How To Get Into Transporting?

[cuevas623]

SO THERE ARE TWO THINGS THAT I LOVE TO DO IN THIS WORLD. DRIVING AND WORKING ON MY TRUCK. I AM IN THE NAV Y BUT NEED SOME MONEY ON THE SIDE AND AM LOOKING TO GET INTO USING MY TRUCK FOR WHAT IT WAS MEANT FOR... HAULING. I HAVE A FIFTH WHEEL SETUP IN THE BACK BUT AM NEW TO TRANSPORTING WHAT ALL DO I NEED AND HOW DO I GET STARTED I LIVE IN GULFPORT MS.

 

[BrianJ]

Probably not the best time to try break into the market given the current economy, fuel prices, and glut of transporters trying to stay afloat.

 

[HBarlow]

Shipmate,



The first thing you should know is it is far more complicated to become a commercial hauler than you might assume. It takes much more than simply owning a diesel powered truck.



There are two fundamental ways to go:



1) Lease your truck to a company who has customers, operating authority, commercial liability insurance, etc. and will dispatch (and pay) you. That company will provide you with operating authority and may, or may not, provide you with commercial liability insurance.



2) Obtain your own DOT authority and your own $1,000,000 commercial liability insurance and seek your own customers.



Either way you will be required to comply with all DOT regulations including keeping a daily driver's log book and complying with DOT hours of service rules, commercial truck inspection, fire extinguisher, reflective triangles, stop at all scales, comply with weight limits, have and carry a current driver's physical medical card, and more such as participating in a random drug testing program similar to the one the Navy uses.



If you are thinking of hauling RV trailers for hire start by contacting one of the commercial transport companies you find on the internet. You can find many of them by keying in the words: "rv transport" into your search engine.





I'd be surprised if the Seabees are going to allow you to wander the nation hauling loads while on active duty.



Harvey Barlow

MCPO(SS), USN, (retired)



PS

In internet custom it is considered a sign of anger and very rude to keyboard in all capital letters.

 

[cuevas623]

wow alrighty then I guess i will have to turn that darn caps lock off. thanks for the info though.

 

[KBalzuweit]

Shipmate,



The first thing you should know is it is far more complicated to become a commercial hauler than you might assume. It takes much more than simply owning a diesel powered truck.



There are two fundamental ways to go:



1) Lease your truck to a company who has customers, operating authority, commercial liability insurance, etc. and will dispatch (and pay) you. That company will provide you with operating authority and may, or may not, provide you with commercial liability insurance.



2) Obtain your own DOT authority and your own $1,000,000 commercial liability insurance and seek your own customers.



Either way you will be required to comply with all DOT regulations including keeping a daily driver's log book and complying with DOT hours of service rules, commercial truck inspection, fire extinguisher, reflective triangles, stop at all scales, comply with weight limits, have and carry a current driver's physical medical card, and more such as participating in a random drug testing program similar to the one the Navy uses.



If you are thinking of hauling RV trailers for hire start by contacting one of the commercial transport companies you find on the internet. You can find many of them by keying in the words: "rv transport" into your search engine.





I'd be surprised if the Seabees are going to allow you to wander the nation hauling loads while on active duty.



Harvey Barlow

MCPO(SS), USN, (retired)



PS

In internet custom it is considered a sign of anger and very rude to keyboard in all capital letters.

As always well put, I think I may just copy this so in a week when the question comes up again I can avoid typing.



I am hauling rv's still and its dying fast. Save the miles on the truck and just get a part time job at home depot.

 

[HBarlow]

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .



"As I am hauling rv's still and its dying fast. Save the miles on the truck and just get a part time job at home depot.

For those who are reading this and, like the original poster, thinking of becoming a commercial hauler, you would be wise to follow Karl's advice above. I think he's been hauling RVs for six years or so. He's seen it at it's best and also now when things are slow and getting slower.

 

[MMeier]

And don't forget the saying we have around this line of work... . If you want to make a small fortune doing this, be sure to start with a large fortune !!!!

 

[cuevas623]

Thanks for all the advice! I know what I am going to do know... Work at home depot lol... .

 

[JHardwick]

The horse business is booming ... ... ... ... . but, for how long I don't know



I'll just ride it out for all it's worth.

 

[HBarlow]

Thanks for all the advice! I know what I am going to do know... Work at home depot lol... .

I've been retired from the Navy for 21 years and wasn't a Seabee so may have forgotten but CM is Construction Mechanic isn't it?



Better than Home Deport, use your mechanic skills to run a sideline business repairing cars and trucks for folks that don't want to pay the $90/hr. labor rate at a dealership. Find a stall you can rent in a commercial shop building somewhere, set up an air compressor and your tools, and spread the word through friends that you'll do minor repairs nights and weekends. If you're good and honest you'll quickly have more work than you can handle doing brakes, shocks, tune-ups, struts, u-joints, etc. Use your Dodge to tow in an occasional break down.



I have a friend that I met five years ago when he was a regular line mechanic in a local Dodge dealership. I dislike that particular dealership and won't patronize them but he and I became good friends. He has done all of my work and the work of several friends for years now. I go to a dealership only when the dealer is the only facility with the equipment to diagnose.

 

[GAmes]

I still like Harvey's observation, and it fits well.



"Transporting is a great job if you don't need a job".



I like it because it keeps me busy and adds a little beer and fishing money to the retirement check I get. I'd hate to have to depend on transporting income to raise a family or pay a mortgage.

 

[JHardwick]

I'd hate to have to depend on transporting income to raise a family or pay a mortgage.

That depends on what you're hauling

 

[GAmes]

That depends on what you're hauling

No doubt about that. I have a friend who buys and sells ponies and suggested I get into that racket. No thanks. For one thing it would make my part time gig into a full time, on call, type of gig. Plus, I've been bitten by a horse before, I don't want to be within 10 feet of another. I also don't want to be responsible when one of those dumb critters falls and breaks a leg.



On edit; if you operate around Knoxville, TN a lot PM me, I might be able to give you a lead.

 

[JHardwick]

I only work one week a month on average and cover all 48 ... https://www.rockinhtransport.com/

BTW, horses aren't dumb, he must have thought you deserved it :-laf

 

[Simplysmn]

Fuel Prices is what will wipe you out in a heart beat I am on a 2200 mile round trip and I will mostlikly break even after fuel not nearly as much as I first thought on this trip

 

[MMeier]

Val, are you hauling cheap freight again???!!!

 

[JHardwick]

Fuel Prices is what will wipe you out in a heart beat I am on a 2200 mile round trip and I will mostlikly break even after fuel not nearly as much as I first thought on this trip

Got to stay loaded, and pass the fuel prices on to the customer.

 

[HBarlow]

I only work one week a month on average and cover all 48 ... https://www.rockinhtransport.com/

I loved RV transporting and ran 400,000 miles in under three years. I'm bored and restless since I quit, either sitting around frustrated with nothing to do or pulling my own fiver at my own expense.



If I lived in OH, as you do, or in IN or one of the neighboring states I'd still be transporting one or two weeks a month. It is far more difficult and fixed costs are much higher each month when you live 1400 miles from the dispatch terminal. When I was working I kept my own fiver set up as a home away from home in an old mobile home park in Ligonier or Avilla, IN so I'd have a place to stay between trips. That too added to my expenses.



If there was an RV factory in TX or nearby I'd go back to work next week.

 

[Andersonville]

Arn't there horse trailer manufacturers in TX? I'm leased to Quality and it is slow going here as well with most loads going to Canada where everything costs too much!! Maybe it's time to go back to a big truck or buy a 3 car wedge? I live in TN so I have a 1000 mile round trip to go home and back. I'm usually in a Motel 6.

 

[HBarlow]

Andersonville,



There may be a couple of trailer manufacturers in TX that I don't know of but the major ones I know of are located in and around OKC. 2005, my first year of transporting, I worked for Horizon. I could occasionally get a backhaul to IN from one of the OKC trailer manufacturers. They build some beautiful all aluminum units there which were a dream to pull. None of them paid well though, it was just better than deadheading.



I'm sorry to hear it is slow in IN now. Last I heard, from a couple old transporter buddies, was there were plenty of loads but, as you said, they were mostly going to Canada where fuel and motels are more expensive.



As I've said often, I loved transporting. As you know, the open road is addictive. But last October I did the arithmetic and realized I was no longer making any money, I may have been earning minimum wage, and it was just an expensive hobby. I figured it would get worse before it got better so I gave it up and returned home.



If sales were still booming I'd probably still be out there with you.



You may already know this but I'll offer a free tip. The best tranport company in the industy, bar none, is JET which is Jayco's transportation company. They pay much higher rates, pull only light trailers, and pay instantly. The only drawback is their logs supervisor is one of the biggest axxxoles I've ever met. He took all the fun out of it. I worked for JET for about four months and decided life was too short to work for that fellow. But they are the best.