wanting to become an IC with Schneider

Motorman1 · Dec 8, 2014

I haul mainly short loads in and around a 120 mile radius of Illinois and I have averaged around $1.72 for all miles over the last 3 weeks.

KingG239 · Dec 13, 2014

im thinking about doing sni, choice program. cuz you talk to no one u go where u want. u pick ur load and you always have load to choose from with them you dont have to wait on someone to send you a load. i think, its good to be on the choice program.

KingG239 · Dec 13, 2014

and especially if your'e not making a truck payment the choice program is really good. to do,

KingG239 · Dec 13, 2014

this crazy. i think someone had a bad day or something, something not right, i call bull ship on this,

KingG239 · Dec 13, 2014

does SNI. charge fuel tax?

markde1974 · Apr 21, 2015

Al^* said: ↑

The thing about Schneider's Coice program is that it varies dramatically depending on where and how you want to run.

It will depend on your truck payment and on whether you're doing a lot of long hauls or short hauls. The longer the loads, the less per mile they pay as a general rule, which means a higher percentage of gross is spent on fuel. Normally $4000 gross is only possible with long loads, then about half of that goes in the fuel tank, about $100/week or so for insurance, etc, so that leaves about $1900/week minus the truck payment, which if you lease a new truck from SNI will be about $800 I think. That'll leave you with $1100, or a little more, since the new trucks do get better fuel mileage than I do. But you won't be able to do that every week. Plus you'll have to pay to change the oil every couple of months and other maintenance along the way.

If you take a lot of shorter loads, you will gross much less but spend a much smaller percentage of that on fuel, and can net more with less miles if you can get them lined up right, which is harder than it sounds. Whether I take longer or shorter loads depends on where I am and where I want to go, and how well the loads pay depends greatly on where it is and where it's going. Some areas pay well and others you might as well just deadhead out of. Which means your net will also depend heavily on whether you want to chase the money wherever it is, or go where you want to go, or somewhere in between.

Personally, I'm single with no bills and like to lollygag around and visit various people around the country, so my net varies wildly and wouldn't be representative. Plus I normally like to drive instead of spend a lot of time getting loaded and unloaded and trying to line up a bunch of short loads, which can be far more trouble than it's worth to get that higher cpm.

SFI also leases older trucks, both former company trucks and KW/Pete/etc. That's risky, of course, unless you do your research and know how to check one out carefully yourself. Or you can get your truck somewhere else, which is what most here would probably recommend.

I have talked to a few SFI customers who are leasing new trucks, and they normally tell me they do like their shiny new trucks, they get good fuel mileage, but making that big truck payment every week is a lot of pressure they wish they didn't have. Sure it's under warranty, but the warranty won't pay for downtime or make the truck payment. And of course it turns a voluntary relationship with Schneider into much more of a commitment compared to having a used truck with smaller payments for a shorter time, or obviously owning one outright.

And just something to think about with the big picture, when Schneider asked me why I didn't want to lease a nice new truck from SFI for 5 years and get better fuel mileage and lower maintenance costs, my answer was that $200,000.00 will buy a lot of fuel and maintenance. Just sayin'
Click to expand...

Nobody pays 800 a week for 5 yrs. The leases are either 1 or 3 years. Yes the combination of truck payment and maintenance account deposit totals around 800 but that doesn't mean that you can't make any money. There is plenty of good paying freight that will allow you to take home a great pay check.

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