Owner-operators as a group are quite vocal and even the most veteran among them are voicing their concerns about the viability of the business model, as well as their recognition that retaining authority a and forwarding a going shipping enterprise with your own truck is growing more expensive and complex every day. Increasingly, it’s a hostile place to go at it as the lone proprietor.

As it stands, on average, owner-operators need to drive more than 100,000 miles a year to net $50,000. That means some make more than $50K a year, but that also means many also make less.

One owner-operator blogger Truckie-D says this to prospective drivers: “Trucking isn’t for everyone. This goes double for being an owner-operator.” He explained that drivers need experience in the trucking business as well as general business experience to be successful.

“Can you read a profit and loss statement and make sense of it? Can you do a cost/benefit analysis of adding an APU to your truck? If the answer is no, you might want to consider getting some basic business education, or at least read a book or two or ten on the subject.”

Word to the wise indeed. He says that if you don’t have experience driving a truck, get hired somewhere, then come back—“Do NOT,” he admonished, “get sucked into getting trained and buying/leasing a truck immediately. That’s a recipe for going broke quickly.”