Keep away from KLLM! You've been warned!

I worked for KLLM but I was a company driver. I had people try to tell me I should lease, but I wanted to learn for at least a year before considering that. I know when I was there I talked to drivers that said don't lease, and some said they were doing alright. Personally, I wouldn't advise leasing from them. I don't know if that's true about them "phasing out company trucks." That might just be a gimmick to convince people to lease.

 

KLLM pays 0.32 cents per mile with no raise again this year for company drivers. I have never met a KLLM lease driver who is happy with the KLLM lease program. Lease drivers pay all the truck expenses and KLLM keeps almost all the profit until he quits then another sucker takes over the truck for about a month. The lease program has ruined all the KLLM company driver trips. Lease drivers can turn down trips so KLLM company drivers get the trash can trips like short-hauls, mountain routes, snow routes, going to customers that are known for the longest wait times and no drop hooks. Company drivers are forced to do swaps with lease drivers near customer locations so company drivers do all the waiting and lease drivers keep moving and paying the truck expenses. KLLM has no safety bonus pay. No idle bonus pay. No APU's and no inverters allowed in company trucks. When I arrived at one of the company yards and asked the shop to repair my qualcomm during my time off they said I must drive the truck to a repair shop across town and begin my time off after I spend a few hours finishing the repair of their equipment. KLLM does not pay for actural miles driven. Only paid zip code to zip code mileage (household movers guide miles). KLLM company drivers are paid only $25 for some trips that are less than 100 miles and you still spend hours waiting at the KLLM customer. No detention pay if the KLLM driver arrives late to a customer even though not the driver's fault. KLLM does not pay mileage for driving the truck from your last customer to your time-off location. KLLM holiday bonus pay for staying on the road during the Xmas and New Year holiday is a joke. The holiday period paychecks are the same as all the paychecks during the year. More customers are closed and miles are less during the holiday period. The bonus just makes up the difference. It does not add money to a paycheck. The bonus just makes up for the loss of miles since it is slow. KLLM will take your new company truck away every 3 to 4 months and lease it to a lease driver. You will be awake all night during the process of moving your stuff from your truck to a storage locker and then at dawn starting your ride across the country to recover an abandoned truck that needs service or won't even start.

 

Sure they were "doing alright" but I guarantee they lived in their truck. WTH kind of life is that?

 

I am one of those you just described.I've been asking myself that same question recently.I won't say how much longer I have on my payments because I don't want them figuring out who I am.Not sure I'm gonna make it.Thinking I should go get a loan to pay off the truck so I have my freedom to leave if I choose to without losing what I have in the truck,which at this point is quite a bit.

 

Thank you for your usefull post; glad I wasn't the only one feeling that way once upon a time. The above described carrier is a big time bottom feeder organization. Simply clean out that POS / turn it in at a terminal, and go away. You'll be glad you did; it's not hard to find a better carrier to hire on with. When you leave the bottom of the absolute bottom; you can only go up from there.

 

If you were only a few payments shy, why not pay it off? I don't know KLLM per say but I have paid off two leases( both early) You should of had enough banked by the last few payments to cut them a check and say C'ya, if noingt sounds like you should of jumped ship long ago. Just saying!

 

Just know that when you drive for KLLM you are going to get screwed over 95 percent of the time. It is an accepted reality if you drive for them! KLLM pays 0.32 cents per mile with no raise again this year for company drivers. I have never met a KLLM lease driver who is happy with the KLLM lease program. Lease drivers pay all the truck expenses and KLLM keeps almost all the profit until he quits then another sucker takes over the truck for about a month. The lease program has ruined all the KLLM company driver trips. Lease drivers can turn down trips so KLLM company drivers get the trash can trips like short-hauls, mountain routes, snow routes, going to customers that are known for the longest wait times and no drop hooks. Company drivers are forced to do swaps with lease drivers near customer locations so company drivers do all the waiting and lease drivers keep moving and paying the truck expenses. KLLM has no safety bonus pay. No idle bonus pay. No APU's and no inverters allowed in company trucks. When I arrived at one of the company yards and asked the shop to repair my qualcomm during my time off they said I must drive the truck to a repair shop across town and begin my time off after I spend a few hours finishing the repair of their equipment. KLLM does not pay for actural miles driven. Only paid zip code to zip code mileage (household movers guide miles). KLLM company drivers are paid only $25 for some trips that are less than 100 miles and you still spend hours waiting at the KLLM customer. No detention pay if the KLLM driver arrives late to a customer even though not the driver's fault. KLLM does not pay mileage for driving the truck from your last customer to your time-off location. KLLM holiday bonus pay for staying on the road during the Xmas and New Year holiday is a joke. The holiday period paychecks are the same as all the paychecks during the year. More customers are closed and miles are less during the holiday period. The bonus just makes up the difference. It does not add money to a paycheck. The bonus just makes up for the loss of miles since it is slow. KLLM will take your new company truck away every 3 to 4 months and lease it to a lease driver. You will be awake all night during the process of moving your stuff from your truck to a storage locker and then at dawn starting your ride across the country to recover an abandoned truck that needs service or won't even start.

 

Just wondering what does KLLM stand for? Maybe : Keep Leasing Lose Money ? Lol Lol Lol

 

I think that leasing a truck is a business proposition. Any business person will do something called "due diligence" before entering into a business agreement, which is just what drivers are doing when they enter into a lease program, entering into a business agreement EXCEPT MOST DO NOT DO ANY DUE DILLIGENCE!! Now it's the trucking companies fault for the drivers failure to check out the program.

Now I'm not defending ANY of these leasing programs, most are glorified "buy here pay here" deals. But come on, accept some responsibility here folks !!!! THE RED FLAGS IN THESE DEALS ARE HUGE!!!! IMO the most obvious is "Here, lease this truck, but you can't drive where you want, for whom you want"!!??? I lease a car, in fact two, GM doesn't tell me where I can and can't drive!

The O/P is of the opinion that folks here at TTR are unsympathetic to what has happened to their significant other, that's not the case (mostly ), it's just the same song different musician. These companies that offer these programs prey of folks and count on them being short sighted, maybe a bit down on their luck and certainly not business minded enough to look into their lease program with any scrutiny. Once they get the "buy in" some become disenfranchised because they realize they are not making a windfall of cash, others simply cause their own demise (I know, it's stretch to think that). But at the end of the adventure (especially when it goes badly), it's still the responsibility of the individual to complete....DUE DILLIGENCE. The lease program remains long after the individual is gone!

Lastly, does any perspective lease driver actually believe all that hype? I guess they do, otherwise we wouldn't be answering this thread !!

 

How nice it is to read your post. Leasing is one of Americas biggest ripp-offs.

First time the new lease operators see what a pair of steer tires might cost; let alone - a set of 8 drives - - let alone what an oil change and basic service will cost; life might not be so forward looking or so it seems.