Fuel for Thought

Company Culture, Owner Mentality

It always surprises me to see so many leased owner operators who want as little to do with their carrier as possible. These owner operators, who chose to lease to, or partner their business with, a carrier will not take advantage of the culture of that carrier. More than likely, your carrier wants you to succeed and in turn they flourish as well. 

Carriers might hold safety meetings via phone or the web. As truck drivers, we cannot always join these calls or web meetings as our schedules may not allow it, yet when we are able, many choose to not attend. Why would you not make a concerted effort to hear and participate in safety conference calls with your business partner? You both share the same goals, isn’t that why you chose to lease to that carrier?

Also carriers may provide you with information that is valuable to your business. Market trends, upcoming regulation changes, or key position changes within the carrier which can affect your business. They have a vested interest in seeing you succeed so they provide all this information for your benefit, yet so many choose to ignore it. (See my previous blog Ignorant Truck Drivers)

Another way to look at it is from a revenue perspective. Any carrier that you lease with will have your pay scale in your lease contract. As an owner operator, you contractually agree to a certain amount of the revenue per load and the carrier keeps the difference. This carrier portion comes up a lot from leased owner operators. For some reason they feel the carrier portion to be an unreasonable amount sometime later. Where does all that money go that the carrier keeps? Well, they of course make a profit, that’s why we all do what we do. One of the many things they  provide with their share of the revenue is valuable information to you and your business to benefit both parties. While they do not have to provide you with this, they choose to do so because they have learned that it benefits both the carrier and the leased owner operator. A well informed business owner (owner operator) will be more likely to succeed than their counterparts. 

Any leased owner operator who wants little to do with their carrier should probably consider getting their own authority and be truly independent. Maybe then you will see the value in all that the carrier provides to you. 

Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities. 

- Walter Scott

See you down the road,

Greg