Independent Hauling. Cars, boats RVs ?

[CliffB]

I appreciate the feed back. But after doing some research today. I’m thinking this ain’t my gig. I could handle the road but hustling loads all day every day wouldn’t soot me to well.
Thanks,

I'm on year 3. The wife and kid are tired of it. I still enjoy the job and the traveling but coming home to a wife who is always pissed because she feels like she's carrying the load around the house takes the fun out of it. Also if you spend all day hustling the load boards you're doing it wrong. My phone rings from 8:00am to 8:00pm. I only use the load boards to backhaul if one of my regular customers sends me somewhere I am not familiar with. I plan to get out in the next year or two. I've got 400,000 miles on my truck and it's not worth much. I have to either buy a new one or get out now before reliability becomes an issue.

 

[davans]

I'm on year 3. The wife and kid are tired of it. I still enjoy the job and the traveling but coming home to a wife who is always pissed because she feels like she's carrying the load around the house takes the fun out of it. Also if you spend all day hustling the load boards you're doing it wrong. My phone rings from 8:00am to 8:00pm. I only use the load boards to backhaul if one of my regular customers sends me somewhere I am not familiar with. I plan to get out in the next year or two. I've got 400,000 miles on my truck and it's not worth much. I have to either buy a new one or get out now before reliability becomes an issue.

Just curious,
How do you build up a clientele?
Do you have certain business that use you on a regular bases or are you mostly booked through brokers?

 

[4ssss]

I appreciate the feed back. But after doing some research today. I’m thinking this ain’t my gig. I could handle the road but hustling loads all day every day wouldn’t soot me to well.
Thanks,

A wise decision.

 

[CliffB]

Just curious,
How do you build up a clientele?
Do you have certain business that use you on a regular bases or are you mostly booked through brokers?

I chose a niche market that u was familiar with and had history with and used those contacts to get loads then networked. Every time a regular customer would send me somewhere I’d talk to that business and the next time they needed someone they would call me. It’s just a big spider wed of contacts and networking.

 

[roscoe1911]

New trucks eat you up in big payments and you spend all your off time working on used trucks. I tried both and would never do used again. That said, I drove new ones 5 years before they were paid for. At this point your truck is wore out and you've just been making a living-not saving- so you never get out of the hole.

 

[gh1950]

Just curious,
How do you build up a clientele?
Do you have certain business that use you on a regular bases or are you mostly booked through brokers?

I kinda, sorta looked at this once, when the internet was just starting up.

One niche I found that seemed sort of doable was hauling pets/show animals across country.

You have to have a big van with an auxiliary A/C. Some of the haulers had the A/C set u so that they could run it off a generator like and RV does. You have to keep Fluffy cool at all costs.

I went to dog shows and obedience shows and met some of the haulers. They were making a living, most of them doing it for the lifestyle. Some were doing it to pay for an RV they could use seasonally. Made the RV a write off, and with expenses and all, and a lot of cash fees and tips, the proposition was financially do-able.

Most of them didn't have to have DOT registration, but the USDA and state ag agencies get involved. Like you have to let Fluffy out every so often to feed, water, and poop. You have to have current health records. So on.

The haulers could live on clientele and word of mouth. It was a cut throat as hauling goods. Folks were more interested in getting Fluffy to her new home in Walla Walla in good shape than absolute cheapest dollar.

Seems like the biggest issue was on a cross country haul, and Fluffy is a pair of Great Danes. You have to sleep some time, and even motels that allow pets may not take the Great Danes, and if it does, you are responsible for the damage.

Not throwing this out as a suggestion, but just an example of a workable specialized hauling service that you don't necessarily have to hustle loads for.

I know art galleries use special shippers for large works of art.

 

[CliffB]

One of the perks of the business though for what it's worth, Friday I booked a load to Orlando and out of Orlando. Took the wife and kid down and made our drop, we grabbed a hotel, picked up the return load then ran out and watched the shuttle launch. The flexibility sometimes is worth the cons of the job.