My name is Victor, I am one of the dispatcher supervisors at Status Transportation. Status Transportation reviews its weekend strategy for owner operators and for this reason, today I want to talk to you about maximizing your gross income as a regional or OTR owner operator by optimizing your loads over the weekend.
We know home time is very important for every driver. Both regional and OTR owner operators want to be with their families, friends, on special occasions, national holidays, Christmas, etc. Also, there are many regional drivers in the transportation industry who have families waiting for them every weekend, so we know how important this is for them.
We've heard people say regional owner operators make less money than over the road owner operators, so we decided to take a closer look at the reasons why this happens. We noticed regional owner operators prefer to stay closer to home by driving in the surrounding five states to their own state and head back to their home state on Fridays. This with the purpose of being back home for the weekend.
On the other hand, OTR drivers tend to spend more time on the road because they stay out for three to four weeks before heading back. It depends on the driver, but for the most part, OTR drivers are out on the road a minimum of 21 days per month and only take few days off, unlike regional drivers who tend to be home almost every weekend.
Analyzing the workweek of a regional owner operator up close we can see that the week usually starts by picking up the first load on Monday morning and in many cases delivering the last load by Friday morning. This frees up the rest of the afternoon on Friday, extending the weekend to 3 days and therefore making it a four-day workweek. If there is an average of 4 weeks in a month, that means regional operators are working only 16 days a month or half a month. In the transportation industry, you cannot expect to make a good living as an owner operator by working only four days a week. So in conclusion owner, regional owner operators make less money than OTR drivers because they drive fewer days.
Status Transportation reviewing those numbers developed a solution to help drivers to maximize owner operator pay and counteract the previous situation. All this done without sacrificing home time which is one of the reasons why drivers sign up for an option that allows them to stay closer to home.
The Solution
Since reducing home time for regional owner operators was not an option, Status Transportation reviewed different alternatives to help them maximize profits without sacrificing home time. If owner operators pick up another load immediately after delivering on Friday that is scheduled to be delivered on Monday, that way they can go home with a trailer loaded and be ready to continue working immediately on Monday. Hence, increasing the number of loads and maximizing income.
The solution is simple but when followed with consistency it can have a significant impact on increasing profits.
Allow me to explain, upon delivery on Friday, drivers receive another load that they can pick up that same Friday afternoon, this load is scheduled to be delivered on Monday morning. This constitutes an additional load a week, if looked from a monthly perspective this turns into an extra 4 loads a month or 52 loads a year, which is a very considerable revenue. The important factor to consider is that all this is done without sacrificing owner operator's home time. Also, rather than being three days at home and without a load, now they get to be two days at home while increasing their profit.
The same exact strategy applies to OTR owner operators delivering on Saturdays. If you do this every other Saturday or let's say each week then as an OTR owner operator you are increasing your loads by 52 more loads a year, and not only that, you are also spending more time on the road and increasing the number of miles you drive each week.
We work together with owner operators to get them home, or for a special occasion or whatever the event is by having them talk to their dispatchers in advance. Let's say you live in Cleveland Ohio, as soon as you arrive in Cleveland Ohio, where your hometown is, we want to make sure that you get reloaded that same day. The reason why we want to do this is because you can reload, head back home and spend time home with your family while your trailer is loaded and ready to be delivered first thing on Monday. This also allows your dispatcher to focus on securing another load for you while you are still working.
Also, while you are home on a 34-hour restart, you can have your trailer loaded and scheduled to deliver on Monday reducing the wait time between your restart and your next load. That way while you are waiting at home you know you are still maximizing your profits. In doing so, you can leave Sunday afternoon or Sunday morning to deliver the load on Monday and continue running.
Example Of A Weekend Delivery
As a dispatcher I know Saturday deliveries are pretty uncommon, a lot of shippers and receivers do not open on Saturdays. Most loads are from Fridays to Mondays and that is the only time you can deliver, but there are a few occasions where there is a receiver at that is open on a Saturday. Depending on your location in the US, you are more exposed to weekend receivers. The closer you are to a transportation truck hub (that's what we call them), the more common it is to unload on a weekend. Areas that never stop like Atlanta, Philadelphia, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Memphis, Los Angeles, and other hubs, are places that are highly populated as far as the commercial transportation goes. If you are delivering to any of these places chances are you will find another load to pick up that same day during the weekend.
After analyzing the Status Transportation reviews on how to maximize owner operator pay over the weekend, let's see an example of how to it applies to a weekend delivery. If you are delivering on a Saturday and you're still planning on going home, for example, let's say you live in Atlanta. You unload in Atlanta Saturday morning and the best thing to do is to reload that same day in Atlanta or any of the surrounding cities like Forest Park, College Park, East Point, Union City, Morrow, Conley, Arbor Westbridge, etc.
That way you can still go home, still spend time with your family and deliver a short distance two or three hundred miles away.
By following this routine you will be still making money while enjoying time at home and you are not losing out on profits over the weekend. That way dispatchers at Status Trucks can keep your owner operator pay for every week as high as it can be even if you are going home or not.
Victor S.Freight Coordinator
www.statustrucks.com
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