Having multiple streams of income is a game changer for financial stability. Relying solely on a job may not provide enough financial security due to high rates of tax It is important to explore additional investment opportunities to surpass one's expectations.

After 12 years of being an O/O I finally gave it up. I don't make as much money but the stress is a lot less. The trucking industry just isn't worth it anymore. It's better to just live small and enjoy as much time with your family as you can. F being on the road for weeks and months at a time trying to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Oh 800 million went to rescue YRC but the boards of directors took that 800 million and handed out executive bonuses returns to the share holders and let the company fold.

The biggest issue is all the visas given to foreign drivers swamping the market...not to mention those "drivers" cant really drive

I believe there is an agenda to eliminate the OO. However, we are not going down without a fight. Last year, I wasn't even making company driver wages, but I never missed a truck payment. If I had had to pay a driver, it would have been impossible. I didn't get a government loan. I completed a merciless lease to own, but I made it. My Cascadia is 2022 with 435K. Replaced the radiator. I now have my own authority, but it's really scary out here. The government works for corporations, not us. I pray for America!

Debt free is the best strategy at any situation.

Here are my 2 cents, the fact that brokers can act like a mini monopoly by looking at freight rates, which keep all small spot market companies down. The fact a broker can go into a website see what moat other brokers are paying is absolutely assinine! Heres why your market rates stay low along with negotiations.

Can we all just say it out load: THERE ARE TOO MANY FOREIGN DRIVERS!!!

I believe that the excessive glorification of truck driving as a fast track to wealth, along with the widespread use of social media and the influence of various experts teaching people how to purchase inexpensive trucks and acquire operating permits, has led to a significant expansion of the industry. There are even celebrities who have started their own fleets, individuals who probably wouldn't have been interested in the industry if it hadn't been for social media. I think that social media has played a significant role in this expansion.

$90.000 per year 600 miles per day 70 hours per week….at least 😂😂😂😂 Divide $90.000 by 3500 hours for 50 weeks per year and an owner operator will make about $25 per hour at most without zero benefits,no health insurance,no retirement plan,no overtime,no paid vacation etc….. A Walmart driver will make well above $100.000 plus benefits for example…or a UPS driver…some as much as $170.000 as was reported multiple times on media. And they still coming into the fail market….especially those with working visa…never happened before in US history….BIDEN economics and his trucker friends 😂😂😂😂

You're not factoring in the 2 plus million new MC numbers added over the covid years, and one more thing...our government has imported cheap labor and they get assistance every month, plus cheap start up loans and capital. This will prolong everything

Didn’t get a loan- anytime the Government says we’re here 2 help I run the other direction 💯💯🤙🤙

I did want to bring this up many times but was ashamed of it. The SBA loans, although helped us through a rough time, gave us the sense that everything would be ok and, after three or four years, the loss is so big that we can't back out unless forced to. The SBA money was to be invested in the business it was approved for and had certain regulations to do it. There's the problem, investing all that money in a failing business expecting that it would flip back and now there's no money to pay the loan. Nightmare!

We got 36 trucks and trailers all paid for in cash..when we where making good money.we surviving because of not having to pay truck loans and by also having a profitable towing and repair shop in our yard..(the yard we pay for that 1 million$$ loan) but it's worth almost 2 million now finally the permits have been approved to start construction on a 4 repair bay mecanic shop and office space.whats really high is insurance $49k per month!!! Another high expense I seen lately is Simple breakdowns that cause Expensive road service calls because we have some lazy.not prepared drivers that don't carry a basic small tool box.that can help be the difference between a $350 air chamber replacement at a shop or a $950 service call!! Just a pair of clamps and 2 quarters can pinch air brake hose and release the brakes making truck drive- able .or a simple truck tire repair kit with plugs.etc etc A good professional driver is prepared..a steering wheel holder is just that..Also not doing a good PTI can get expensive if after leaving u break down on the HWY instead of noticing the issue when still at truck stop..Nowadays every single penny saved helps! Things like this can make or break a company. I seen 3 or 4 small carriers ( 6-8 new 2024-23 trucks)go under because they could not afford the $1,500 monthly payments on each truck..plus insurance etc..

The idea of being an owner operator and only making 75k a year in taxable income is disgusting. Especially driving 3000 miles a week....but 45k...that is ludacris. That is beyond comprehension....

No shut down loans for me....I am still recovering from the damages but still crawling along. tHanks for the video

I drove straight through the whole pandemic and didn't get a dime from anybody because I was told I had to be an employee and I own my own truck. Now that we're going through rough times with the pandemic being over now is when I could use some money! I'm hurting bad

Like you, I didn't get any SBA loan. My opinion on the problem with the rate is as follows: many small companies operate with mexican drivers, and fresh of the bought half legal immigrant drivers. To many outside U.S. broker's. Also, I think many are cheating on Elogs.

technology has provided the means for worldwide price fixing, there is no market. all these big companies can afford their own fleet if they wanted to, but instead they use Carriers. carries only exist to carry all the liabilities at the lowest cost.

As a future owner operator this helps me make a decision whether I need to get into this business or not.

You are on point. 💪🏼

I always try to remember the phrase I'm the government and I'm here to help. I didn't fall into the trap either

Freight waves repeatedly speaks for corporate. Foreign drivers flooded the market and still are. Change the laws requiring Drivers to read and speak English and 24 months class C drivers experience before the CDL can be issued. Problem solved. ✌🏽

When your making money, paying your debts and having good luck with maintenance every one is happy. Today there's really nothing positive about this industry. Guys out here hauling loads that won't even pay for a tire or cover fuel. Wish I knew why all this is happening

How is the trucking going to recover when the country is broke?

I love watching your channel especially I love that you’re a woman. I’m in the box truck business. I have a small fleet and I’ve been noticing that the Klein over the last couple years, but the last year has been really rough and the last three months are so bad that I’ve had to drop a couple trucks from my fleet. Just curious if you have any data in regards to straight truck business last mile LTL, etc.?

No SBA loan and thank you for sharing this with us 💪🏾

How many H1 visa drivers from India and Pakistan 20k , 80k, or more running at 75-80mph and driving team at .15 to .30 cpm. There is no way to complete in 10 years all drivers will be foreign.

The reason is the US has had and continues to have millions of immigrants coming into the trucking industry. Only truckers can see this first hand. This is all by design. Also you have certain groups of immigrants that load into a semi 4 to 5 drivers at a time. Every trucker I see between Colorado to Pennsylvania doesn't speak English and wears flip-flops. There is your excess capacity. Finite freight divided by an excess of capacity equals a shity market. It will get way worse.

So how do all the brokers know how to set the rates. Who gives the signal?

If you took that 3.75% government loan and used it to pay off your truck loan - which usually are 10% or higher - you came out ahead.

It makes sense Miranda. This was a really well put together video. 👊🏼

I know people that received 700k from SBA I don’t think most of them put It into trucking plus they got PPP loans also.

No SBA loan thanks God !! 🙌🏽 we’re surviving a day at a time and chasing that debt free life.

Yes debt free is the way to go! Love your insights, you are very knowledgeable and I appreciate your videos!

Thank you KZfaq for both these works of art

I never got the loan but I have thought about these things as well but not to the level that you just explained it I think yeah the next couple of years we're going to see a lot of those people exiting the industry Good job at looking at all the data and very good job at explaining it.

Thanks for reaffirming my decision to remain a company driver.

I did not take a SBA loan and I’m still in business! My reasoning is very similar to yours, buckle down and work harder!

Good Morning, I couldn't agree more with this video and Freightwaves with this article. The loans will possibly be career suicide for many unfortunately, with aging equipment and an $88k loan repayment, how, how can you pay for everything. I also wonder how will lending institutions, banks etc...view the SBA loans, many firms have always been skeptical of lending to owner operators. With all of this said, I do believe the lending institutions, banks etc...bear some responsibility for the impending or already failed, bankrupted families in trucking, why? Our industry preys on folks who just don't know or understand, sure it is the individuals responsibility however for almost thirty years, I've watched many good people suffer because of companies lies. stay safe

There are Class 8 truck manufacturers in North America. Daimler Trucks North America owns Detroit Diesel, Freightliner, and Western Star along with the Sterling name. DTNA is of course owned by the Mercedes-Benz Group. Navistar International is part of the Traton Group which is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. PACCAR is DAF, Kenworth, and Peterbilt. PACCAR is a subsidiary of Leyland Ltd. in the UK. Volvo Trucks North America is Mack and Volvo and is under Volvo of Sweden. If you think that everything is for sale you do not value your own liberty.

Good topic. Def. Agree w/you!

Really enjoying your insight, boss thinks I’m smart when I discuss your topics lol

Things are getting better and better. More and more companies are going bankrupt, more and more dot numbers are going inactive, more and more drivers who can't afford repairs because they owns maybachs and penthouses are giving up. Trucks are getting cheaper and cheaper. The market is going to be ours again in the next 24 month. Save up and try to get you a truck before the end of next year. Only the real truckers tho. The ones who been doing since before COVID and the trucking boom. Our time is coming. We got shat on with sba shxt and missed our chance but we stayed patient and our time has come

My guess - 2026 )) Thank you for the info Miranda!

As always , thank you for your videos and awesome information and insights you bring us all … I didn’t get the SBA loans , thank God 🙏🏼 , I’m a company driver 😊🚛

Financial providers offer unbeatable terms at 10.5% for a lease (rent) to own from the dealership (which has significant tax benefits) why on earth buy or take a loan ?

I got $83,000 I paid off my debt got the money back up to $83,000 I didn't know what to do with the money almost gave it back but the light bulb came on. I owed around that much money on my truck and trailer so yes I paid off the truck and trailer to have a lower interest rate. In months that were tight I paid the minimum payment of $400 in good month paid my regular truck and trailer payment. Currently the loan is just about paid back I will soon have no payments debt free except for my house.

Hola, Miranda hope you're doing well.

The Government Helped With the Problem they Made.😢😮 By Shutting down the Economy.😮

You da best! 💯

_Stop putting a blanket over the problem or generalizing the situation point out the details of the problem so we can fix it and here is the detail of the problem. Foreign truck drivers are increasingly willing to haul cheap freight because the American dollar maintains significant purchasing power in their home countries, such as India, China, and Russia._ _This economic advantage allows them to earn comparatively more when their income is converted to local currencies, making the lower freight rates in the U.S. still profitable. Consequently, this influx of foreign truck drivers willing to work for less is driving down overall market rates and squeezing out American-born truck drivers, who find it challenging to cover their operational costs and earn a sustainable living. The market is becoming saturated with foreign drivers, exacerbating the financial struggles of local truckers and threatening the stability of the domestic trucking industry._

8:50 EXACTLY. It turned out that Egr on my FL went wrong, $2000 in parts went to garbage. 380K miles

Is 5% margin for O/O accurate? Thats awful

Trucking rates will go slightly up and down due to many different factors, but they will only fully recover when economy recovers. It’s basic economics. Trucks are transporting toys, cars, parts, food, clothing. Since Biden administration raised interest rates to fight inflation, the whole economy has slowed down. Trucking also slowed down. Once economy start to recover truck rates will also.

Not alot of people staying in the industry, also company's arnt producing as much. Why are they doing that make less charge more, why make more for less

I got a little over 200k in sba loan, bought second truck and trailer, 1.5 years later had to sell that equipment and fire the driver as it doesn’t make sense to have couple of trucks working for you. Insane economy P.S. I wish I never applied for it, the payment for it will start soon, but hey we live for experience, I tried - it didn’t work, will keep grinding. Дядь хелоу)

29,0000 ltl drivers lost from yellow freight. This year 24,000 from fed ex and ups laid off. Driver "shortage" solved. Customers cant afford fuel surcharges, it adds stupid money to the freight bill....

Trucks are cheap as fuck. Nobody got money.

This makes sense. I didn't know so many o/o got these loans. I was offered these loans but decided to not take it.

I’m ashamed to say I got one of those SBA loans and it is in fact why I’ve been able to stay in business longer than usual. Maintenance is killing me, I’m about to go spend three grand to replace a turbo actuator in six hours.

I have a slightly different perspective on this topic. Unlike this younger generation of truckers who evidently DO NOT know how to properly maintain their newer crappy trucks with emission engines, There are still plenty of us older guys with pre emission engines that have taken very good care of our trucks. A properly maintained pre emission engine truck will last far in excess of 3 million miles. I grew into this industry many moons ago with an "old school" attitude that you carry a bag of tools and spare parts to handle most road side repairs yourself. This younger generation would rather waste money calling roadside repair to handle what amounts to simple DIY fixes. As an O/O, you must know the mechanics of your truck, and be willing to work on it yourself. When you're crawling under your truck every week, you notice things that need repair and are more apt to fix them before they leave you stranded on the side of the road. Buying a new truck is a total waste of money. It is far cheaper to properly maintain an older pre emission truck, doing much of the work yourself. I've seen your operational numbers Maranda, and frankly I'm not at all impressed with how you run a trucking company. You have a lot to learn about boosting profitability. Your expenses are way too high and your margins are far too thin. You are probably only one or two bad months away from bankruptcy. I've taken the last two years off from the road and let you young pups run your treadmill of crappy rates and thin margins. As of this week, I have reinstated my authority and am ready to hit the road again. Paid cash for my pre emission truck years ago. My insurance is $4,105.00/year. My total costs of operations are something that you could only dream of. The real reason that capacity has NOT left the market is because of people like you, Maranda who have taken on enormous debt loads and have no other alternative than to keep running hard for razor thin margins because you DO NOT want to declare bankruptcy and would, instead, rather work for pathetic wages.

Debt is money. If you understand Macroeconomics and money then you know that you use debt to make money.

I’m currently in school to get my CDL and many people say to not, get into trucking. lol I feel like the scales are balancing out and I’ve been doing lots of research. I feel like it’s going to come back around, slowly. There are still great jobs out there if you live in socal. I live right by the port of Los Angeles. I know for sure my first couple of years I’ll be taking a pay cut from compared to what I’m currently making at my job but I really see so much opportunity in trucking and I know things will get better. Hang in there everyone and god bless all you truckers out there. I appreciate you for keeping the world moving. ❤

The majority of people that I know that got that loan burned through that money a couple years ago.

FW is anti labor, pro company. Facts. Unsubscribed some time ago.

As of 2024. There is no carrier that could start up purchase equipment and maintain profit with today’s operations costs. Listening to executives at large carriers now is like talking to a kid out of high school who never had a job before. They talk out of their butt

Almost three years I don’t think market will recover from this inflation because department of transportation gives everyone authority some people have one truck even

What gives is that this is a crisis created by brokers. After coming through a pandemic it's terrible that carriers should be working under poverty wages!

Great info as always 👍

The situation will be worse than now. The next step is lowering the driver cpm pay to the 2019 level. Cpm will go even lower than it was in 2019.

Good video. Lots of great points made

Debt is dumb, cash is king and being in debt to the government is a recipe for disaster.

Oh no. We didn't get an SBA loan. Because at the time, with a pandemic, it did not make sense

You got to understand the people who write the majority of freight waves articles are not actively involved with a carrier or shipper. This is another flawed theory. That money ran out many moons ago.

Trucking executives price fixing

These people allow millions to come in illegally and give them work permits within weeks . They can get cdl with that right away. Ny just allowed to take permit test in any language

I’d argue 90% of truckers aren’t bright enough to know about these loans and how to apply for them.

Very good information as always!!!Thanks for the video!

Why uncovered shoulders, for better trucking industry?

Why ? -Continue hauling cheap loads - continue leasing your equipment and continue signing lease purchase agreements. - continue buying trucks and continue exploiting your fellow drivers . - continue booking loads weeks ahead . - continue “ spinning your wheels “ 24/7 - continue doing the same $@&#% and expect different results. Did you get my sarcasm???

Freight Waves missed the biggest factor in their calculations. The human factor. Owner operators will hang on and find a way to survive. Tenacity, resilience and stubbornness. It has it's human cost, but that's how it always has been. Capacity will be almost the same in 2025.

Whom doesn’t want to make $ just driving! Sitting and sleeping is easy work, I be around not matter what! As long as I hear that engine brake and muffler Iam happy! Just keep fuel money rolling!

So your saying there's guys our here operating for free and at a loss ( $1.30 a mile freight) that seems to get moved with no issue) because they are still living off a handout from the government that doesn't have to get repaid? I think there is a number of factors for what's going on, but I don't think that's it. I never got a loan. The good paying freight you haul will always be someone's cheap back haul to get home or back to their good paying load. Being in competition with foreigners is wrong and should be illegal. The big companies have billions in their bank accounts and can operate at a loss for years. Eliminate the competition, corner the market then raise the price. Shippers aren't gonna like it very much when all they'll be able to get is non English speaking drivers or knight/swift

Good.

Trucking capacity has zero to do with freight rates. Trucking capacity is the talking point of freight brokers to maintain leverage. Do we really think shippers and manufacturers are up late night thinking about how many trucks in the market? Come on people 😮‍💨

Did she say someone who drove 600 miles per day , 3000 miles per week for 50 weeks out of a year made $45,000 after expenses ?!?

Covid SBA loans were not bad, much better than any dealer loan.Low interest and long term if you need. The problem was that the equipment prices of that time were extremely high.

Agreed, great video, thank you!

Truck sales are way down an there is a lot of trucks getting sold on lots it's crazy

I'm sure a lot of people are just hanging in there because they paid 250k for a truck and 100k for a trailer during covid, and now they can't back out because they are upside down on the loan.

Even if they can afford they wont trade . They'll airgap big wire remove metal loop to hold wire . Easilly done by owner . Then reinstall firmware and software

For those who borrow the SBA loan at that time. I feel sorry for ya. That 30 years pay back time yikes..... And if you do a lateral loan to cover that SBA then the new interest rate will kill you. And the interest won't go back down for years. So basically saying you can event consolidate the SBA loan if you can't make payment on time for 30 years and it will stick with you forever until either your revenue comes back up along with econ or the interest rate comes back down (which it would never happens base on trumps new policy ) so you can do a lateral consolidation to give yourself a break .

The biggest reason the capacity is still stubbornly high is because there are not too many other opportunities, where you can make 100k a year or close to.

Little to no debt! Keep CPM low. Make money in any market. Invest that money in things that earn passive income. For me, that's things other than trucking

Who works for 50 cents cra cra

Why everyone is turning blinds eyes on Mexicans trucks taking our freights And creating BS excuses ?

No surprise and I agree with the host. Old story of guys buying a truck and can't even read a paper version of a Rand McNally.

I’m saying this again debt is killing trucking

Good video.