What is an owner-operator?

Because they carry the equipment cost, owner-operators keep a much larger share of what a load pays than a company driver does.

That difference has to flow through every calculation. A system that treats both the same will misstate cost, margin and pay.

Settlement structures also differ, with deductions for insurance, fuel and escrow that do not apply to company drivers.

An owner-operator can run under their own authority or lease onto a carrier, and that choice decides who holds the insurance, the operating authority and the customer relationship.

The settlement is where the difference shows: deductions for insurance, escrow, fuel and trailer rent come off a percentage or per-mile rate rather than a wage.

Which of those two arrangements applies matters more than it looks. A driver LEASED to a carrier is covered by the federal lease rules — a payment period, a limit on the paperwork that can be demanded first, and an accounting for anything held in escrow — while a driver running under their own authority is not, and neither is a company driver on payroll. Our settlement page states those obligations with the regulation linked.