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| Young Henry Albert took a calculated risk of where they would land... |
Changing carriers is not for the faint of heart. There are as many reasons as there are truck drivers to leave a carrier. One of the worst reasons to leave a carrier is to follow a friend or someone you trust when they leave one carrier for another. Each of us has a different business plan and we all have different goals. The fundamentals of an expediting contractor might be the same but how we get to end goal is usually vastly different.
A few Examples:
Run, Run, Run - Then go home
Do not go to California - Do go to California
Do not go to Canada - Do go to Canada
Do not run the North East - Run the North East
Type of freight you like to haul
Interaction with the carrier
When changing carriers you will be leaving the familiar and going into the unknown. Leaving a carrier is like taking off a comfortable well-fitted mitten and trying to squeeze into a tight fitting glove. Each task in the day requires learning something new and this can be exhausting. As each day goes by, you will realize that conforming with the new company's policies are becoming easier and some activities are becoming automatic.
Before jumping ship take a close look at your operation, income, interaction with the carrier, home time and then reach out to drivers at the company you are considering and ask many questions. Talk to the recruiters and then talk to as many drivers as possible. One word of caution when talking to drivers is to ask yourself "Do they have an ulterior motive to get you to sign on with their company?" Some companies offer very large bonuses to their drivers if they recruit another contractor with a truck. Be cautious if they want to give you their name and truck number to turn in when you go to orientation. If after you gather all of your information and you decide on the company that will fit your operation YOU make the decision to turn in the name of someone that helped you the most. The more you learn beforehand the easier the transaction and the quicker you will move to bringing in income.
Once you get to orientation the same goes for when you first started with a company, take many notes, ask many questions, keep an open mind, and LEAVE your former company behind. Look to the future and trust that the new company will not have the same policies and procedures that caused you to leave your previous carrier. Look towards the positive and remember you changed for a reason.
Richard DeForest, VP of Fleet Sales at ATBS has a great presentation about the costs for owner/operators to change a carrier and the costs of the company to lose an owner operator. ATBS is a trusted tax and accounting expert company for independent contractors.
These figures are the average of the thousands of owner operators that use ATBS and have switched companies. Substitute these are averages with your numbers to see what it would cost you to make a carrier change:
Cost to Owner Operators
3 weeks of tractor insurance payments (average $107 per day) $2250
3 weeks of revenue NOT made while switching $8500
(minus expense for the above that didn't happen for fuel, maintenance) -$3650
3 weeks of family income needed $2,100
Subtotal of above costs: $9,200
The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence but you will still need lawn care and fertilizer when you get there.