[TotalTrans]

Hello Folks,

First post here. I read with great enthusiasm about this industry and am continuing to research. I can assure all of you that there will be many more questions as time passes. Here's the first in a series.

I checked every company on this site and noticed that the majority are located in the Ohio and Michigan area. Yes some in the SE but none in the west. Living in Vegas, but willing to haul anywhere, where are all the ones west of the rockies?

Thanks!

[LDB]

The bulk of the work is Laredo to Michigan and places east so the companies are headquartered there as well. There is some work out west too, with some carriers. If you are going to run solo you'll have a challenge with your location. If you plan to team with a spouse you'll find a few companies interested, Fedex, Landstar and Panther (alphabetically) among them.

[Tennesseahawk]

Your best bet is to sign on with a company who will let you find LTLs, or who can get you loaded out of Vegas or CA. I recommend Panther. However, they won't do you much good out there unless you run team.

[TotalTrans]

Thanks Leo. That throws another wrench in the works but is fixable.

Tom

[TeamCaffee]

If you run team are you going to run buy a truck or run for an owner? The area you live in is really good for White Glove team trucks with FedEx Custom Critical but you need to be a team and to start out I would suggest going to work for an owner to get into White Glove.

[cheri1122]

Except for signing on & going to orientation, does the location of the carrier make any difference?

[Jefferson3000]

If you're running a cargo van or sprinter, then I wouldn't worry about running team.

[TotalTrans]

I knew that I would get straight and honest answers and I appreciate it. As Bob asked, If you run team are you going to run buy a truck or run for an owner? I want to buy a truck but the wants need to be practicle and not just a want. As I continue to research this industry, I want to ensure that the decisions I make are feesible, practicle and possible with the end result being profitable........More questions to come. Thanks again folks!

Tom

[jaminjim]

You still need to tell us team or solo. It makes a VERY big difference.
And it is more than likely that it is Linda and not Bob.

[greg334]

Originally Posted by TeamCaffee

you need to be a team and to start out I would suggest going to work for an owner to get into White Glove.

Why would you suggest to start out with an owner if he wants to get into WG?

What advantages are there?

Will a WG fleet owner be allowed to bring into the WG fleet another inexperienced team?

My advice is simple;

get your house in order - in other words know exactly where you stand with debts and liablities.

set yourself some realistic goals.

Talk to a lot of people.

find an accountant to guide you.

Then find a company - not an owner - that will allow you to achieve those goals

Now the details and more babbling;

Company locations don't matter except when you need to go to orientation then it is a pain, like Cheri indicated BUT my last sentence means a lot because regardless what the experts tell you, the company can and will make you or break you so I lean toward T-Hawks advice - find a company that will allow LTL freight to be booked outside of the company as a backup.
To own a truck or not to own is not really a question to be asked or thought about at this time. It is how can you learn the business and get it off the ground in a highly competitive market and how does ownership help you make money.

You need to weigh in two things, how much will you generate over how much you will get back. This is where an accountant can help you make a decision and to make a $60k to $125k decision without any professional help is foolish. There is a lot of advice that says you don't need this help but this is a business, not a paid vacation and you want it to be successful, right?

I can go on in detail but I need to make breakfast and get my stuff together for the holiday celebrations (meaning I need to clean my truck and relax).

[LDB]

Linda is in charge of information systems and Bob is in charge of mechanical systems. They both know tons about both systems but what that means is that Bob lets Linda's fingers do the walking to share his input, to steal the phone book phrase and Linda lets Bob manage the equipment. They are an amazing wealth of good information on this business. I vaguely remember an old commercial from a few decades ago for an investment outfit, maybe E.F. Hutton?, that an entire room would go silent and snap their head around to pay attention. It said something like "when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen". Well, when either Bob or Linda talk you would do well to listen.

[TotalTrans]

Thanks again Greg...Okay Bob, sorry Linda, I am still fumbling through the system so excuse me. I plan to solo initially to get a 'feel' for this business and eventually bring on the wife. It appears that keeping the mouth shut and ears open is the jest of this. I can do that. I make hard copies of all of the answers for further expansion and reference.

Again...many thanks to all and I appreciate your patience.

Tom

[arkjarhead]

I think you are kinda doing it backwards if you start off solo then bring the wife on and team. I would think you should get money in the bank to pay your living and running expenses for a couple months at least and the both of you learn together. That way it's more of a husband/wife team and not a hunband boss/wife employee deal. Just a thought. All I've ever been was a fleet driver, but when I started training my wife to go with me part of what made it so hard was the fact I was so particular about the truck I was driving and I caused her to want to stay home. I think if I had done that differently things would have worked out different. Oh well, you live and you learn.