Landstar vs FedEx or other companies

fuzzyman · Aug 31, 2008

We are a husband/wife team getting ready to buy a truck with a 22ft box. We were leased to Landstar for over 5 yrs with a t/t, & we really liked working for Landstar. But the expiditing business is new to us & we are wanting info on which company we should lease to. We have been off the road for a year. We are willing to stay out two months at a time. We are thinking about leasing with Landstar because of the good experience in the past, but we don't know how they compare to other companies in the Expiting business. We are wondering who would make us the most money? Could anybody give us any information that would help us make an informed decision? Thanks!
Jeff

We have been reading a lot of the old posts on this board, but so far haven't found too much info from anyone from Landstar Express.

pjjjjj · Aug 31, 2008

fuzzyman said:
We have been reading a lot of the old posts on this board, but so far haven't found too much info from anyone from Landstar Express.

That is probably a really good sign!
Hopefully someone with experience with them will get back to you soon.

LDB · Aug 31, 2008

LEAM is a much smaller company than FX CC. They probably have about 25% of the power units of FX. They also employ an entirely different system. You're familiarity with it would help you although you'd have to cultivate relationships with different agents. I ran for them for a few months and while I believe they are top tier as far as companies they were not a good fit for me. My good friend John O ran for them and did extremely well. I am starting orientation Wed. morning with FX. I believe at this time they are the best choice for me. Good luck whichever way you go.

late4dinner · Aug 31, 2008

Fuzzyman, it sounds like you was with Ranger or another of the sister companys. The Express side is nothing like what you are used to. At one time LEAM would not allow a sister company BCO to switch over, but I have talked to a couple drivers that have done it in the last couple years.

Fed Ex CC is a great company, I was with them and ROEE for 6 years before I came to LEAM. Being new to expediting they would be your best choice for now.

At least they, for the most part, have a first in first out dispatch and you will get your fair share of loads. With LEAM,
you don't have that option.

The thing I like most (other than the money) about LEAM is if you are not dispatched by early evening you are going to be able to sleep the night through. And when Friday night rolls around without a run, you can plan on having the weekend off. I can think of only one time being waken up in the middle of the night and a couple times on the weekend being called for a run. With FED EX CC you could get a call at any time.

Best of luck to you and the wife.

TeamCaffee · Aug 31, 2008

There is another way of looking at the phone ringing at night or on the weekends for a load offer and that is if the wheels are not rolling the truck is usually not making any money.
We usually consider a load on the weekends pretty much a bonus run! It just does not happen often enough to get a load offer that picks up and delivers on the weekend to consider a normal happening.
If you truly want the weekend off and nights off you can always take yourself out of service and you will not be bothered by the sound of the phone or the QUALCOMM beep. Unless you are like us and hear the darn beep in your dreams or nightmares!

fuzzyman · Aug 31, 2008

We just want to make sure that being newbies we will get enough runs to make the money to pay the bills! What would you say would be an average week? Then I can figure what can happen if I make more or less. I know there is no guarantees in this or most any other business, but if I could just get an average from somebody then I could figure from there. Another thing that we have heard is that you have to get in good with the agents. So if that is true are we going to struggle for awhile till the agents get familiar with us? What's the best way to get in good with the agents? Thanks for all your help! Oh another thing I am wondering about, with this hurricane coming, is that going to hurt us or help us? I sure hope everyone stays safe!

late4dinner · Aug 31, 2008

As far as getting in good with the agents, just be professional. Always remember that the agents don't have to dispatch because it's your turn. Don't try to get an extra 10 to 20 cents for every run because they will just stop calling you. Some drivers go into an agents office and stay forever, that might work for some but the agents have other things to do besides walking around you all day. I go into some offices and spend about 10 minutes then leave. At one time we had to call a bunch of agents each morning. Don't do that even if they tell you to in orentation. The agents don't want to talk to you, they want to talk to customers. I probably don't call 5 agents a week and I do just fine.
Also, remember, if you have a problem with an agent, try to be real carefull who you tell. Some drivers will bust their backside in calling the agent and telling them everything you said. Then the agent might call other agents and bad mouth you. About 4 years ago there was a unit that had to have their number changed because they had caused so much trouble and no one would dispatch them.
But for every minus there is a plus. If you do a favor for a dispatcher at another company, they remember it for about 5 minutes. Do an agent a favor and they will remember it forever, at least most of them will. When I first started with LEAM, I had one agent that would only give me short runs. After a while they started giving me better runs. Now that same agent is one of my top 3 agents. I still do some short runs for him but he always knows if I am empty his run is covered with one call.
As far as an average weekly pay goes, I would have no idea what a "D" unit makes but my guess would be, if you take care of business you will do okay.
As far as the storm goes, it will be good for our business. A friend of mine made $59,400.00 in 54 days and only put 800 miles on his van in Florida three years ago.

SHARP327 · Sep 1, 2008

Well I'll jump in here for a bit and add my 2 cents worth.

We've been with the Star for about 3.5 years now and won't go anywhere else unless we decide to get our own authority sometime down the road and go that route.

As for asking for more money!...yes we will at times because we know what it takes for us to turn a profit!, sometimes you'll be sitting in an area where theres alot of trucks and to get moving you'll take the load at a rate less than you like but there's the time when you're the only truck within 100 miles and then you're in the cat-bird seat and they'll have to figure a way to up your per mile rate.

I'm not saying to be a jerk about it...no way...what I'm saying is you have to know what you need to turn a profit and lets face it! the truck needs alot more than just fuel to run on,we've done favors for agents and took that cheap load and they've turned around and given us a great load a day later.

Don't be afraid that you may P-O and agent and they'll hold it against you! because they forget that they're mad at you in a heartbeat if you're the only truck near the shipper and they need that load covered, what they need to worry about is making you P-O'd because this is a 2-way street and they may anticapate using your truck and then you turn them down because of a bad taste they left in your mouth from before.

With the Star you'll get great fuel discounts and other discounts on tires and truck services and knowing they've got your back in case of a breakdown, but in return you'll have to keep your equipment maintained and allways practice safety no matter what!

As far as I know...they don't care how old your truck is as long as it's getting the job done and is not causing any/many service failures.

I agree about going in and visiting the agents...we've only stopped in at one agents office and that was for a safety meeting and free lunch (they like to feed you at the Star) and we did get to see the way the system works on the other end which was a big help.

Landstar has just included LEAM in with the other sister groups and all hopes are that things will work out for the best, right now (at times) one hand doesn't really know what the others doing but that's normal anytime they reorganize things in a large business.

I do feel that the agents try to use the 1st in 1st out policy as much as possible, even though at times you may think you were passed by and the load was given to another truck, but in reality there's the who can haul what with what such as a lift gate or a larger weight capacity etc.

As far as an average earnings goes...that's a hard one!...and I'd be really hard pressed to come up with any real averages right now because we worked 7 out of 10 days this past July and made over 8k then took some time off to take care of some things and came back out and couldn't really recapture that run of work but here lately it started getting better again...kind of a hit and miss deal to say the least.

Hope this was of some help!

LDB · Sep 1, 2008

When I was in orientation there were 5 s/t a van and a tractor. On Tue. we were given a list of all the agents. That evening I drafted an email with a brief introduction as well as details of the specs and extras on my truck. I sent it out titled something like truck available intro. Friday morning we were all in the classroom waiting on our permits. There was a problem that week due to a change in how permits were handled so we were late getting out. While the others were sitting around talking I was busy answering my phone. I got 3 load offers that morning while the others got none.

When I'd know in advance where I was going to be, and if I had time to do it, I'd send an email to all the agents titled City, ST truck avail Date, Time with the actual place names and date/time in the title. The message would be short and sweet. It read something like D unit, 17,800 pounds capacity, 22 feet box, liftgate available after delivery of load #####. They could track the load I was on and see exactly when I would be available. Sometimes I would get called and booked by an agent before arriving to deliver the current load. I was invited by a couple of agents to stop in and did get to at Grand Rapids. I never just showed up at an agent though.

Be proactive and make yourself known. You'll start getting calls and when you do a good job you'll get repeat calls. Good luck.

late4dinner · Sep 1, 2008

Good thinking, Leo. An e-mail can be read when an agent gets a chance and gives them something to go back to later if they have a need in the area. Its a wonder things didn't work out here for you.

SHARP327 · Sep 1, 2008

I agree! that's great business sence to say the least and I wish I'd thought of something like that to do but I didn't....but I'll keep that in mind though for sure!

I never got a chance to even make any calls now that I recall because we were off to NM from Chicago before we made it to the truck after orientation, not only that but it seemed we were fair game for the agents until we realized how the system worked.

We do go online and see who ships out of the area where we'll be making our drop and give those agents a heads up on us and theres been times thats worked real well for us and theres those times the agents say something like thanks but we'll see you if we need you.

When you think about it....it seems like every time you think you have this all figured out they'll surprize the crap out of you...something on the order of thinking that you'll have to drop the load and start deadheading to a better location to get a load when you're offered a real good load even before you can get unloaded and you'll be somewhere in BFE.

Hope everyones having a great Holiday!

fuzzyman · Sep 1, 2008

Thanks! I really appreciate everyone's input! Also, is it worth the extra money to get a tandem axle or a tag axle & also a lift gate? I would think it would open me up for more loads?

pjjjjj · Sep 1, 2008

Sorry for being such a dunce.. I've seen it a number of times.. I understand the first two letters, no need to elaborate there.. but what does the last letter stand for.. in 'BFE'?
Unfortunately sometimes we Canuck femmes need to have things spelled out, in order to comprehend

pelicn · Sep 2, 2008

Pjjjj, I've always heard it as BF..Egypt

davekc · Sep 2, 2008

pelicn said:
Pjjjj, I've always heard it as BF..Egypt

That would be my interpretation. On the Landstar gig, I would stay with LEA since you are the most accustom to how they operate. Some of the same agents you are using now do both types of freight so that would give you a leg up.
I would have to think as well that your start up costs might be a little less as well.
There's my penny in the pond

pjjjjj · Sep 2, 2008

pelicn said:
Pjjjj, I've always heard it as BF..Egypt

Really! Hmmphh! I never woulda guessed THAT one! Sheesh, no wonder I need things spelled out! haha

x06col · Sep 2, 2008

Actually pj, there is a town/village in Egypt that pronounces its name like that. How'd ya like to give your identification credentials to a cop somewhere else in the world and try and convince them you were from BF, Egypt?

I'll echo Dave's response about your familiarity with the company. I'd be suspect of someones advice that has been a couple places and changing again, considering with all the choices out there, the best that would fall out of his "short list" wuz the new gig. Most of the Companys won't work for a lot of folks.

SHARP327 · Sep 2, 2008

As for the lift gate and the tag/pusher axle.

That's a judgement call that only you can make, I'll jump in and tell you a few pros and cons any anyone else who has input should jump in too.

Sure that extra equipment can generate more money by making your truck viable and can sometimes get you moving before other trucks in a high truck count area.

Having said that there's another side of the coin.

1. there's the cost of that equipment
2. there's the added weight to the truck, those items added around 4500#s to the trucks empty weight, now if I have a load of more than 7762#s I have to use my pusher axle and that's alot of weight to lug around all the time when not in use plus added weight is lowering my mpg.
3. my lift gate (older style) may be costing me a bunch of hard earned cash in fuel because it acts like a scoop while going down the road, traveling this way<------ and with the lift gate folded up it looks like > which I think is trapping the wind....I have tried to lower the folded platform to allow wind to pass over and under to help but I'm affraid of forgetting to raise it back up before backing up to a dock and it also will add a few inchs to the trucks length and possibly reduces the sight of the tail lights.
4. there's not all that much need for the lift gate and alot of times they'll want you to hand unload as well, pulled my back out one time unloading and it cost me 4 days of being laid up while paying for a room and not to mention possible lost revenue, oh yea the PAIN too!

Pros....
1. getting that load because of the extra equipment.
2. being able to carry up to/or around 20k, even though I limit our truck to 15k (don't want to send the truck to an early grave for a couple of pennies more)
3. being able to transfer weight off my steers to my drives with my pusher axle is great when you need it (for what I've been told...with a tag axle you'll need to keep the bulk of the weight towards the rear of the box and if it's something large and heavy that might be hard to do.) so choose wisely grasshopper!
4. a liftgate will generate good money if needed by FEMA but there will be a lot of hand unload as well.

I could go on but for now it's time for dinner, someone please add or comment on this subject so our friend can choose wisely

Later!