Swift Transportation and their Lease Purchase Plan

Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by jakebrake58, Jan 20, 2011.

  1. Allow Me.

    Allow Me. Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    "Their truck, their lease, their rules" and they do the bookeeping ! Yeah like where do I sign up ? :glasses10::smt064:hello1::banghead::smt021
     
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  3. Mike'

    Mike' Medium Load Member

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  4. jakebrake58

    jakebrake58 Light Load Member

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    First off, I went independent for two years, running reefer...did fantastic and was about to add trucks and trailers to my company when the economy went to crap back in August 2008. My revenue got hit hard immediately and went down 25% in August and September. By December I was doing only about 40% of my original revenue and I never stopped running! I had my own customers and never sat. I was hauling LTL seafood out of the Northwest to Boston and then LTL seafood to Florida and then back to the west coast. In February 2009, I wasn't even breaking even and in May I sold my truck and trailer at a small loss. But hey, at least I tried....and I worked my butt off to be successful!

    As far as Swift: When I leased in 2005, there was no "Stipulated Loss Value" on the trucks. And as far as Bob Cunningham goes, I do remember in 2006 he cleaned house in operations across the company and got rid of alot of the sorry folks working there. I don't agree with everything he did but he was trying. I met him in 2006 and had a long conversation about where he wanted to take the company. Anyhow...

    Stranger you are right about the whole finance thing but here is why I'm stating what I am stating. Swift buys trucks in bulk. They buy in groups of 100, 200, 500, etc., and they negotiate the purchase at a discounted price. Specifically, the International Pro Stars, are actually leased from International. Swift leases these trucks at a cost of $83,000 per truck, which is a nice reduction in price per unit, based on the MSRP. Swift then leases to the drivers at the stated value of $102,000 and change. At that rate they are making a $19,000 profit per unit. So when I look at this "Value" that is added to the truck it pisses me off.

    Now, your right; it's their truck, their rules. I don't have a problem with that. But when you are asking someone to pay you 150% more than what the truck actually costs then I have a problem.

    You are all right about me not reading the lease correctly. I admitted that and as I said, if I had caught this before I put pen to paper I wouldn't have done it.

    Injun: don't criticize what you don't know. I had a fantastic driver manager here. She was promoted in December as the new East Coast Owner Operator Recruiter. I switched to Lathrop in December and have a pretty good DM out there as well. But the DMs are at the mercy of the planners just like we are.

    In addition, when I was here in 2005-2007, I was running 15,000 miles a month consistently. I had a few months in 2006 where I ran over 18,000! Don't believe me? I can prove it with my settlements! And that was with not a SINGLE log violation!

    I am a 4 star driver here at Swift. 100% on time throughout my time here. I have never been late and no accidents. I have had one log violation my whole time here. I went over my 14 hour rule by a half hour once. I had the second highest revenue of a solo owner operator in 2006 and got the Safe Driver Award in 2006. I got the belt buckle to prove it!

    I am not disgruntled with Swift. The majority of folks that work here are great people. I have a problem with the lease and I have issue with some of the planners here - in particular the planners in Atlanta and Dallas. Now I am set to run a little over 11,000 miles in January and that is with taking the first five days of the month off.

    I was with the company in 2007. I didn't leave Swift until July 2007. And I HAVE met Jerry Moyes. I have talked with him and Richard Stocking and Chad Killebrew about the owner operator division and what I feel would make the owner operators more beneficial for the company and give us the best possible potential to generate top revenue.

    I don't agree with everything Jerry has put forth since coming back. But I don't hate they guy. I don't like what they did with IEL. I don't think its a fair deal considering that we are busting our rear ends to be successful as owner ops here at Swift.

    And Injun, I run all 48 states. I try to run out west as much as possible. That is why I moved to the Lathrop, California terminal even though I live in Florida. And that is part of my frustration is that the planners are UNWILLING to give up the westerly bound freight to the owner operators. Sometimes they do, but many times it is like pulling teeth. I offer to do locals at the terminal to help out the planners and let them know why I'm helping. I need miles, and as far west as I can get!

    But I'm not down with the struggle here anymore.... if they put the company trucks under forced dispatch and put more of an emphasis on running the owner ops with the better paying freight I might think differently....
     
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  5. jakebrake58

    jakebrake58 Light Load Member

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    Hey Dick Jones, the only reason I decline a load is because of the revenue. I don't turn loads down because of weight, or type of freight....that would be pretty stupid! And I run everywhere all the time! I'm not afraid of the Northwest or the East Coast! I'll hang a chain if need be!
     
  6. DickJones

    DickJones Road Train Member

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    my question is, do you know how much Swift paid for them? If not, this post of yours is irrelevant.
     
  7. DickJones

    DickJones Road Train Member

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    Do you really think they spoke about anything you might have talked to them about, amongst themselves, AFTER your little meeting? You think any "notes" they might have taken went anywhere BUT the circular file??

    fact is, they dont care about you (the driver) they care about making Swift as profitable as possible. If that means claiming their trucks are worth $100k upon lease signing when they're MAYBE worth 25% less, then they make out like a bandit if the truck gets wrecked.......come on. Everything in the lease is deisgned to make them the MOST money that possibly they can.....even at the expense of the driver. So what.....we all signed the lease, so we are telling anybody that we know what we got into.
     
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  8. WMGUY

    WMGUY Road Train Member

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    Nine Mile Falls, WA
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    i don't want to defend swift here but if you signed the lease without reading it and having it looked at by an attorney your SOL in my eyes that is what happens and swift is a bottom feeder company like them love them or hate them that is what it is they have alot of trucks to keep moving and do it on the cheap..

    i never leased a truck from swift but i did run for them with my truck and made ok money for it...

    and NO you don't have to train for them to make money in your own truck or their lease truck!!!!

    just because you can run 72 don't mean you should fuel is a big cost then add in a 500-600 dollar lease payment you need to slow down

    run it like a bussiness and you will be fine but read what you sign people is it really that difficult:biggrin_25513:
     
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  9. Morella

    Morella Road Train Member

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    You never sat, but you lost money? How on earth did you manage that?

    I don't believe it. I really don't want to see your settlements, but DOT might want to see your logs.

    You're getting 11,000 miles in three weeks, in January, and you're complaining that you're not getting good freight?

    I have no idea what point it is you're trying to make, but this all sounds like horse #### to me.
     
    Injun Thanks this.
  10. jbnavy

    jbnavy Bobtail Member

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    May 29, 2010
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    i am a current owner op on a dedicated account through swift. my beef with swift has nothing to do with the lease program.... although it is a scam....
    i signed the contract for percentage pay. a few weeks ago they decided that they messed up and should have put me on mileage pay. so they changed my pay and figured out the difference between what i made and what i "should have" made, and charged me for it. 2500 dollars later and 3 weeks later i finally have broken even. not took home a check, broke even.
     
  11. JimDucan

    JimDucan Medium Load Member

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    I know how much Knight paid for their Prostars. They left a bunch on invoices in the tractors. Pretty sure the deal was about the same.
     
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