Ok..my escrow is paid, yes I pay a pittance for disability insurance, my health insurance is covered by the VA and I average about 2,800 miles a week with going home twice a month for 2 days per stop. My miles this week was 3200 and my mpg was 7.4. Yes I do go slow, why speed? More money for me and it's a no hurry dispatch. As for the 90 day guys who leave the program, they have no idea how to run a business, what mpg is, and won't get out of the truck stops to be available. My bookkeeping costs is 14.75 a week through the company program. I stay a lot at motels for comfort and the write off. All and all I am saying that if a person does things right, watches their fuel and stays available for dispatch there is no reason to not be successful.

Does any of you old hans remember that trucking co out of fort scott ks that use to sell trucks for a doller down?The guys who jump on those deals use to catch a lot of flack but alot of them did pay for them an did well.They wer,nt very sharp all cab over frieghtliners 290 cummins.That just makes me think there is probaly several who have an will make this lease purchase work.

Wasn't that Midwestern that used to sell you an ugly Freightliner with the slogan "A buck for a truck"?

what does your qualquam cost per month and what about workman's comp or COMPARABLE INS. ?

tia for your response.

I talked to a JB driver one night a couple of months back that was doing the LP and she gave me the same story (may have been you) and said she was doing just fine because she wasn't lazy and took care of what needed to be taken care of.


Good for you!

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Tank surge on a curvy road trumps coffee any day of the week.

That Ft. scott co was Midwestern Distribution, aka Dollar Down Trucking. I talked to them in 1979 about working for them, but opted out when I found out you had almost no control over your money. A few years later they were no more.

That is the bunch Ididnt know if I should say any names are not.After they folded prime filed chapter 11 and JB was just getting started thinking of those days makes me laugh.Me an my old man were wild cating all over those were the days.

WOW, you are REAL lucky! JB Hunt is a horrible company and you flat got lucky, period. Just want to let you know...WATCH YOUR BACK! One day you will see what I mean, I pray for you as only God can help you now as you are stuck at this point...

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WISEONE! been a while, eh?

Well, best of luck in the LP. Dunno if the plan's been shuffled since my last day on the clock at Lowell, however. It could be a wholly revamped LP plan since the last I had heard was

1. The big Downsizing of the recruiting floor (I got out before they announced who was getting the axe) and
2. The plan to both lower our fleet number and OTR division workers and
3. Increase fuel economy and switch to more regional/dedicated/ICS/Intermodal opportunities.

That was the outlook for 2008 from CEO Thompson's mouth himself. Considering that they're still around and actually growing profit this year, I don't doubt that JBHT has been set for the diesel rise or anything else to stop them for a while now.

I was a lease operator. I made it to the 3 month point when I turned in my truck.

My best week was 2000 miles. Most of them we less than 1500. I was always early for my pick up and deliveries, and I never turned down a load except when I had to be in court the next day. My ex was taking me back to court because I couldn't get home for for my visitation. Funny, I needed to get to Greensboro, NC and they thought a run to KY for Richmond, VA would get me there. I turned down 3 more loads that day, all going to New England before I told them I was going to deadhead home because I was going to run out of hours before I got there if they kept playing games trying to get me to go the wrong directions. I wonder what part of court ordered appearance they didn't understand?

I did get good fuel mileage out of my truck but I ran it at 54 MPH. Had to or I would have died in fuel cost. It did have a warrenty on the truck for 30 days. I took it to the terminal in Chicago for repairs. After it was there for 10 days, while I was out running repos waiting for it to get fixed, my maintenance coordinator told me to just go get the truck and take it to another terminal for repairs. When I got there they had let the truck idle for 130 hours until it ran out of fuel. It then set there for so long the batteries were so dead the radio lost the preset channels.

My wife was due to have surgery at 0600 on a Wednesday morning. My FM knew about it for 3 weeks. I set all day is SC watching company drivers come and go while I waited on a load. Then they gave me one. They thought I was unreasonable because I wouldn't pick up in Spartenburg, SC at 0230 take it to the terminal in Concord, NC then deadhead home to Greensboro, NC, knowing my wife was having surgery at 0600.

On 3 seperate occasions my FM threatened to violate my contract. Once was for the issue discribed above. There was proof he did, because he would do it on the qualcomm.

Another driver and I were out in the middle of nowhere making a delivery. There was 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground with no tracks in it. There was nobody there. I was on hold with my dispatcher. I got a qualcomm message telling me he wasn't going to answer my call if I wanted to talk to him to use the qualcomm.

I do have to say that because of the money I made running repos and my business experience and ability to control my costs I got out of there without owing them any money. I did talk to a driver in GA who was turning in his truck because he owed them $5000 and had no place to live because he was living in the truck. He was trying to convience them to let him be a company driver so he could pay them off.

I would love to know what percentage of people actually finish and get the title to their truck. I only met one and he stayed out 2 months at a time.

When I had found another job and gave them my 30 day required notice my FM started playing games. Finally the week before I was to turn in the truck I was at the NC terminal and he started a fight. The ending was he told me I could leave the truck there and seperate now. The catch was they were going to keep all my escrow funds. He also said that if I didn't leave now and let them keep my funds then they would put stuff on my DAC report. So I felt backmailed into accepting. In hind sight it was worth letting them keep almost $2000 just to leave and get to where I am now.

I now have no stress, a great truck, I'm home every two weeks instead of going home twice in 3 months including the trip home for my wife's surgery. On the week I stay out I bring home 1000-1500. The week I go home I bring home 500 - 1000 and that is after child support payments!

Stay away from JB Hunt.