wanting to become an IC with Schneider

Man when I worked there the if was braging how good sni had taken care of him and how he is able to make 4000 a week

 

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'

 

I assume their used KW's and Petes have never been company trucks while their orange Freightliners obviously have. As far as SFI, I've heard both good and bad, but the bad stories I've heard seem to all be from someone getting a bad truck, which is the same risk you would be taking if you get one anywhere else.

As far as the choice program, that's the reason I'm with Schneider. I do assume it will be at the top of Schneider's chopping block if freight dries up, but it doesn't look like that will happen any time soon. In the meantime I enjoy the flexibility. If you want to run hard, it's a big job being your own driver, dispatcher, and truck owner, though.

 

My understanding is that the Choice program would be similar to what you might experience with Landstar, so I called them about it, but as I'm just an owner and not a driver, I would have had to go to the mileage program...choice is available only for owner/operators. That $800 a week someone mentioned for a new truck...over 5 years? $208,000 if that is the case....IF you want a new truck and able to buy one elsewhere, seems that would be the thing to do...would think a lot of guys pay that $800 a week for a while and then for whatever reason never end up with the truck, just a lot of
-$800's listed on their paychecks.

 

Would it be better to go to the bank and pull your own loan and just pick whatever truck you want? If you gotta dispatch yourself, be your mechanic, and have a company piggy back off all the work you do. Do they have other incentives if you sign up with them or is this just the path that most travel now? It just seems a little lopsided, they are having the individual take all the high risk with very low reward. But maybe there's more reward then meets the eye? I've pulled success numbers on this route and they are actually very poor. It just seems like a bad business model. But who knows

 

Lots of threads about how these lease programs benefit the company, not the o/o.

 

My personal opinion is that a new truck isn't worth it. But it has nothing to do with Schneider's choice program, it's 65% of linehaul revenue plus 100% of fuel surcharge, detention, etc, so the program itself isn't really lopsided for a power only deal. And that choice program has nothing to do with where you get your truck. They do have requirements for fifth wheel height, wheel base, etc, but you can get a truck anywhere you want, as long as it passes muster.

As far as getting a new truck, I wouldn't do it, but it has nothing to do with SFI, I just don't want a big truck payment taking half my profit.

And I think that $800/week is for them to get you a new Pete or KW and have an APU installed. A Freightliner would probably be less. But for $800/week, you could get a good used truck and have it paid off in a year, assuming it's not a lemon.