Owner Operator Opportunities

Hello and thank you for your Interest in our company. As our Operations Manager, I would like to share a few reasons why Sullivan is a different kind of trucking company. First, our core focus is raising the standards of our industry while providing for our community and giving to God’s work. Let me break this statement down into three parts.

  • “Raising the Standards of Our Industry”
    We all know that trucking is one of the most corrupt and sleezy industries around. It often seems that drivers and owner operators are left holding the bag so to speak. We all know horror stories of shippers treating a driver like a rented mule and brokers you can never reach when a load goes sideways. Then there is the trucking company that just nickels and dimes you to death. Here at Sullivan, we are raising the standard as we are building a company that has the drivers and owner ops as our main focus. We believe this will allow us to raise the standards in the trucking industry. That means that we avoid shippers and brokers who mistreat and abuse drivers.
  • “Providing for our Community“
    Providing for our community means that we take care of fellow drivers, owner operators, dispatchers, load coordinators and the operations team at Sullivan. While our company is driver/owner-operator focused we must have a good working relationship with everyone in the Sullivan community. In other words, our employees and contractors are considered family. Every employee and contractor have an important role within Sullivan. If one person is not providing for our community it causes issues. The only way we will be successful is if everyone is doing their part.
  • “Giving to God’s Work”
    One of the great things about Sullivan is that we are a Christian-owned company. We believe Sullivan is God’s company; we are stewards of the company. While running and operating a truck benefits the employees, contractors, and customers, we believe that it should also benefit the Lord’s work. We know that trucking can be dangerous and that injuries (or worse) sometimes occur. We know that truckers and people within the trucking industry realize that life is short. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. With this understanding we at Sullivan give to the Lord’s work because we know that His work is eternal. We support evangelists, missionaries, medical missions, and local food banks to name a few.

A second component on what makes Sullivan different is our core values. Following are the ways we deal with day-to-day issues at Sullivan.

  1. Results Driven – We operate Sullivan with purpose. We find what processes are necessary to achieve the results we desire and then we track those processes to be successful.
  2. Hard Work – Nothing worthwhile in life is accomplished without hard work. We believe that every employee and contractor putting in a hard day’s work is key to making Sullivan be successful.
  3. Others First – The more we put others first the better our company and industry will be.
  4. Honesty/Integrity – At Sullivan honesty and integrity are a key foundation to any relationship.
  5. Continuous Self-Improvement – We want our drivers, owner operators, and the entire staff to be on a road of constant self-improvement. We want to help you become more successful in your business and in your personal life to help you get to the next level.

Listed below is our history of our company.

Dave Sullivan

1952- 2017

Jane Grafton

In 1972, after Dave Sullivan finished his tour of duty in the U.S. Army (where his assignment was “Motor Transportation Operator,” and where he was introduced to driving semi-trucks), he began driving over the road in his early twenties. He soon bought his own truck (a new Peterbilt cabover) and continued driving most of the next 35 years except for a few years he worked as a diesel mechanic.

In 2003 Dave started Sullivan Transportation, Inc. He continued driving over the road for several years until he felt he needed to devote more time to the company. He made the difficult decision to stop driving, but his experience as both a driver and a mechanic served him well in working with drivers and understanding the difficulties they face.

Dave built the company steadily and by 2015 there were about 50 owner operators and company drivers working with Sullivan. However, Dave’s health was in decline, and he realized that he was not going to be able to carry on the work of Sullivan Transportation. He downsized the company and asked Jane (his sister) and her husband Tom Grafton (both who had started working for him at Sullivan Transportation in 2012) if they would take over the company.

Dave passed away on May 11, 2017, at which time Tom and Jane assumed the responsibilities of moving the company forward. Their goal is to carry on the work that Dave started and treat our drivers with the same respect, honesty, and courtesy that Dave did, and to help them be successful in their careers.

Some of Dave’s First Trucks

Owner Operator Pay and Expenses

Pay Package

Regular pay for loads and accessorial fees

  • 75% of total Line Haul.
  • 100% of Detention and Lay Over Fees
  • Loads for paperwork turned in by Tuesday of each week are paid and in the owner operator’s bank account Friday of the same week.

Bonuses

  • Driver Referral Fee – $500.00 after the referral has worked for Sullivan Transportation for 90 days.
  • The following bonuses are given for Clean DOT Inspections
    • Level 1 – $100.00
    • Level 2 – $50.00
    • Level 3 – $25.00

Expenses

LDWeekly expenses

  • Fuel (we provide a fuel card that has a discount giving our trucks a rate at $.05 above cost)

Monthly expenses

  • ELD – $20.00
  • Occupational hazard insurance – $157.00
  • Owner operator bobtail/physical damage (bobtail is $32/month and physical damage is .51% of the insured amount/month. So a truck valued at $25,000 would cost $127.00 a month plus $32 for bobtail totaling $159.00/month)

Quarterly expenses

  • IFTA filing; Sullivan files this at no charge for the filing, but once it is filed and we have the amount you owed (or were refunded) we process that on your settlement.

Annual expenses

  • Registration (due march 1 each year; cost varies from year to year but 2020 cost was $1,735.37.
  • 2290 renewal (due in august each year; 2019 cost was $550 plus small processing fee)