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Should you be a Company Driver, Lease Operator or Owner Operator? — Transcript

by Trucking the Seven Seas · 7,033 words · 975 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00I spent the last 2 years working as an
0:01OTR truck driver for Landstar and night
0:03transportation during those two years I
0:05was a company driver lease operator and
0:08owner operator while driving I kept
0:10track of all of my expenses revenue and
0:12cash flow for all three positions and I
0:14took all of this information that I
0:15could piled into three separate
0:17spreadsheets in order to show exactly
0:18what truck drivers made and in this
0:20episode I'm going to share those
0:21spreadsheets with you let's go
0:37[Music]
0:42welcome back to truck in the 7 C's this
0:44is episode number 79 and in this episode
0:46we're going to compare company driver
0:47pay versus lease driver pay versus owner
0:49operator pay if you're new to this
0:52channel welcome I started this channel
0:53in order to show exactly what truck
0:55drivers make we started as a company
0:57driver working for night transportation
0:58moved on to a lease off operator working
1:00for night transportation and then an
1:02owner operator working for
1:04Landstar while driving in all three of
1:06these positions I kept track of all of
1:07my expenses revenue and net cash flow
1:10and I canile this information into three
1:12separate spreadsheets and now we're
1:14going to go over all three of the
1:15spreadsheets in order to show exactly
1:16what each position paid the night
1:19transportation company driver pay will
1:20be in 2023 the night transportation
1:23lease operator pay will be partly in
1:252023 and then partly in 2024 and then
1:27the Landstar owner operator pay will be
1:29only only for the year 2024 now unlike a
1:33lot of videos you see out there the pay
1:35you're about to see is not going to be
1:36op pinion it's going to be cold hard
1:38data that I compiled over the last two
1:40years every week I would post a video
1:42showing my pay and profitability I did
1:45this for two years straight in order to
1:46compile a huge data set that I'm going
1:47to share with you in this video I did
1:49this in order to show exactly what truck
1:51drivers make because when I was coming
1:52up in the industry I could not find this
1:54information all I would find were stop
1:56stories or bragging or some other
1:59opinion that really wasn't accurate with
2:01all that said this video should give you
2:03a much better understanding for what
2:04truck drivers make in all three
2:06positions and should help you determine
2:08whether it's worth it or not now a few
2:10caveat before we begin I am not bragging
2:12about this and I'm not ashamed about
2:14this I'm just simply posting the numbers
2:15that I made over the last two years in
2:17all three positions also none of this is
2:19a guarantee this is what I made in the
2:21Years 2023 and 2024 your pay will vary
2:25so none of this is a guarantee also I'm
2:28not sponsored by night transportation or
2:29or lstar these just happen to be the two
2:31companies I started working for I don't
2:33get anything if you go work for night
2:35transportation and I don't get anything
2:36if you go work for Landstar and frankly
2:38I don't care either way now for each
2:41position and each spreadsheet I posted a
2:43final video showing the overall pay and
2:46you can find the spreadsheets in the
2:47about sections down below each video
2:49went into great detail on how the pay
2:52structure was and a breakdown of each
2:54spreadsheet if you're interested in
2:56seeing the pay as a company driver
2:58working for night transportation you can
2:59find that video up top right now and
3:02also it'll give a breakdown of how the
3:03spreadsheet works then if you interested
3:06in the night transportation lease
3:07operator pay and how that worked you can
3:09find a video summarizing all that right
3:11up top right now and finally if you were
3:14interested in the lstar owner operator
3:16pay you can find that video up top right
3:18now and all the spreadsheets once again
3:20are in the about section down below now
3:22we're not going to go over each
3:23spreadsheet in detail in this video
3:25because it would just simply take way
3:26too long we're just going to summarize
3:28the pay of each position so so if you
3:30want to know more about each spreadsheet
3:31you're going to have to watch those
3:32videos because if I went over them in
3:34this video it would be like a 2hour
3:36video so now we are going to go over all
3:39three spreadsheets side by side I'm
3:40going to cram it into a single screen so
3:42it might be a little cramped but it
3:44should work out okay so let's get into
3:46it okay it's spread sheeet time okay so
3:49just going left to right uh over here
3:51you'll see the Landstar owner operator
3:53profit loss uh spreadsheet that is the
3:55most recent one and then in the middle
3:58you got the night transportation lease
4:00profit loss that is the uh second oldest
4:04one and then I originally started as a
4:06night transportation company driver and
4:08that's over here so just quickly go over
4:10each spreadsheet not going to go into
4:12super big detail but just an overview uh
4:14the land star and the uh night
4:17transportation lease spreadsheet are
4:20basically identical there is very little
4:21difference between these two because
4:23they were both uh uh well they were both
4:25basically the same you had you know fuel
4:27maintenance uh and then like other
4:30expenses and stuff like that fixed cost
4:31stuff like that so I use the basically
4:33the same spreadsheet on these ones
4:35however the company driver pay is a
4:38little bit different obviously I didn't
4:39as a company driver I didn't have to pay
4:41for fuel or maintenance cost or stuff
4:43like that so it is a little bit
4:44different uh they're pretty similar you
4:46can follow along pretty easily on both
4:47of them uh but uh
4:50unlike uh let's say the owner operator
4:54pay at lar there's no real expenses on
4:57the night transportation uh spreadsheet
4:59because you're a company driver and you
5:01don't have expenses so uh just little
5:03stuff like that is going on uh I zoomed
5:06in on all three of them so they'd all
5:08fit so there's a lot of information
5:09hidden so when you open up the
5:10spreadsheet you'll see more information
5:13I hid like all the loads like where they
5:15are going from and to because that's
5:17just not relevant in this video but if
5:19you click right here uh and you expand
5:21it and there's a couple other stuff
5:23hidden on each of them uh you you'll see
5:25more information again I can't go over
5:27every single spreadsheet because it
5:29would just be like a 2hour video so I'm
5:30not going to but uh there's a lot of
5:32information hidden on these and if you
5:34want to know more just watch the
5:35previous videos that I mentioned earlier
5:38and you should be able to uh get all of
5:40the information you want all right so
5:42just continuing on you see here you'll
5:44have at least on the lease and owner
5:48operator spreadsheets you have total
5:49expenses total revenue total profit loss
5:52these are the three big ones I think
5:53most everybody's uh interest in and you
5:55can see here uh on in this example
5:59Landstar there's my cost per mile
6:02there's my total revenue and there's
6:03what I made same thing over here on the
6:05night transportation you'll see total
6:08expenses total revenue cash flow same
6:10idea and then over here on the company
6:13driver pay it just shows the overall
6:14there's no expenses again and then the
6:17total uh rate per mile is right there
6:19what I made as a company driver all of
6:21these numbers are gross pay there is no
6:23taxes in them I don't go over taxes
6:25because well uh taxes are different for
6:27everyone and I'm not going to go into
6:30that cuz it's just going to vary wildly
6:31based on uh your circumstances so all of
6:34this is just gross pay all of this is
6:36just net cash flow there are no taxes in
6:38there there's none of that so just be
6:39advised to that also in all three of
6:41these positions I was a drive-in uh
6:44driver so these are just drive van pay
6:46uh across the board 53ft Drive Van track
6:49trailer you know the basic setup so
6:52that's what we're doing in these videos
6:53and that's what I've been doing for the
6:54last two years and then if you scroll
6:56down a little bit you'll see some other
6:58information this is just other
6:59information I thought useful to the
7:01viewers so it varies a little bit from
7:04uh position to position just shows like
7:06home time lay over days detention stuff
7:08like that on the company driver pay and
7:10then down here it'll show like my
7:12maintenance cost per mile and you know
7:14fuel cost per mile stuff like that uh
7:16average load length there's a bunch of
7:18information down here again not going to
7:20go over every everything just watch the
7:22videos and you'll get a total breakdown
7:24of all of it but just briefly wanted to
7:25go over all of that just uh so if you're
7:27walking into this you have a general
7:29idea aide of what each uh spreadsheet uh
7:32shows all right so right now I'm going
7:34to go over all three spreadsheets the
7:36final numbers uh just going to go over
7:38just the final numbers I'm going to hit
7:41each one so I'm going to go over the
7:42lstar profit loss uh spreadsheet just
7:45the final numbers and then going to move
7:48right on to the night
7:49transportation uh lease operator profit
7:52loss spreadsheet just the final numbers
7:54and then go over the company driver pay
7:56at night transportation just the numbers
7:58so I'm going to go through all bit just
8:00spit out the numbers real quick just
8:02read them off to you just uh you know
8:03just read them off to you so you can see
8:06what the numbers are and then afterward
8:07I'm going to go back and just summarize
8:09everything and just discuss the benefits
8:12and disadvantages of each position so
8:15we're going to do that right now okay so
8:17for the lar owner operator position I
8:20drove a total of 78,3 40 mil total
8:23expenses were $ 64,976 at 82 cents per
8:27mile and that is my cost per mile
8:30total revenue was
8:32$135,700
8:34at72 per mile that brought my total
8:37profit loss to$
8:397,776 62 at 90 per
8:43mile averag is another information my
8:45average weekly paycheck at Landstar was
8:49$1,955 total weekly miles average weekly
8:52miles is $2,125 Miles my total fuel
8:55costs were $37,000 at 47 per mile my
8:59total maintenance costs were $10,000 at
9:0113 cents per mile my other expenses
9:05total $117,000 at 22 cents per mile if I
9:09kept that up for a 52e period I would
9:11have made $999,000 and drove a total of
9:14110,000
9:15mil landstar's 35% cut equated to
9:19$54,000 at 69 per mile total revenue was
9:23$190,000 at $55,000 per week I dead
9:27headed a total of 8,400 MI at 10% of
9:30total
9:31mileage I was employed 260 days or 37
9:34weeks I took 34 days off at 226 days on
9:38duty I took 68 total loads the average
9:41load length was 1,161 Miles and if I had
9:44a $500 truck payment I would have made
9:47$52,000 okay there was the Landstar
9:50profit loss uh total profit loss one
9:53thing I didn't mention I did not have a
9:54truck payment at lstar so just be
9:57advised of that I didn't have a truck
9:58payment at Lar
9:59but that was the lstar total pay so it
10:02was 90 cents per
10:04mile there you go that's what it was
10:06again no truck payment uh I would have
10:08made about 66 cents per mile if I did
10:10have a truck payment so there's that one
10:12right there and we're going to go go
10:14ahead and just move right into the night
10:15transportation lease operator pay and go
10:18over those numbers totals on the night
10:21transportation lease operator pay I
10:23drove a total of
10:2548976 mil total expenses were 53,486
10:29$497 at $19 per mile and that was my
10:32cost per mile at night transportation my
10:34total revenue was
10:36$88,200 at 80 per mile that brought my
10:39net cash flow to $347 182 at71 per mile
10:45averages and other information my
10:47average weekly paycheck at night
10:48transportation as a lease operator was
10:52$1,512 total weekly miles was
10:542,129 average weekly miles total fuel
10:57costs were $27,000 at 56 cents per mile
11:01total maintenance costs were
11:02$4,800 at 10 cents per mile other
11:06expense cost was $177,000 at 36 C per
11:09mile if I kept that up for a 52e period
11:11I'd make $78,000 and drive a total of
11:14110,000
11:16miles I was employed 161 days or 23
11:19weeks took 20 days off 141 days on duty
11:2287 total loads average load length was
11:25563 miles and my security deposit total
11:282,1
11:29$50 okay yeah so there was the night
11:31transportation lease operator pick uh in
11:34this spreadsheet I did have a truck
11:36payment so just be advised of that we
11:38are somewhat comparing apples to oranges
11:40with these three positions but still I
11:43think it's worth making a video over so
11:44I did have a $450 truck payment at night
11:47transportation still made 71 cents per
11:49mile after everything was said and done
11:51uh the numbers are extremely similar and
11:53terms of average weekly miles you notice
11:55average weekly mile is 2100 here 2125
11:57and 2129 there so that's that's damn
11:59close right so ran about the same in
12:02both positions but there is the night
12:04transportation lease operator pay and
12:06now we're going to go over the night
12:07transportation company driver pay okay
12:10totals as a night transportation company
12:12driver pay I drove a total of
12:1574641
12:18miles made a total of
12:20$4,285 at 54 per
12:23mile average weekly miles is 2,195 miles
12:27average weekly paycheck was
12:30$1,184 if I kept it up for a 52e period
12:33I would have drove 114,000 Mi and made
12:37$61,000 again all of these numbers were
12:39gross
12:40pay I was employeed 246 days or 34
12:46weeks home time was 23 days off at 34
12:50days of layover 17 hours of detention
12:54detention and layover equated to
12:56$2,538 total
12:59I was on duty for 223
13:01days Days on duty equated to
13:05$180 spent $189 days actually on the
13:08road driving and the days I was on the
13:11road driving I made an average of
13:13$213 average load length is was 633 Mi
13:17and I drove an average of 395 m per day
13:20when I was driving okay guys so there
13:22was the company driver pay now this gets
13:25a little bit confusing because I'm
13:26comparing a company driver to a lease
13:28operator to
13:29an owner operator so everything I had to
13:32change things up a little bit and uh you
13:34know uh the spreadsheets aren't exactly
13:36the same as a result uh so just be
13:38advised with that if you got a little
13:39confused there that's fine again you
13:41would need to watch the previous videos
13:43in each spreadsheet in order to fully
13:46understand all of them but for this
13:48video what we're going to focus on is
13:50just the overall pay so while working as
13:53a company driver I made 54 cents per
13:55mile at night transportation uh this was
13:58in 23 so early
14:012023 yeah early 2023 and then halfway
14:04into I think I stopped driving around I
14:07want to say September or October of 2023
14:10and that's when I did it so it was like
14:12I guess well 34 weeks however much that
14:14you know however however much that
14:15equates to so that's what that is um 54
14:18cents per mile I did have a couple years
14:20experience so my rate per mile was a
14:23couple cents higher on average than if
14:26you're brand new however I would think
14:29since it's a couple years old their new
14:31pay scale increased a little bit I would
14:33hope and you might you know your
14:35openings pay might be similar to that
14:38again not a guarantee I'm just showing
14:39uh my numbers
14:41here um but yeah 54 cents per mile
14:45that's Mega carrier pay uh that's if
14:47you're brand new that's you know that's
14:49Mega carrier pay that that is what it is
14:52um
14:54$440,000 not very good if I kept it up
14:56for an entire year I would have only
14:57made $61,000 which
15:00yeah that's not very good at all right
15:01that's it's pretty bad um my average
15:05weekly paycheck
15:07was uh 1,00 bucks again not good at all
15:10night transportation it's a mega carrier
15:13pays like a mega carrier and there it is
15:15there's your mega carrier pay right
15:17there
15:19um yeah so didn't take too many days off
15:21it took 23 days off in a 34- we period
15:24so less than a day off per week so
15:28that's it's not a lot of time off I will
15:30mention I do live in my truck so I was
15:33on the road pretty much constantly so I
15:36always like to state if you think you're
15:38just going to blow away these numbers
15:39and you're going to do a whole lot
15:41better I think you're going to be sorely
15:43disappointed you could certainly beat
15:44these numbers you know if you take zero
15:46days off in a 34 week period you can do
15:49better however most people are going to
15:51take time off and frankly most of you
15:53are going to take more than 23 days off
15:55in a 34- we period so there's that
15:59uh while I was working at night
16:00transportation in 2023 if you didn't
16:02know the market was terrible it was
16:04probably worse than it is right now so I
16:06was getting a lot of layover days this
16:07is not normal 34 days of layover in a
16:0934- we period is really bad you know
16:11that's a day a week I was just like I
16:13didn't have a load so that's worth
16:16mentioning 17 hours attention that's not
16:18too bad I think it paid I I think I only
16:20got like $12 an hour at night
16:22transportation or something stupid like
16:23that for the Lor pay I don't remember
16:25exactly but there's that um and then
16:27just some other information here but
16:29that is a pay at night
16:31transportation not very good that's a
16:33mega carrier and M pay is like a mega
16:35carrier so there you go you can
16:37definitely do better than that somewhere
16:38else but that's what I got paid as a
16:40night transportation company
16:42driver over the course of 34 weeks okay
16:46then moving on to the center here you'll
16:48see night transportation lease profit
16:49loss so I was working for night
16:52transportation then as a company driver
16:55then just entered into one of their
16:57lease uh programs got a freight liner it
17:00is currently the freight liner I am in
17:02right now so I got a freight liner at n
17:04Transportation drove it as a lease
17:06operator then bought it out and then
17:08moved on to a lar uh owner operator and
17:11that was pretty much the path and that
17:13worked out very well just uh so you know
17:16but started as a company driver then
17:20entered a lease at night transportation
17:23bought the truck out moved on to a
17:25Landstar owner operator and that's what
17:27we were recently doing uh so that is
17:31what we're doing but as a lease operator
17:33I made 71 cents per
17:35mile there you go 71 cents per mile uh
17:38that includes the truck payment so it is
17:41what it is obviously better than the 54
17:43cents per mile I was making as a company
17:45driver so if you're wondering um the
17:50night transportation lease operator uh
17:53it works you know it does work it's not
17:55designed to just make you go bankrupt
17:56and then the company takes you for
17:58everything that you have uh if you enter
18:00the program and then you run decently
18:02hard you will make money now it's not
18:05going to be great money you know it's
18:06it's a it's a mega carrier it pays like
18:08a mega carrier whether you're a company
18:10driver or a lease operator but while I
18:13was there I made 71 cents per mile I
18:15drove for how many weeks 23 weeks so
18:18only about 6
18:19months uh you know only about six months
18:21I was working there um 71 cents per mile
18:25my mileage uh is interesting I you know
18:27I didn't notice this till I compare all
18:29three but my mileage is actually almost
18:30identical in every single position I
18:33mean there between the the Landstar
18:35average weekly miles and the night
18:37transportation average weekly miles it
18:39was only off by four miles which is
18:42incredibly close so basically I ran just
18:45as hard in each position and that's kind
18:47of reflected in the average weekly miles
18:49that you know that's just that's what I
18:51ran oh I should mention these average
18:53weekly miles include time off these
18:55average weekly miles include layover
18:57these average weekly miles include uh
18:59maintenance days so just be advised that
19:03uh when I am actually on the road
19:04driving I do drive like 3,000 miles per
19:06week something like that but you know
19:08there's delays right there's delays
19:10there's layovers there's maintenance
19:11days there's just time off and these
19:13average weekly miles um have the time
19:17off and all of that integrated into them
19:19so just be advised to that all right
19:21just uh some other uh notes Here fuel
19:23cost so this was in 2023 um this was
19:26right after the whole Ukraine thing
19:28happened and fuel cost went through the
19:30roof uh so that's why that fuel cost is
19:33so high is because the fuel prices at
19:35that time were like $4 450 per mile
19:37something like that so very high they've
19:39come down since then so that's why that
19:41fuel cost is through the roof uh
19:43maintenance cost 10 cents per mile
19:46pretty standard um pretty standard other
19:50expenses 36 cents per mile you might
19:52look at other expenses as the fixed cost
19:54there are some other things that are not
19:55fixed costs in there that I lumped into
19:57there such as IFA is in there so if I
19:59had some if payments I put that in there
20:00as well but these are pretty close to my
20:03fixed costs which are 36 cents per mile
20:06again if you want to further breakdown
20:08of that you have to watch the other
20:09video so uh as a lease operator if I
20:13kept it up for an entire year I would
20:14have made
20:16$78,000 you know not great um especially
20:20considering the risk so there's that and
20:22I would have drove an average of 110,000
20:24miles if I kept it up for a 52e period
20:26again that is just incredibly close all
20:28across the board so uh yeah that's kind
20:31of interesting almost
20:33identical um one thing to know at night
20:36transportation I did have a dispatcher
20:38so I was not free to choose whatever L I
20:40wanted so I was kind of at their at
20:42their mercy so be aware of that um I did
20:45have a dispatcher at night
20:46transportation so if you're thinking oh
20:48you just didn't dispatch yourself
20:49correctly and that's why you didn't get
20:51high mileage well no I had a dis I had a
20:53professional dispatcher so there you go
20:55right so
20:57anyways um other notes uh 23 days off 23
21:00days off in a 23 we period so oh wait no
21:0420 days off in a 23 we period again less
21:08than a day off per week so if you think
21:09oh I'll just run harder well okay be
21:12prepared to take zero days off and then
21:14you can do better but there's that and
21:17uh just some other notes 500 mile
21:19average load length and some other
21:22smaller stuff that doesn't matter too
21:23much but either way as a night
21:25transportation lease operator I made 71
21:27cents per mile over the course of 23
21:30weeks there you go that's what I made uh
21:32so obviously I did better than a company
21:35driver but I took on greater risks you
21:37know if I crashed a truck or did
21:39something stupid you know I I it may
21:41have not worked out right so uh I'll let
21:44you decide whether that's worth it or
21:46not
21:48um there you you know there it is it's
21:50up to you I'm just posting the numbers
21:51here again I'm not bragging about any of
21:53this I'm just posting my numbers and
21:55just to give you more information so you
21:57can make a better decision okay but
21:58anyway 71 cents per mile as a lease
22:01operator and 54 cents per mile as a
22:04company driver working for my
22:06Transportation there you go so let's go
22:08ahead and do quick summary of the lstar
22:10owner operator okay so lar owner
22:13operator at this point I did own the
22:15truck so I bought it outright so when I
22:16left my Transportation I purchased the
22:19truck outright and I do own it outright
22:21so it does kind of get apples to oranges
22:24here um because here I had a truck
22:27payment and here I did not have a truck
22:30payment so just you know be aware of
22:32that but anyway let's get into it so
22:35made 90 cents per mile as a lstar owner
22:38operator and for those of you who don't
22:39know lstar does pay a percentage based
22:41whereas uh night transportation as a
22:43lease operator is a flat rate so at
22:45night transportation it was a flat rate
22:47per mile uh it was like well roughly
22:50A180 on average the loads paid per mile
22:53and that didn't matter uh whether the
22:56market was paying $4 per mile or the
22:58market was p $1 per mile I got an
22:59average of $180 per mile whereas here at
23:03Landstar it's pretty much Market based
23:05so you get a percentage of the load 65%
23:08of the load and if the load pays $4 per
23:11mile you get 65% of that and if the load
23:14pays a doll per mile while you get 65%
23:16of that uh on
23:18average I was booking loads for $1.72
23:21per mile after L stur took its cut which
23:23is slightly lower than night
23:26transportation now while I was working
23:28at landar this was in the year 2024 and
23:31like
23:322023 it was an abysmal year so it's
23:35terrible year this was one of the worst
23:36years on on record uh fairly High fuel
23:39prices still they came down a little and
23:41very low Freight rates and very high uh
23:44maintenance cost so all that said um you
23:48know those are factors that you want to
23:50take into account lar it does pay
23:53percentage base so if the market is
23:54doing really really well and you're
23:56working at landar you're probably going
23:57to do really well if the market is doing
23:59really bad and you're working at landar
24:01like it was here then you're not going
24:03to do so hot as I did so I only made 90
24:05cents per mile with a paid off
24:08truck at lar which is not very good so
24:11if you did have a truck payment so here
24:13I did a hypothetical truck payment of
24:14$52 of $500 per week so if you did let's
24:18say have a $500 per week truck payment I
24:21would have only made $52,000 which
24:22equated to 66 cents per mile I'll just
24:25write that right there because I
24:26remember that number
24:28okay yeah so I would have made 66 cents
24:30per
24:32mile at
24:34Landstar but again the market was
24:35terrible if the market improved I would
24:38have done a lot better but um basically
24:42over the course of the last year uh I
24:44worked for lstar or 9 months at lstar
24:47and I made 66 cents per mile if I had a
24:51$500 truck payment which is slightly
24:53lower than that Transportation So in
24:56theory you over the last year I would
24:58have been better at night transportation
25:00which is kind of interesting uh however
25:03if the market would have gotten better
25:05the market improves uh I think I
25:07certainly would have done better at lar
25:09okay so just some other notes here
25:14um 2100 miles per week again that is
25:18amazingly close to the night
25:21transportation um mileage per week I was
25:24averaging $1900 per week in uh pay
25:29again I don't have a truck payment so
25:30that was very helpful fuel cost 47 cents
25:33per mile I did have an APU installed
25:36between the
25:38Landstar uh when I left night
25:40transportation I had an APU installed I
25:42am planning on making a video of that
25:44and in a review of that but once I left
25:46night transportation I had an APU
25:49installed which was in play here at
25:53Landstar but not in play here at night
25:55transportation so be advised to that
25:58so that did lower my fuel cost quite
26:01significantly uh maintenance cost 13
26:03cents per
26:04mile pretty standard most guys have
26:06about 10 to 15 cents per mile
26:08maintenance cost mine's at 13 so okay um
26:12other expenses were 22 cents per mile
26:13same
26:14thing uh would have drove 110,000 miles
26:18I kept up for a 52e period now that
26:21mileage does include again remind you
26:22time off maintenance stuff like that so
26:24just be advised of that uh I did
26:27calculate what lanar took overall and
26:30they took a total of $54,000 with their
26:3235% cut so there you go that equated to
26:3569 cents per mile now I will mention
26:37that Lor's loads pay a lot more than the
26:40general spot market so if you're looking
26:42at that going that's insane it's not uh
26:45quite accurate because their loads pay
26:47more so while I'm paying them a 35% cut
26:50which is equating to 69 cents per mile
26:52their loads tended to pay maybe 40 or 50
26:55cents per mile more than the spot Market
26:58so just be aware of
27:00that uh dead head got a little insane
27:03there at the end I started hauling loads
27:05from Los Angeles to Salt Lake Vegas and
27:08Phoenix and then Dead Heading back
27:09because uh for those you don't know on
27:12the west coast the only real Market is
27:14Los Angeles and the load's going out of
27:16Los Angeles pay like four to $6 per mile
27:19but the load's going back into Los
27:20Angeles pay like a dollar so I decided
27:21just to pick up loads in Los Angeles
27:23delivered to say Vegas and then dead
27:24head back so my dead head got a little
27:26out of control there but before I was
27:28doing that it was closer to like 7% so
27:31just be aware of that that that dead
27:32head not very accurate actually to be
27:36honest okay yeah and that's that's
27:38mostly it uh I think I went over the big
27:41notes at
27:42Landstar
27:44um there it is so there is basically two
27:46years of data that I collected uh over
27:49these three positions and you can just
27:51compare them right side by side it is a
27:54whole lot of data so you got a little
27:55confused that's totally understandable
27:57as I'm looking at these numbers even I
27:59was getting a little confused and I made
28:01the damn thing so you know if you're get
28:03a little confused it's okay I again
28:04you're going to have to watch each video
28:06they're kind of long uh I think each
28:07video was like 45 minutes long of
28:10summarizing each of these positions
28:12which is why I wasn't going to do it
28:13here but there's the three spreadsheets
28:16they're all available in the about
28:17section down below and you can open them
28:19if you're interested in downloading them
28:20you can H file download and then you can
28:22download them to Microsoft Excel sheet
28:24and you can use them however you please
28:26um so yeah there's the spreadsheets
28:27there's to pay 54 cents per mile as a
28:31company driver 71 cents per mile as a
28:34lease operator and as an owner operator
28:36with a paid off truck I mean 90 cents
28:38per mile at lar okay definitely
28:42comparing apples to oranges here company
28:44driver pay you know it's a flat rate per
28:46mile then I moved on to night
28:48transportation which also was a flat
28:50rate per mile and then I moved on to
28:52lstar which pay percentage based so
28:56definitely comparing apples to oranges
28:59however this is basically the three main
29:00ways truck drivers get paid uh as a
29:03company driver you always get paid a
29:05flat rate per mile like 60 cents per
29:06mile 50 50 cents per mile and then as a
29:09lease operator you might get paid
29:10percentage or you might get paid a flat
29:12rate per mile depending on the company
29:14you work for so you know there there's a
29:16little bit of variation there and then
29:19uh when you're working lstar or say
29:22you're work in the spot Market you would
29:23just get a percentage based of the load
29:25or I guess if you're working spot Market
29:26you get the whole load but another way
29:28to get paid is percentage based which
29:30lstar did pay that way so while I am
29:33comparing apples to oranges you're
29:36seeing the basic three ways a truck
29:39driver gets paid and it should help you
29:41have a better understanding how we get
29:43paid and whether it's worth it or not
29:46now in all three of these positions
29:48which one was worth it the most which
29:49one do I prefer um and I can tell you
29:53it's pretty close I mean I wouldn't want
29:55to be a company driver for that
29:56obviously if I was going to be a company
29:58driver you you'd want to get 60 or 65
30:00cents per mile this is not good so this
30:02is the least desirable however if you're
30:04working for another company you can
30:05definitely get paid more than this so um
30:08I mean just be aware of that I
30:12personally would not want to be a
30:13company driver that's just me um I like
30:16being a 10 1099 worker it offers you a
30:19lot more freedom and contrary to belief
30:22you pay a lot less taxes as a as a 1099
30:25worker so as a contractor as an owner
30:28operator um yeah you have to pay
30:3013% into Social Security but the tax
30:34write off right offs are extreme so
30:36that's why I prefer being a company or a
30:38contractor
30:39because uh lower taxes and I can take my
30:42truck wherever I want so that's really
30:44nice so uh this is the least desirable
30:46position uh despite no matter what the
30:48pay is even if I was getting 65.7 cents
30:50per mile this would for me would be the
30:52least desirable position so that leaves
30:54the last two a lease operator or and
30:58owner
30:59operator and for me I did like being an
31:03owner operator free to choose my low so
31:06at lstar I should mention uh I was
31:09booking my own loads so I was free to go
31:13wherever I want whenever I wanted I
31:14didn't have to answer to anyone I just
31:16booked the loads and went so that was
31:18always really nice um and I think for me
31:23personally I preferred the Landstar
31:25position even though the pay wasn't good
31:27now if the market would was better I
31:29have no doubt I would have done better
31:30at lstar than at night
31:33transportation uh again lstar your pay
31:36is basically reflective of how the
31:38market is so the Market's bad in 2024 so
31:41I didn't do very well if the market was
31:43better I would have done a lot
31:45better uh here at uh at night
31:47transportation though you know it's
31:49pretty flat like you're going to make
31:51pretty much the same amount whether the
31:53market is on fire or where the market is
31:56crap so that's interesting to note but
31:59for me personally I preferred Landstar
32:02just by a little bit over night
32:04transportation because I was able to
32:06choose my loads I could go where I
32:07wanted if I wanted to go home and visit
32:10family I just booked a load and went and
32:12I didn't really care I didn't have to
32:13ask right I just I just went whereas
32:15here at land or at night transportation
32:17I had a dispatcher they would have to
32:19find a load they're concerned with their
32:21bottom line and you know sometimes it
32:23was hard to like get home or go where I
32:24wanted to go right so that's that's
32:28problem uh at night transportation
32:30that's really the reason why I didn't I
32:32would prefer um
32:34lstar um but yeah so another note at
32:38night transportation you do have access
32:39to their terminals so that's another big
32:41one uh that does that's a benefit for
32:45them they have very nice terminals all
32:46over the country there's one in Fontana
32:48which is like Los Angeles which is super
32:51nice because then there's always parking
32:52there so I knew if I was in Los Angeles
32:55while working for night transportation
32:57they had a terminal with a shower or
32:58everything and there was always parking
33:00available which was really nice in Los
33:02Angeles so that was kind of nice uh they
33:04had gyms in most of their terminals that
33:07was nice there was a bit of community so
33:09you go in you can talk to somebody you
33:11know you know talk to your dispatcher so
33:13there's more um there's more of a social
33:15aspect when you're working for a company
33:16like night transportation whereas lstar
33:19you're you're truly out there alone so
33:20that's another factor in
33:23play but yeah I would prefer the
33:25Landstar position even though
33:28I technically made a little less if I
33:30had a $500 truck
33:32payment but you know I would prefer the
33:34landar position because I got to choose
33:36my loads I got to go where I wanted
33:38didn't have to ask permission for
33:39anything very nice and when the market
33:42improves I firmly believe I would have
33:45made more at L star if the market was
33:48better than it is right now in 2024 I
33:51would have done a lot better at Landstar
33:53but I just was driving for lstar when
33:56the market was complete crap so that did
33:58make really lower the pay which uh
34:01sucked so anyways one last note someone
34:05mentioned it the lease operator pay and
34:07the lease operator uh program at night
34:10transportation was not predatory it was
34:13okay now you're not going to make a
34:15million dollars or anything but it was
34:16not predatory so I will point that out
34:19as well it was okay it it did pay you
34:22can succeed if you run and it was not a
34:25predatory program so there you go it was
34:28not a predatory program so that's just
34:29another note
34:32there okay yeah so there was the three
34:35different pay scales at three different
34:37positions company driver lease operator
34:41and then an owner operator at lstar uh
34:44two years in the Mak two years of data
34:46so if it uh is just overwhelming it's
34:49totally understandable uh again probably
34:52a broken record at this point I would
34:53encourage you to watch the other videos
34:55summarizing each of these spreadsheets
34:57uh this is just a final summary of all
34:59three of them and there's just a ton of
35:02information in these spreadsheets so uh
35:05yeah there it is so when I was coming up
35:07I could not find this information
35:09anywhere I just kept getting opinions
35:11and SOB stories and stuff like that uh
35:14some people would post a video showing
35:15them making like 20 cents per mile or
35:18whatever or even in the negatives and
35:20then some guys would show like them
35:22making like $2 per mile after everything
35:24was said and done and I knew that the
35:27truth was somewhere in between but I
35:29could not find it so I said you know
35:30what I'm just going to start this
35:31Channel and I'm just going to post all
35:32of this information as transparently as
35:34I possibly can and three different
35:36spreadsheets three different uh
35:38positions and that's exactly what I
35:42did so now moving forward I'm actually
35:45in the process of getting my own
35:46authority I'm taking a little bit of
35:47time off so just getting all that worked
35:49out um once I have my own authority I'll
35:52do the same exact thing I did here where
35:54I will make a new spreadsheet it'll be
35:56basically this one right here or these
35:59two right here just going to reuse it um
36:02and then I'm going to post all of the
36:04information I can as transparently as I
36:05possibly can same thing I'll go over my
36:07expenses my revenue and my net cash flow
36:10as a uh owner operator with my own
36:12authority and I'll show uh what I make
36:15as transparently as I possibly can to
36:18give you guys just the best information
36:20that uh that I possibly can give you so
36:24yeah okay yeah but that will pretty much
36:26do it for this episode again if you're
36:28interested in these spreadsheets you can
36:29find find them in the about section down
36:31below and after you find them you can
36:33file download and you can download them
36:35to a Microsoft Excel sheet and then
36:37after you download them uh you're free
36:38to use them however you please uh stay
36:40tuned for the upcoming uh videos on
36:44getting my own authority I will be
36:45posting some videos on that and then
36:47again remaking a spreadsheet and showing
36:50uh my pay as a owner
36:52operator but that will do for this
36:54episode thank you for watching and I
36:56will see you in the next one
37:07o
37:09[Music]

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