Mothership’s nationwide network is made up of 26,000+ independent carriers. Recently, we had the chance to chat with one of them. Jose Palomo is a carrier based in the LA area and has been driving commercially for about ten years.

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How did your career begin in transportation?

When I first started out as a driver, I was a repossessor. From there, I became an auto transporter. During the pandemic, everything went downhill in that business. That’s why I switched to truck driving; business was booming at the time.

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That’s such a unique path. How did you find out about Mothership?

I found out through friends and other drivers. We go up to the dock door at loads and mention what app we’re picking up for, so that’s how I heard about Mothership. 

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What do you like most about our app?

Of course the rates, but aside from that, Mothership is really easy to use. I really like how everything is straightforward, so it wasn’t hard to get started. We try to pick up in the Riverside, Ontario, the Inland Empire area, and then come to LA. We go wherever the work takes us. I think we've been in business with you guys for about over six months.

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What’s one of the biggest challenges of life on the road?

Staying busy, for sure. We try to plan the day before. When we see the loads we can get for the next day, it just makes it so much easier. Then we can just be worried about being ready for the loads. Sometimes it can get stressful if you don’t know whether or not you’re going to get good loads. We wake up early, around five or six in the morning, and try to get loads for the day. We definitely love it when we can prep in advance though.

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What’s one thing people should know if they’re interested in starting their own trucking business?

You have to enjoy being on the road. Sometimes you have to sit in traffic for two, three hours. 

To pass the time, I switch it up between entrepreneurship podcasts, comedy, and music. I do like being able to do my own thing. I don't have somebody breathing down my neck, you know. I have the freedom of the road.

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How did you get the truck that you brought here today?

I actually got this truck with a friend. He was in the auto transport business as well, and during the pandemic, plenty of repossession agencies shut down. They closed because the auctions were closed; there weren’t any cars coming in, so we talked about the trucking industry.

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Through word of mouth and watching the news, we knew there was a shortage. I met someone who was cleaning their truck and asked them about what the business was like. I started picking his brain and, you know, he told me to go in and ride along with him. It's like, boom, box trucks are in need right now. So we bought three trucks and you know, we kind of just went forward from there. 

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How would you say the business has changed over the last two years?

Now we have more people out there. During the pandemic, when the big rigs weren't available, they used the box trucks. But now all the big rigs are coming back, and the box trucks are kind of getting left out.

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How are you affected by fuel prices?

When we first started, we were filling up the tank for $100. Now, it’s almost $400 to fill up. It definitely doubled, meanwhile, a lot of companies were paying the same rates. It affected us a lot. 

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What do you think about the future of the industry?

Personally, I’m going to try to be here as long as I can. I really just want to grow as much as I can. But you never know what the future holds.

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Interested in becoming a Mothership carrier? Learn about our requirements on the carriers page.

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