. If you're just going to operate your own truck, it might simply be cheaper to run for a carrier. You have to have more than one truck on the road to make owning a company worth it. How are you going to book new loads while you're driving and sleeping? Just owning a company, you can be online booking loads for 18 hours a day. There's little time for anything else. Some of these loads are posted and already awarded to carriers within seconds of being posted. You have to be lightening fast. Sometimes you will bid on 30 loads a day and not even get one response. It is a brutal business.
That being said. This is how it can be done. You get your company set up, LLC or INC. Then you get your insurance and operating authority DOT number. While you're aging your company, you sign onto a carrier that allows you to run for them or even them and other carriers. If you choose to run for one solid carrier, you need to find one that requires their O/O's to provide their own cargo insurance. You will be able to run for them even if you are your own carrier with your own authority. That is how you build up your time in business while learning the ropes and making money at the same time. From there, ask a lot of questions. Learn as much as you can about the source of the loads you are moving. Then start to build up your business. That is the only way you're going to be able to do it.
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That's exactly how I would do it if I were to start a new company.
I see where you are coming from and I respect & appreciate your thoughts & honest opinions. It sounds like you are a experienced veteran in the business.
I am not tapping into the long haul, cross-country expediting market. I’ve spent months researching the business. While I agree with most of your points & advice, I also don’t think that you have to settle for status quo. I have obtained my Operating Authority & I am still actively preparing the business to launch at a specific time in the near future. I will be fully prepared to come out of the gate hard. I will not accept that because of a ‘slow time’ in the competitive market that there is not work for a professional, sole-proprietor, carrier, that is determined to market himself & his brand name, that he can’t find work and get the rate I asked for.
I’m not looking to get rich. I’m not looking to grow my business by adding vehicles. I’m looking to stay busy and be responsible for one employee; me.
Having said this, I have gained so much crucial information about this industry from posts like this. It’s brutal honesty and I respect that.
I appreciate all of you that hit the road everyday and get done what needs to be done.
God Bless & safe travels!
I am not tapping into the long haul, cross-country expediting market. I’ve spent months researching the business. While I agree with most of your points & advice, I also don’t think that you have to settle for status quo. I have obtained my Operating Authority & I am still actively preparing the business to launch at a specific time in the near future. I will be fully prepared to come out of the gate hard. I will not accept that because of a ‘slow time’ in the competitive market that there is not work for a professional, sole-proprietor, carrier, that is determined to market himself & his brand name, that he can’t find work and get the rate I asked for.
I’m not looking to get rich. I’m not looking to grow my business by adding vehicles. I’m looking to stay busy and be responsible for one employee; me.
Having said this, I have gained so much crucial information about this industry from posts like this. It’s brutal honesty and I respect that.
I appreciate all of you that hit the road everyday and get done what needs to be done.
God Bless & safe travels!
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I learned the hard way lol. But you do have a good attitude. All of the good carriers out there to date all started out small. Panther was started with two straight trucks in a basement. Load -1 used to be a small office with a few brothers and friends manning the phones in the early years. I don't know if anyone can come along and re-invent the wheel in expediting, as that has been done many, many years ago. But there is definitely room for new companies. If I ever get back into the game, I will definitely delegate tasks. If the owner is tied down to a computer and phone all day, there will be no time to grow the company. You really do need a solid dispatch team in place to run a smooth operation. If you are interested in going local, you should try and do some work with air freight companies. Ceva,Town Air, and Pilot Air Freight are a few names that come to mind. I think the Air Freight market is a good market to tap into. I used to get 450 dollars to run to Vegas. It was like 400 and something miles round trip and I would get 450 for the entire run. Not too bad for air freight. Marketing yourself is a good idea. Also, having a smaller vehicle would be much more useable in an air freight type of situation. Good luck.