In the United States and Canada, an owner-operator is any small business

Small business

A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...

 owned by the same person who is running day-to-day operations. Owner operators are found in many business models and franchising

Franchising

Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....

 companies in many different industries like restaurant chains, health care

Health care

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

, logistics

Logistics

Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...

, maintenance, repair, and operations

Maintenance, repair, and operations

Maintenance, repair, and operations or maintenance, repair, and overhaul involves fixing any sort of mechanical or electrical device should it become out of order or broken...

.

In trucking, it is a self-employed commercial truck driver

Truck driver

A truck driver , is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck.Truck drivers provide an essential service to...

 or a small business that operates trucks for transporting good

Good

Good may refer to:* Good and evil - The distinction between positive and negative entities* Good - Objects produced for market* Form of the Good - Plato's macrocosmic view of goodness in living* Good...

s over highways for its customers.

The Motor Carrier Act of 1980

Motor Carrier Act of 1980

The Motor Carrier Regulatory Reform and Modernization Act, more commonly known as the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 is a United States federal law which deregulated the trucking industry.-Background:...

 deregulated the industry and made it easier for manufacturers to set their own prices on shipping goods, and also allowed owner-operators to be more successful by taking some of the control out of the hands of the larger motor carriers

Common carrier

A common carrier in common-law countries is a person or company that transports goods or people for any person or company and that is responsible for any possible loss of the goods during transport...

. It was now possible to find a carrier willing to haul goods for what customers wanted to pay, rather than what the larger carriers' rates were.

• An owner-operator is free to either haul free-lance (non-committal to any one firm or product), or enter into a lease agreement to dedicate their equipment to one customer or product.

• The owner-operator typically has to pay higher rates on insurance
  Insurance
  In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
  
  due to smaller size than most larger companies, meaning they have to charge more to balance the cost.

External links

• Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association