Sammons trucking L/P. The good, the bad, and the fine print.

Ok, so here it is my current experience with Sammons and their lease purchase program. I am a driver. I don't see many post about them so thought I'd drop my 2 cents. First of all I'll break down the pay because that is usually the first question that comes up. Now sammons boast a 26% take home reguardless, while this is true the fine print here is 26%of what's left. You are paid last sammons is paid second after fuel surcharge. So I'll use my numbers from last week to give you the breakbdown. I book my own freight so I get 28% of what's left. All my loads were booked as all in flat rates.

$5375.00 line haul
$ 481.93 FSC (fine print alert) sammons takes the national average FSC and multiplies that against your loaded miles then subtracts it from your linehaul. So it's linehaul - FSC here. They do not give it to you they create it for you.
So to figure pay here it is:
5375.00-481.93= 4893.07 total LH
4893.07x.75= 3669.80 "your cut"
3669.80x.28= 1027.54 "your pay before taxes"
You pay sammons $1223.267
You take home $1027.54
Your truck gets $2642.26 (payments, taxes, fuel, ect. Ect.)
Miles ran 3468÷1027.267= .296 cpm to me
3468÷1223.267= .352 cpm to sammons
So as far as pay goes, last week was not so bad. But my 28% pay was lower than Sammons 25%. But this is what happens when you are paid last. I will say that next to the truck getting 72%, I pay sammons more weekly than I spend in fuel. Not too mention you pay maintenance on their trailers through "rent". I have no option to buy a trailer unless through an outside source, don't really like it. If I'm forced to pay I would at least like to have a choice in what I pull.. Not a fan of voluntold.
Trucks, here's the skinny. If you're a company driver right now next time you are at a terminal go and find all the trucks that your company is getting rid of. 500 thousand mile+ trucks headed to an auction. That's what you get. And as far as choice goes, good luck. I had one truck to choose from that I did not want but had to have my name on before going to orientation. Of which I'm having Hella problems with now... I know I know, red flags. Not to mention when you show up a trailer is already attached and you get whatever securement comes with it, they'll just fill in what's missing.... and charge you for it at 12%. I got 2 lumber tarps that were froze to my deck and when I asked for new ones was told that those "just came out" of the tarp shop. Ok sure, luckily I had my own tarps at home.. We'll just say those looked like turkey shoot targets.. anyway moving on, you get a chain rack/headache rack for your 10 chains and binders. So you get to strap those nice high dollar tarps to your deck. Which I must say is a complete blast moving them around to accommodate freight. Fun times.. you get 10 4" straps 2 4" chain straps.(oh and I got the ones with no chain end, just the the little metal triangle, yay) I asked the maintenance guy (his name rhymes with ron) what am I'm supposed to do with those, he looked and said, "just use your chain".. sweet, so I'll hook a 20' chain to a 30' strap. Sounds legit. And you get 2 2" ratchet binders (which I use to keep all my goodies strapped to my deck). Now don't get discouraged, they will provide you all the extras you need on the road at cost plus 12% interest. Well, except load levelers. "We don't buy those over the road" as it was politely said to me..
Moving on. Here's what you won't find on the Ole interweb. The loan for your truck. There is no minimal monthly payment. So for all you smart guys trying use conventional wisdom from past experience with a loan, throw it out the window and grab a can of WTF.. I've asked over and over and will not get a straight answer about it. You run freight and at the end of the month they'll tell you what you paid to your truck. Sounds good right, well let's talk about that loan... It's an open loan. See, since you don't have a maintenance account or escrow, that goes on your loan. And not the back of the loan, the front of your loan. So anytime you need major repairs guess what your not doing, that's right boys and girls paying on your truck. Oh, and you get repairs plus 12%. So once you pay for your repair then you get to start paying for your truck again. Are you just falling in love yet? I'm getting wood just typing all this up. Oh, don't think you get to just roll up to any shop and get fixed what needs to be fixed. They want you to go to a shop they recommend and then cut you out of the repair process.
So here's the bottom line
The good: you can pay a truck off fast if you have some kind of work ethic. Granted your truck holds together. And you won't go negative ever. But start slacking or not meet their expected numbers, get ready for the phone to start ringing
The bad: if you have any kind of bills at home, sell that crap or be prepared to lose some of it. Take home pay is not a priority here. You get what you get and either like or fall into "our program isn't for everyone"
The fine print: an open ended loan with no control except for choosing your freight. No set payment schedule, no defined payoff date, and a lot of questions. But keep those to yourself or again, your phone starts ringing.

So is sammons for everyone? No
Is sammons for me? It's a means to an end right now
Can you successfully buy a truck? Yes, but will have very little value once owned
Take what you will from this. And please note that individual experiences may vary and void where prohibited.

 

It's comes dry at that

 

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Well the post relations to numbers was strictly to help people figure out take home pay. But I used my personal numbers. And yeah, I'd rather keep freight on my deck and moving instead of waiting on home run loads. Experience has taught me more often than not, that waiting for the right paying load can hurt more than it helps. But that's my experience. And my choice. I just like to stay moving. And in reality everything minus my 28% goes to sammons. It's a way for them to assure fuel payment. It's their fuel card after all. And I'm sure if I was running their freight that would be factored in to their contract as rate + FSC. But I broker my own therfore creating a rate - FSC situation.
Looking at the numbers as a whole, while it does bring the the overall average up, but the bottom line is still the same.
And this is not my first rodeo with a lease, and not new to trucking. And like all leases, it's geared toward the company. But I did say, "if you have any kind of work ethic, you can buy a truck". The trick is keeping maintenance low, because it does stop you paying for your truck. And the take home just doesn't really allow you to save personally to offset their 12% interest.