Can you still make money owning your own truck?

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I’ve never owned my own truck, but I’ve always been around owner ops. When just getting into trucking, I knew a couple of guys who bought fancy Ford Louisvilles right off the bat with lots of options. Mid-1970s I think it was. Within a year those guys couldn’t make the payments and had turned in the keys. In that same era, another friend of mine, Ron Kimber from Holland Landing, got into trucking with a passion. I met him while he was working for an auto parts distributor and he got me my first trucking job. Once he got into trucking he never looked back. The first truck was soon followed by truck after truck after truck, a lot of used stuff, as I recall. Last time I saw him, he had a fleet and had some contracts running into Quebec. I don’t know what happened to this guy, but I expect he’s still trucking somewhere. ——

Years later I was working for a carrier in St. Thomas that was primarily into auto parts. They encouraged company drivers to go into partnership and had a lease to own deal that involved a more updated Ford or International with an add on sleeper that was installed in Port Stanley. Those guys had some regular runs to places like Kenosha or Toledo, but the work soon dried up as a recession took hold in the late 80s. Those drivers are probably scattered all over the industry.

Years later I was offered a truck and route at a major bread company, but turned that down too. I’ve never had any desire to fix a truck on weekends, and probably never will. But the guys who bought in were given pretty good Macks to start out and the rates were decent- a good mileage rate and generous drop charges. Some guys hired a driver and sat at home collecting a stipend. Most of those guys had new SUVs the next year, that they leased as “company vehicles” for their new business for tax purposes.

I think it’s always been a case of your haves and havenots in the owner operator business. Some guys can make money, and some can’t. You hear a lot of grouching about how no one is making money these days owning their own equipment, “you used to be able to make a good living, but you can’t anymore” followed by a number of reasons (regulations, cheap rates, foreigners in the business, etc) . But I did notice at Fergus this year, there were less owner ops and many of the show trucks were company vehicles, albeit with a dedicated driver attached who was busy polishing the rims. Maybe most of them were out working, but I have heard that O/Os are hard to find, with some of the steadfast ol’ boys hanging up their shingles recently with no good replacements in sight. And O/Os prefer dedicated runs with lots of miles and those are getting scarce, at least in the automotive industry. “No one wants to work,” according to one fleet manage who says he has jobs but no takers.

But the single truck owners I talked at Fergus said they were doing all right. There’s Cliff King with his ridiculously festooned 2014 Peterbilt 386, with every gadget you can imagine installed inside and outside of his 110″ bunk (it includes an outdoor entertainment unit, along with three tvs, soft water system, full size shower, and electronics too numerous to mention). He had just returned from Middle America Truck Show where he’d garnered the most technologically advanced sleeper award. But Cliff, president and sole owner and operator of Castle Rock Transportation, has a great employer, Verge Furniture Logistics, who owns the equally resplendent 53 foot trailer that Cliff pulls to California and back twice a month. Cliff is clearly doing alright as every year he returns to the truck show circuit with something even crazier. “I used to have four trucks, but at one time I decided I might as well have the biggest, baddest truck around, so that’s what I did.”

Then there’s Mike Reinders, who’s got the shiniest LoneStar in Acton, Ont., and presently got it on with Doyle Transportation of Guelph. Another good employer according to Reinders. He’s running weekly short multi-drop dry van LTL loads to nearby States and getting a percentage of his remuneration in US funds. Maybe that’s the answer, getting paid in greenbacks.

Working for a good carrier or private fleet certainly helps. But Reinders thinks that anyone with a compulsion to become an owner operator should do it. “You can still make money at this, not matter what they say. If your heart is in it, I say go for it.

What do you think, is there a future in owning your own truck, is it worth it?

 

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Harry Rudolfs has worked as a dishwasher, apprentice mechanic, editor, trucker, foreign correspondent and taxi driver. He's written hundreds of articles for North American and European journals and newspapers, including features for the Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Life and CBC radio.

With over 30 years experience in the trucking industry he's hauled cars, steel, lumber, chemicals, auto parts and general freight as well as B-trains. He holds an honours BA in creative writing and humanities, summa cum laude.


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  • ” “No one wants to work,” according to one fleet manage who says he has jobs but no takers.”
    More like no one wants to work for free.

  • Thanks for this Jim H. I suppose the O/Os who are making money are out working and not reading blogs. I think it comes down to two things. A trucker who’s passionate about his/her profession and wants to work, and a good relationship with an employer/shipper/carrier. But so much depends upon the contract. Look at the success of the J.M.Schneider drivers when the company asked them to go on their own. Good truckers will make money and provide great service if given the opportunity.

  • I’ve been all over the board, started with 1 truck, sold it, got into Teamsters as a Const. driver then over-the-road. Went to Univ. became an equipment trainer. Truck salesman for Mack then Western Star. Finally started my own outfit 14 tractors, 6 tanker and 40 trailers. Sold out, bought one tractor, finished my career where I started as an owner-operator. Looking back I think it was the best choice, 1 truck working for 1 good outfit. Good money, I kept my tractor in top condition, it and I were reliable and the pay cheques showed it.

    • the only caveat I would add is that it truck ownership doesn’t work for everyone. I’ve known guys who made good coin as brokers but didn’t save for retirement and had no pension to fall back on. When it came time to retire, they tried to sell their trucks, with lots of miles on them so they weren’t worth much, and then struggled to make ends meet during their “golden” years

  • I’ll make some enemies here, but the ‘nobody wants to work’ line is a big problem. We haul flatbeds, nothing high, wide or ugly, rarely tarped, yet owner operators will tell me straight out that they will not pull a flatbed, even when presented with the numbers that show more home time and a revenue number $40,000 per year higher than pulling a dry box. We’ve also had a recurring problem with o/o’s that do well for a couple years, then buy too many new toys all at once and push themselves into the poorhouse. Financial management is a big part of the potential success and it seems nobody exercises that enough anymore. I’ve never subscribed to the long haul theory. If you’re home frequently, your ‘on the road’ expenses are greatly reduced, but crossing the border every day running 500 mile radius requires a different time management mindset.

  • Can you still make money? Yes, but it’s not what it once was. Fuel has been outrageous (coming down a little now) and there’s no let up on the amount of permits you have to have.
    It gets down to you knowing your operational costs, including the cost of compliance.

  • You hit the nail on the head in reference to Cliff King and Mike Reinders. Like a few others said above, the easiest path to profit is 99% about the employer. Those guys clearly hit jackpot with Verge and Doyle.

  • Jus like any industry…It’s who u Kno.if u ain’t got no one,u ain’t getting no money…The normal drivers get screwed…No protection.noone to stop all the hidden fees for things they knew were wrong before u got there.I’m out.not worth the risk or time.Ones making money,had money and come from those who do.U jus gotta b chosen.

  • I know our O/O 3 of them who bought $60k cnd used trucks and run twice a week taking home $1500 after expenses. Don’t know if that’s good trucking money as I make that as Company Driver but work 6 days a week. The Company will pay IFTA and everything else for them and they say they clear that amount. But I’m still on the fence and 6 months in trucking (OTR). I try to do 3 and 3 and 2 but I have to run Brooklyn most times and that’s a bitch. But doing that makes me $500 cnd bonus a week.

  • “What do you think, is there a future in owning your own truck, is it worth it?”
    I think that the owners operators have more advantages than disadvantages.

  • Like everything else, from owning one’s own construction company to being a software engineer, it all comes down to in hand cash. The only thing that tips the scales is in hand cash, because that is what one has to actually work with and make a true difference. Everything else is up in the air.
    Most Americans are living the Great American lie, as I call it. They want everybody to admire them for owning a home in an exclusive area, where they has no property rights. They want everybody to think they turn big money, but they are in awe over a mere sixty thousand dollar annual salary. They like talking about the boat they struggle dearly to own, because only people with money can own boats, a majority feels.
    I personally admire a totally different breed of man. I admire the few true life adventurers left in this country . The types the British were back when they colonized India and Africa, and Tarzan ruled the jungles! These people view life circumstances as a series of challenges, meant to be met head on. Most importantly, they live life on their own terms, no matter who tries to stand in their way, be it the law or whom ever. A stuck in the mud do gooder living to follow the crowd, slithering along looking down while he lives sucking up, believing the humanist lies science feeds him along with all the warped collectivist political ideology going with it, doesn’t earn much respect from me, personally.