In the United States and Canada, as is with many small business owned by the same person who is running day-to-day operations. Owner operators are found in many business models and franchising companies in many different industries like restaurant chains, health care, logistics, maintenance, repair, and operations.
In trucking, it is a self-employed commercial truck driver or a small business that operates trucks for transporting goods over highways for its customers.
The Motor Carrier Act of 1980 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. 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.