r/OwnerOperators

I'm considering working local for KAG in the future as an O/O, pulling their fuel trailers. I am someone who wants to be local as much as possible, so I was wondering if you guys think buying a day cab over a sleeper is a bad idea. The only thing I imagine using the sleeper for is for some reason I decide to pick up a load on a day off and run it, but I don't see that happening much at all, or possibly for long waiting times. Does anybody hear haul fuel, and do you guys experience long winning times at the fuel rack?

Thanks

I understand their place in the industry, really I do. But, it really grinds my gears when I’m out here taking significant risk with my significant investment on a daily basis, doing the best I can just to scratch out a living, I book a load w a broker, find out I have an issue w my truck and notify broker immediately so he can cover his load, broker writes me up on carrier 411. Wtf?? These guys have way too much pull and say in this industry. There is no place I can go as a carrier and report broker behavior to shippers. Hmm… idea? Anyways, rant over.

Landstar driver here with a 2020 Cascadia. I know a lot of you will think this is a stupid idea but I believe I’m in a financial position to be able to do this as I have no debt or bills and my truck is paid off. The local Freightliner charges $400 for a full 2 hour mechanical inspection of the truck. They found a number of things on mine that will likely cost at the very least a couple thousand which I’m fine with.

What is everyone’s thoughts on doing this every 120 days on top of Landstar’s required DOT inspection? I know a lot of you will say that they’ll always find something every single time, which they probably will given the truck’s age, or the dealer is a rip off, but I’m looking for genuine input before I make a decision for my business. I don’t have a personal, independent trusted shop that I can take my truck to so I see this as the best, albeit more expensive alternative. Not mechanically inclined myself either.

Thank you everyone. For reference, my Cascadia has 700k miles on it as of now.

Anyone dealing with this MOTUS headache, I have good news!
Just got a call back from them saying they are going to waive the MCS-150 form for this 2026 year.
They can manually activate the DOT for you if you are struggling with this renewal MOTUS thing.
Good news at last!

(**Update: Only Applies if your MCS-150 renewal was after April**)

Curious how many owner operators here actually pay a dispatcher vs just doing it themselves.
If you use one, what do you pay them? And what makes them worth keeping?
Also curious if anyone used one before and went back to self dispatching. What happened?
Just trying to understand how it works in the real world.

Looking for 2016. or newer ELD exempt Coronado with Detroit engine, anyone can help?

Hello.

Ive noticed some of my clients using revoked ELD models without even knowing because the provider just sold it. Apparently (and sadly) many carriers continue to sell revoked models for profit preying in unawareness. This can cause many issues from inaccuracy in your fuel tax to failing audits for not having a valid ELD.

This is the FMCSA list with the allowed and revoked models. Take a time to make sure your model is active. If it happens to be revoked, get it replaced as soon as possible to avoid compliance issues:

https://eld.fmcsa.dot.gov/List

Are there and problems with brokers or anything else when switching away from Motive?

I move a lot of over dimensional loads and I’ve always heard Internet Truck Stop is better than DAT for that. Can anyone attest to this? Got one particular load I haven’t been able to move through my company system and DAT. Considering giving ITS a try. Need an extendable RGN/double drop out of VA to CT and DAT hasn’t had anything show available for over a week now. For anyone that has ITS, is it good for OD freight? I move a lot of it.

******post should say vs (versus) not bs

Just been observing. This guy is completely solo, dealing with brokers. Semi and Dry Van, owned outright. With the numbers he's been showing, seems like he should be able to average that through the whole year, no problem.

I'm on a Swift OO group and it seems like they're power only. Taking a % of some $2mile.

Idk... What's up with the spread? Is it possible to average that kind of number? Is that actually good?

Looking at buying a 389 with a 600 sig or a w9 with a X15 565. I’m leaning more on the 389 as it’s exactly what I want in a truck inside and out but have never heard of or know anything about the 600 sig. Any insight, pros/cons on this engine would be greatly appreciated. Buddy rebuilt it with ATL rebuild kit about 35k miles ago. The IX15 has about 5k miles on it.

Looking to buy a step deck. I was wondering how much of a difference those extra 5 ft make in finding loads. The wheel base on my tractor is pretty long that I have had trouble in at least one tight location I don't want to add to that but was just wondering if I'm shooting myself in the foot.

Hi. I have 5 years experience first downtown grocery stuff and the last few years LTL. While I'm rather comfy I'd like to make more. Preferably a lot more. In the past I'd drive myself crazy looking at different companies to work for but I decided this time maybe just buying a truck is a more lucrative option both long term and short term despite the AI thing. So aside from YouTube videos constantly trying to sell me stuff, how do I get started as an O/O? I would like to do subcontracting for companies that do groceries but im pretty much open to anything except flatbeds.

So how do you get started? What's the plan layout? Kthnx.

Curious if any of yall eventually broke down like I did and ended up using third party dispatcher? I was managing everything fine, but found myself turning into a grumpy a**hole after dealing with brokers all day. Figured 3-5% of gross was worth my sanity. Where are yall at with these dispatchers?

Im still new to the game and feel like Im probably overlooking things. What is one thing you all would change if you could go back and restart?