Owner Operators

Owner Operators can either lease on to an established trucking company or they can get their own authority and start their own. It can't be said which direction is the best way go, it depends on the individuals situation (his contacts, money in the bank, family, equipment, etc)

Owner Operators are responsible for paying most of the expenses associated with moving that freight (there are a few companies who pay tolls or other expenses). Weight ticket, tolls, permits, violation tickets for inspections, fuel (full tank will run you about $750 right now), maintenance, repairs, parking, lumpers, etc.

If they are leased on to a company then the dispatcher there sometimes gets paid by a percentage of what that load pays the owner operator.

If the owner operator has his or her own authority when a broker is used he usually get at least 10% of what the load pays the driver. (A broker and dispatcher are other options for entering the trucking industry)

Should You Be an Owner Operator

I became an owner operator after about 7 months of driving. I learned many things the hard way. Plus, I was blessed to buy a good truck and lease to a good company. I have meet drivers who started off driving as an owner operators. Most of them were retired from somewhere else and had money saved for emergencies.

I don't recommend anyone to become an owner operator until you've been driving a year or so. The best way to determine depends on how well you handle business and how fast you learn about things you are involved in. (In this case the trucking industry.)You need to know about the ins and outs of the industry to take on the responsibility of an owner operator.

I will give you an example of what i mean. After being a driver a while you learn that it's hard to get a load out of some parts of Florida a certain time of year, same thing for California. You learn that freight coming out of those places are going to be real cheap in the slow season. If you jump in this off the street you wouldn't know those types of things, which mean you would loose money going to those places at the wrong time of year because your expenses stay the same and your profit is shot either in low freight rate or delay time waiting on a load.

You could have driven 3 trips from North Carolina to Chicago in less time and ended up with more money. You don't jump in the game with that knowledge. You learn that with experience.

Furthermore, the way things are right now, I would talk to a lot of owner operators before I became an owner operator.

Remember as an Owner Operator you'll be paying these high fuel prices and all other expenses associated with driving. The expenses have gone up but the rates haven't!

Owner operators do best when they find a nich or find companies to do business with directly. (cut out brokers)

Or hauling some specialized freight like household, heavy hauling, or shrubbery, etc. I've heard hauling bread dough pays pretty good.

Even being leased on to a specialized hauler can bring in a decent wage I would think, lets wait on some driver feed back on that.

In any case, owner operators hauling regular freight quit often don't make any more than a company driver at the end of the year.The biggest advantage he or she does have is more control over where they run and not having to run as hard to make it(Unless they got a new truck payment. Then you don't have much time to break)

How much does Owner Operators Make

They may get paid percentage of the freight charge or paid by the mile. Just like a company drivers, the more specialize the freight the more is paid.

Typically a owner operator hauling regular freight over the road can expect to gross $100,000 - $150,000.

At the end of the year after taxes and all the expenses come out an owner operator (depending on how his operation is set up) end up with anywhere from $35,000 - $75,000.

If there are any owner operator with anything to ad please do so

Positive, negative, good, bad, doesn't matter I take it all like the man that I am!