Freedom has always been a powerful motivator for drivers that’s closely tied to the soul of trucking.
A 2021 study of owner-operators and independent contractors led by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) affirms that freedom is a top reason truckers become owner-operators. It also ranks the types of freedoms that are most motivating to owner-operators and independent carriers.
- The freedom to set hours
- Scheduling flexibility and freedom
- The freedom to choose routes or length of hauls
It goes to show that there are shades of freedom when it comes to choosing your business model. As an owner-operator, it’s important to your success—and very survival—to be clear on the degree of freedom you need in your business. As the saying goes, “Freedom ain’t free.”
In trucking, freedom comes at a cost.
One of the highest costs of going out on your own and operating as a carrier under your own authority is insurance. ATBS, an owner-operator focused tax and accounting firm, published in an October 2024 blog that cargo and auto liability insurance for just one truck, one trailer and one driver is upwards of $20,000 a year today. Having the freedom to choose your own hours, schedule and loads also means you’re responsible for finding your own loads, negotiating rates, invoicing and collecting payment.
Owner-operators operating under their own authority have had it especially hard in the current market, according to Landstar Transportation Logistics Vice President of Capacity Development, Scott Ray, a veteran of over 25 years in trucking.
“It all comes back to the freight recession and unpredictable freight,” he said. “In that environment, you’re relying on yourself.”
Owner-operators who want to be free from high insurance costs and extreme market instability can lease on with a carrier. The freedom to just drive without having to spend a lot of time hunting for customers is a valuable benefit. So is the freedom from insurance premiums.
But those freedoms can come with a cost, and the Landstar model is the exception.
When you lease on to a carrier, you’ll likely have a dispatcher determining what your days behind the wheel look like. That’s why it’s hard to be too freewheeling when you’re leased on to most carriers. A lot of their models don’t allow for the degree of flexibility the way Landstar does — with the freedom to choose their loads while maintaining the benefits of operating under Landstar’s authority.
Leasing to Landstar to become a Business Capacity Owners (BCO) gives owner-operators tremendous freedom to secure loads on Landstar’s load board where Landstar’s 1,000+ agents post customer loads. BCOs benefit from exclusive access to the unrivaled freight density.
“It’s not like one or two loads. There are literally thousands to pick from,” Ray said.
Another unique aspect is that pricing on Landstar’s load board is transparent. BCOs can see what the customer is being charged on every shipment and calculate their compensation based on their percentage. With no forced dispatch, BCOs have control over choosing what loads to haul at a rate that works for them, much like an independent carrier.
“That’s what keeps folks at Landstar. It’s the diverse freight base, the freight density, and working with the independent sales agents behind that freight density,” Ray explained.
BCOs often establish ongoing relationships with specific agents for regular and repetitive loading opportunities with customers of those agents.
“The rubber really hits the road when owner-operators develop a business relationship with Landstar’s independent freight agents,” Ray said.
This freedom to succeed is supported by freedom from some of the cost pressures owner-operators often face. By leasing to a Landstar carrier, BCOs operate under that carrier’s operating authority and benefit from the cargo and auto liability coverage obtained by that Landstar carrier.
BCOs also have access to Landstar-facilitated insurance programs for physical damage and other coverages, each exclusively available to Landstar-leased BCOs. Through the Landstar Contractors Advantage Purchasing Program (LCAPP), BCOs also are able to take advantage of a whole host of discount programs for many other items and services relating to running a business as a truck owner-operator, including fuel and tires.
Landstar’s model offers best-of-both-worlds benefits to freedom seekers who are leased on to restrictive carriers or who are burnt out from running under their own authority.
“There’s a sigh of relief from owner-operators that comes from, ‘I can see the pricing. I can book my loads out into the next week. I don’t have to make that giant insurance premium payment every six months. And I have this density of freight available to me in the Landstar network,’” Ray said.
With today’s high costs and market instability, the dream of independence can seem out of reach for truckers looking to become owner-operators. Landstar’s BCO and agent network offers unique benefits that provide operators with the closest thing to pure freedom out there.
Linda Garner-Bunch has been in publishing for more than 30 years. You name it, Linda has written about it. She has served as an editor for a group of national do-it-yourself publications and has coordinated the real estate section of Arkansas’ only statewide newspaper, in addition to working on a variety of niche publications ranging from bridal magazines to high-school sports previews and everything in between. She is also an experienced photographer and copy editor who enjoys telling the stories of the “Knights of the Highway,” as she calls our nation’s truck drivers.
