All great info…Company Drivers if you want to be an O/O, LP whatever start acting like one while your a Company Driver. Build your work ethic, Respect ALL your equipment, drive to save fuel, develop customer service, relationship and phone skills once you do that as a Company Driver you will be farther ahead in your transition to O/O- LP. Happy Truckin!
Some great advice here. April was a catastrophe for me, that big slump we hit right after Easter was a major wake up call after having a pretty easy first couple of months here. Lately I've been doing better by choosing my loads more wisely instead of grabbing whatever was available just to stay moving. The week after Easter I had a decent load going from Texas to Indiana but the shipper had double booked it so I showed up on a Friday and left empty handed. I scrambled to find a load and got one going out to Jacksonville, FL for like $2.20/mile which was probably like $1.60 to the truck. Well guess what, fuel on the gulf coast was still $4.75/gal so what I didn't realize was my operating cost was probably close to $1.40/mile. That round trip chewed up my entire week and I went pretty much the whole month of April with only negative settlements. Lesson learned: don't run just to run. That's company driver stuff. Lease purchase isn't O/O but it's still a business and you have to realize your fixed costs are only like $1,000/week. Fuel is a WAY bigger expense than the weekly deductions so don't waste it and don't waste your hard work! The rates are still junk right now but this week I managed to piece together $4,550 in revenue in four solid days, and only about $1,300 went towards fuel (partly because I topped off for $2.95/gal on Tuesday, God Bless QuikTrip 🙏)
Step 1 to a successful business is a successful personal life. Everybody Ive known that failed in a lease or even owner operating were already failing in their own personal life. Doesnt matter if they make $60k or $160k theyre gonna find a way to live check to check then blame everybody but themselves when their monthly lifestyle payments start falling behind.
Im looking to come over to CRST for the LP flatbed. Have 4 years of experience but a bit concerned about being successful. Willing to run hard for weeks. I appreciate your videos!
They told us about calling Agents in orientation and good areas to run my only issue is everytime im calling these agents they never have anything. Also some of them are Shady. Had a agent I was trying to book a load with I had a drop that morning she says ok call me when you get to your drop. I get there call her she says oh im sorry I gave it to another driver you never know what can happen. I get what you're saying but they have no problem hanging us out to dry its happened on more than one occasion.
It takes time to build the relationship. They’ve been burned so many times they have to get to know you and see if you’re dependable before they start feeding you pre-loads, they have to make sure you’re going to deliver your load and make it to pick up the load they have on time, It took me a long time to get to where they want to give me loads as far in advance as I’ll take them… Hang in there buddy once you prove yourself it will happen, Unfortunately you have to suffer because of the slackers at first , that load you were talking about was probably given to someone who has already proven themselves… Another thing you can do is be at your drop the second they open and leave a voicemail for the agent that you’re there and waiting to get unloaded before they even get to the office, or be unloaded before the agent gets to the office if the receiver opens early enough, the early bird gets the worm, so to speak sometimes Hang in there and keep your head down and I promise good things will happen
Seen your truck off 294 SB in Chicago Thursday! I was gonna hollar at you on the eb but it wasnt a pleasent situation. Man they need to fix that ramp from i90
Hey! Thanks so much for all your info, good stuff! My husband is looking to go to crst, 20 years driving, is it worth leaving a $1,500 a week local job? Im afraid of the risk to only earn $1,000.. we cant afford a paycut, but HAVE to do something better for us. Obviously we will save all we can in case we have a bad week here and there. We are in New Hampshire. Thanks!
Is it possible? Yes….. but I give honest answers on this channel and not to discourage you or him You should know that 8 out of 10 fail. There are many reasons for this, but the number one reason is, they don’t have enough money in reserves for when they have bad weeks And you’re not gonna come in and turn profits like I do right out of the gate, that takes a little bit of time to figure things out and get your footing so you best have two months living expenses set aside at minimum Also I would never become an owner operator if money is your main objective, this side of trucking is more about freedom than money. Yes, you can make more than a company driver if you’re good at what you do and can run the business side of things along with driving the truck, but sometimes it’s a break even so the freedom should be your first reason for doing it If you have more questions that you need more in-depth answers on feel free to reach out to me by email and I can give you or him a call Matt sturgelltruckingllc@gmail.com
There’s always loads going to Colorado to get you home and they pay very well. It’s getting out of Colorado to the Midwest that’s the problem but feel free to reach out to me with your phone number and we can BS while I’m going down the road anytime about anything you want sturgelltruckingllc@gmail.com
Hope it goes well for your brother. Our flatbed training here is terrible. But if you have common sense, do your due diligence and homework by reading about securement and watching lots of RU-vid videos, (make sure they’re good ones) you should be fine but don’t rely on the week worth of crash course training you’re going to get an Alabama to make you a Flatbed’er, IT WONT!!!…..I personally wish they would shut that down and not hire anybody without flatbed experience, and I’ve been very vocal with management about this. If CRST wants to take people with no flatbed experience, They need to come up with some trainer trucks of some kind. Not trying to be mean or rude but I hope this comment makes you very nervous. Flat-bedding is not a joke or something to be taken lightly. Please start your research now, start learning now before you get out there and have something go terribly wrong, fear is your friend, If you’re scared of this, you will over secure things which is far better than the guy that thinks he knows what he’s doing and doesn’t that’s when accidents happen. With all that said, hope to run into you out here sometime 🤙
First, I don’t recommend any lease purchase programs and at the end of the day I think it’s better to do it the right way and just buy your own truck if you want to be an owner operator Second, I don’t know enough about any of them to speak intelligently on them let alone recommend Any I will say from what I know the one here at CRST On the flatbed side is as faIR as you’re going to find IMO
Then the program here would most likely be perfect for you. I don’t recommend anybody become an owner operator if they don’t have five years experience. In whatever sector they plan to be an owner operator in = dryvan, reefer flatbed, etc. The upside to at lease purchase program is you walk in with nothing and you can walk out at any time , it will also give you a pretty good front row seat to what being an owner operator is all about, and some guys just aren’t meant to run the business side of things, doesn’t make them a bad person it’s just not for everybody, so in your situation I think it’s a great way to test the waters before you throw $40-$50,000 of your own money into something
I was coming thru Colorado today and seen a CRST Flatbed lease guy sitting empty at the loves and my First though was what the hell is doing in Colorado
Depends on which pay method you choose. I’m on 48 hour pay so I scan in my bills at the end of each load and I’m paid within 48 hours. There’s also weekly pay where you have to have everything in by a certain day and I believe it’s Thursday and then you get paid the next day for the whole previous week
No it’s 20 years, but they even make exceptions for trucks older than that on a case by case basis, call Tonya recruiting and she can give you all the details
We're are you located at in South East Missouri I'm originally from Dexter my parents still live there looking into getting into trucking I'm a semi mechanic and it's wearing out my body and I have a few health issues
I live in Poplar Bluff. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you. You’re welcome to come over anytime to have a beer and let me try to talk you out of trucking!!!
I’ve got a question _ one of the biggest loads pay wise I ever took was from Bessemer Alabama to Seattle _ in your opinion getting out of Seattle is the problem, correct?
When I started in February they said they're not selling trailers right now because they're having trouble getting new ones in, but once that issue is resolved they'll offer them for sale to drivers again.
