Detailed Info
Owner-Operators & Small Carriers
The OOSC make up a huge number of trucks on the road, so the numbers are on our side. We hold all the power, the only thing missing is unity!!!
As I mentioned earlier, the first source I looked at stated that 91.5% of trucking carriers in the U.S. operate with 6 or fewer trucks. In addition, 97.4% of all carriers operate with 19 or less trucks.
Another source stated that the smallest owner fleets (1 to 6 trucks) make up 502,626 carriers out of 584,437, making up 86% of the industry. If you include the next size up (7 to 19 trucks, considered very small), of which there are another 53,332 carriers, that number goes up to a total of 555,958 carriers, out of 584,437 total. Together, we total a whopping 95.13% of the industry! No matter what source or statistics you listen to, it’s clear that we represent the entire trucking industry and should hold all the power!
However, we are the ones who hurt the most in this industry. We are constantly getting woken up by brokers in the middle of the night wanting to get location updates or to ask some other dumb questions like where are you located when they are tracking you, or the unloaders banging on our truck doors like we owe them money. Some of us have it even worse, waking up to gangster looking guys on our property repossessing our trucks, or even worse, our houses. Some of us don’t have enough money to cover necessary repairs or even the fuel to make it to the next load. Some of us come home after being out for a month and all our money went to expenses so we have nothing to show for it. Some of us have to live in our trucks because we can’t afford a home. Some of us got screwed by buying a truck at the height of the market at the highest possible price and are now upside down on the loan, or bought a brand new truck that’s made of cheap Chinese parts with the goal of making the manufacturers and repair shops and tow trucks and road service and everyone else money thru breakdowns. Trucks used to run a million to a million and a half miles before needing an engine rebuild, while now you’re lucky if you get 400k miles on it before a rebuild is necessary. They’re made to break down as soon as your warranty expires (known as Planned Obsolescence), which is just another issue that plagues owners, and not at all brokers or shippers or the Government, yet we’re the ones that get paid like we’re nothing in this industry while taking on all the expenses, responsibility, risk & headaches.
Some of the biggest equipment problems carriers deal with are emissions-related. These EGR, DPF & DEF systems were put in place by the Government, but they didn’t do enough (or any) testing to make sure they work and it all falls on us carriers to take care of it at huge losses of money and time (which is also money). How about when you get to a dealer with your emissions system issue and they tell you they know exactly what the problem is but you’ll have to wait 3 weeks because there are 150 trucks ahead of you with the same exact problem. So now you or your driver will have to spend that time at a hotel, which is expensive, and who is supposed to pay for that, along with food and all your normal business and life expenses while this is going on?! Even if your truck is brand new, and the dealer will “fix” it for free (until it breaks again in a couple weeks), you still have to cover the costs of your hotel, food and the rest of your expenses while the POS truck is in the shop, not to mention the huge amount of money you lost not hauling loads all that time. You can rent another truck, but that’s another huge expense to you as well, and with today’s rates it’s probably not going to be worth it. I recently saw a brand new truck, hauling 2 other brand new trucks, break down on the highway on the way to the dealer. It didn’t even make the trip from the factory to the dealer! Owners are having to rethink their choice of business, which is not great for one of the greatest industries in the country. We love what we do, but we have been taken advantage of for way too long and it’s time to take back what belongs to us: the whole damn trucking industry! The time is now, our path is clear!
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