After testing the waters of independence, Rich Rukstalis in 2011 returned to Landstar as a leased owner-operator, hauling dry van loads and transitioning away from working the spot market as a reefer hauler.
A year into his stint with Landstar, he had a revelation. “I looked at the numbers, and I said, ‘Now wait a minute. If I had my own trailer, I could get an extra 7%,’ ” he says of the percent-
age of revenue rate that Landstar pays its owner-operators. That is, Rukstalis could score 72% of Landstar’s paid rate rather than the 65% he was earn- ing. “Why should I give them the 7%?” he asked himself then.
Not long after, he was the proud owner of a new 2012 Great Dane dry van trailer, which he bought for $30,000. His insurance and payment on the five-year loan totaled $800 a month, but it enabled him to earn an extra $1,200 to $1,300 a month, he says, netting him as much as $500 extra in income.
Such higher percentage offers for trailer ownership are standard fare at many carriers — even smaller ones. For owner-operators willing to make the investment and handle the maintenance costs, stronger profits could follow, as well as ownership of a major asset that generally lasts longer than a tractor and requires less maintenance.
Owner-operators can “go from earning about 68% to 72% if you’re truck-only to getting about 75 to 80% if you have your own trailer,” says Todd Amen, president for ATBS.
If a dry van load pays the carrier $2 a mile, for example, and an owner-operator was paid 70% of that, they would earn $1.40 a mile. But with a trailer acquisition and a percentage of 75%, for example, the per-mile rate bumps up to $1.50. On an 800-mile trip, that’s $80 extra.
