jodyh54uk
Member
If you are just getting your own authority and plan to run independent be prepared to run off your own money for some time. By this I mean; some brokered loads are never paid that you might haul. I brokered a load and then they said they would pay after they moved office and they did not know where they would move to etc. Bottom line was that they gave excuses everyday and finally flew the coop and never paid. Other brokers may take 3 months to pay and then they always want another copy of the BOL and this and that and pay is delayed. All this time you have to keep records of the shipper, load, dates, rate, contact info etc.- a lot of record-keeping. Even factoring companies have problems with certain brokers, so if you use a factoring company you should ask for their 'black list' of shippers and brokers who do not pay on time or never pay. This means you need the cash on hand to keep operating day in and day out. Furthermore, some brokers will not use you if you have new authority-there is a list OOIDA gave me and sure enough Landstar was on the list and I pulled one of their loads. Took them 6 weeks to pay. So, being and owner op with your own authority is not a picnic and after I ran for 6 months, I found that I made just as much without the headaches and mountain of paperwork, and was paid promptly after every load just leasing-on with a reputable company.
