All About Oil

5 Comments on “Fuel Prices And Owner Operator Truck Drivers?”

1. firephiter2000
   November 21st, 2008 at 2:39 pm

   only if you can charge more by the mile.

2. dn24210r
   November 22nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm

   use the web to find the best fuel prices in the area
   the amount that you save may surprise you

   dont idle or get a alt heater/gen
   I am a idle air whore myself

   use your cards for cheaper fuel rates (fly j/petro/TA etc)

   goodluck

3. yorbi5
   November 25th, 2008 at 11:03 pm

   ALL OF YOU TRUCK DRIVERS SHOULD GO ON STRIKE DEMANDING MORE MONEY PER LOAD.You can also deliver only those that pay fuel surcharge.

4. Kim L B
   November 27th, 2008 at 11:14 am

   I don’t believe there is anything any of us can do except to shut the trucks down and go on strike til the fuel prices come down.
   My husband and I have been working with our company on getting a raise and getting the price of the fuel surcharge raised. Wish us luck we’re going to need it, we’ll find out the end of this month.Just looked to see what the price of oil is today at closing and it is 110.14 a barrel for oil. Shocking huh!

5. Forest Basenji
   November 28th, 2008 at 10:56 pm

   My husband and I are thinking about getting on with Landstar at some point in the (distant) future. We’re looking at a time frame of about 5 yrs…and so I told him “Between now and then is time for research. You find me an unhappy Landstar driver. Find me the guy who isn’t making it.” I said this because we’d talked to 4 or 5 of them and they all were doing quite well.

   We have spoken to nearly 100 Landstar drivers and so far, not ONE of them is unhappy. They are all making a good living. The worst I’ve heard is that there is the “occasional” cheap freight but the fuel surcharge makes it at least come out even.

   And if you have a spouse or someone you can team-drive with, you could get on hauling explosives & munitions for Landstar. We’ve only spoken to 5 or 6 of those drivers, and some Landstar drivers who have friends who haul the specialized stuff….but the gross income per year is up in the 250,000 dollar range for everyone we’ve spoken to.

   There isn’t any restriction on age & mileage of the truck, it’s just got to pass inspection. You might want to check it out and think of signing on with them, or one of the other owner-operator based companies.

   I’m in no way affiliated with them, I’m just impressed by how many of their drivers are very happy with them. Nearly every company has at least SOME unhappy drivers, but I’ve yet to find one at Landstar (we’re continuing to look, though!)

   Most of the o/o’s I speak to who ARE doing well, are pulling someone else’s trailer & running under someone else’s authority. Doing it yourself as a complete independent is getting tougher & tougher, especially when it comes to getting paid that fuel surcharge.

   There’s also this website:

   Yes it’s the EPA, lol,….but if you look over the site there are some ideas & resources for ways to improve fuel economy, some of them don’t cost much at all. There is actually some good info there. There are links & information about getting financial help for APU’s, etc….lots of states have grants and loans available to help owner ops buy idle reduction technology. Didn’t the governor of Maine declare a state of emergency because of fuel prices? I’d think if any state was willing to help troubled truckers, it’d be Maine.

   Good luck to you.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.