The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit brought against New Prime, Inc., by a former driver. But while it began as a legal battle over allegedly unpaid wages, it turned into something completely different.
Dominic Oliveira was a company driver for Prime before he became an owner-operator working for them. After trying their owner-operator program, Oliveira decided to go back to being a company driver. But even after he went back to being an employee of Prime’s, they allegedly continued to deduct money from his paycheck for contractor-related expenses.
In 2014 Oliveira filed a class-action lawsuit against Prime for misclassifying him as an independent contractor, failing to pay his full wages, and breaching their contract. But, like many employees, Oliveira had signed an arbitration agreement that was supposed to force him to settle any disputes with Prime through arbitration rather than through a lawsuit. In fact, according to his contract, Oliveira agreed to arbitrate any dispute he has – even whether or not a dispute should be arbitrated.
Prime challenged the lawsuit, so instead of fighting a battle over his wages, Oliveira was now fighting for the right to file a lawsuit at all. The legal battle kept going until last May when the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Oliveira did indeed have the right to have his case heard in court.
Again, Prime challenged the ruling, and the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case – not over whether or not Oliveira is due back pay, but over whether he and other drivers like him are even allowed to sue for it.
Source: overdrive, courthousenews, scotusblog, courthousenews
The infamous arbritration clause. If these trucking companies engaged in fair business practices they wouldn’t have a need to do that. I hope that the court rules Mr.Oliviera does have a right to sue, it would be interesting to see how similar lawsuits are handled in the future and whether or not a company can prevent a driver from suing.
This is how it is you want a job ? You have to sign that kind of garbage same thing with Panther premium fleet owners some of them don’t even pay you once they know your leaving.
Good deal oliverio. Go for it. These big bottom feeder truck company’s and the scum sucking lawyers think they can walk all over the little guys. Good luck.
The next lawsuit ought to be against the big three fuel stops. Loves, pilot,and TA/PETRO for price gouging. Not fuel but for all the garbage whey sell.we spend millions on fuel every week, maybe tens of millions in fuel and the triple the cost of the products, snacks,clothing,coffee. Yeah those are the next one’s we need to go after. Or maybe just boycott one of them each day.
It’s not illegal to mark up the price of goods and services that people want. That’s what retail is.
You figure out what people want, and charge as much as you think they will pay to make maximum profits.
In what universe should someone be sued for that? The price of pop, chips and candy isn’t regulated, so there’s no violation there.
And if you’re so perturbed by the prices, you are always welcome to shop elsewhere and pack your truck before you leave home. I’m on the road 20 days a month, and I easily spend less than $20/month on truck stop junk food.
I do the same thing ?? If fact Im usually in a Walmart after the end of each trip getting what I need for the next week ?? I can cook a better meal in my truck than I can get in the truckstop n eat for a 1/3d of the cost ??
Doing team driving it’s difficult to cook between rotating shifts.
Barf Green You are a funking TROLL’ if you think that its ok to charge what ever some one will be to some extent forced to pay for a product, you are the problem’
Every one in the industry knows how difficult it is to shop’ when your only transportation is a big truck’ and you have no time left on the clock
thease truck stops know it and f$%k you for it’
GREED GREED GREED service is now just a byproduct of GREED.
That’s always been the way ever since the first barter transaction between two cavepeople. How much did the one need whatever the other had and how much was the one willing to give for it. One slice of meat for 5 skins. And I’m talking about a small slice.
Many were not willing to give anything but they still wanted it so they got a big stick and went and took what they wanted from those who had it originally! Then we supposedly got civilized and agreed to exchange things but we are coming perilously close to being uncivilized again and just taking what we want! Laws require everyone to follow them or nothing works anymore! Mr Trump and these robber baron companies and all of their crooked buddies want us to obey the laws but they are above them! I don’t think so!
You as a consumer have the right not to shop anywhere you want. Obviously you are against capitalism. Move to a different country if you don’t like free enterprise.
If you planned your trips better, you wouldn’t be “stuck” anywhere. You have nobody to blame but yourself, Curt.
You use their parking spaces, showers, bathrooms and other free (?) items. Who do you think has to pay for all the free(?) things you get from truck stops. Your truck parking space requires about 720 square feet of space and this does not account for the space you required to get into this parking spot. In an acre you can park about 30 trucks if you squeeze them tight. Using Ontario, California TA or Petro as an example, the cost of an acre of land in that location is anywhere from 1 to 1.5 million dollars and that is not paved nor graded, just bare weeds and sand. Using a million dollars an acre and 30 trucks per acre it costs the truck stop $33,333 for you to park your truck. Now, who is ripping who off?
Jb with out parking spaces you have no costumers you can’t say that the costumer has to pay for the building and the parking lot that goes with building a business you both make good points but they are to high on some stuff because they know you can’t park that truck any where.
Truck stops are not getting ripped off by Truckers it is the other way around. TA/Petro made 70 percent of their truck stops paid parking after ELD mandate went into effect. Corporate Greed. I dont even buy anything at those truck stops anymore. The only reason I park at TA/Petro is if I have to reserve a spot because I am late night and I refuse to make a spot since that is not a legal parking spot. parking on ramps forget about it. The hardest part of paid parking is nobody checks to make sure someone actually paid before they park there.
It’s called supply and demand. It is a really easy concept to understand.
Your not forced to buy anything just don’t but it
Well told, If you do don’t like th e price, dont buy it. I put a Danish back on the counter yesterday, I am not going to pay 2 dollars plus for junk food. I went to my truck and ate an apple.
I agree. I load out at home after shopping at Walmart. Make meals on the truck save a ton of money. Only ting I buy in truck stop is what I need. I dont even buy their coffee anymore. I don’t know why someone said coffee at TA/Petro. That’s not coffee it is rotgut. reused grounds from Pilot Bean cup would taste better than TA coffee.
Your right!, eg: i bought a tire pressure gauge @ a Wal-Mart. For $12.00 , if you check out the same gauge @ one of those Truck Stops they charge $20.00
Also: a Electric cooler @ a Wal-Mart is $80.00 & @ the Truck Stops the same cooler is $120.00 if thats not a rip off i don’t know what is!!!…….
Or maybe invest 10 minutes and go to WalMart and buy your food/snacks for your time out. They can only take advantage of you if you let them.
It would have been smart to boycott them years ago just by going to the mom and pop truckstops instead. But the big 3 under cut price for the company’s and the little man was washed up! But your right on price gouging has to be stopped and that’s why I buy groceries at my local grocery before I leave out. I try to not buy anything on the road!
I worked for prime from 2012 till 2013. And they indeed screw their drivers at every opportunity.
very true
Gods speed. Trucking slave labor at minimum wage price.
TRUCKING SUCKS!!
Then let’s do something about it
Martin L King. Commented about one person taking the right step to correct a wrong that lead to many changes that benefited mankind. But the step has to be for the right reason. To help others
I Agee however the ruling powers will stop any meaningful attempt. Jimmy Hoffa really did have a committed heart to do whatever it would take to unify Drivers who at that time were easily recognized by the burn scars between their index fingers from cigarettes which burned them if they fell asleep at the wheel! But his attempt was ultimately futile!
All drivers do is complain and threaten each.other with violence over the CB radio!
Jimmy Hoffa didn’t give a damn about uniting drivers past what he could soak them for union dues
Jb with out parking spaces you have no costumers you can’t say that the costumer has to pay for the building and the parking lot that goes with building a business you both make good points but they are to high on some stuff because they know you can’t park that truck any where.
Hawk I agree if you are a driver you are getting screwed by your company the government the dump ass four wheeler and other driver. No one has the the finances to stand up to these corporate greedy people but drivers should be more helpful to each other no matter who should stand together.
How so?
True dat
How can you say that? And you BOZOs waiting on the rest of the nit wits driving trucks you’ll be old and gray before you can get any help or a group to get together on any one thing. Its sad but just sit and look at what’s driving these trucks. Half of them can’t even walk and refuse to wash their a$$. If your out here working for peanuts then go home until you find a decent company. If you can’t then go find something else to do. You guys keep doing these lease purchase deals, you think these companies are just giving you a new truck out of the kindness of their heart? Nope, this gets you to drive THEIR truck and pay ALL of the EXPENSES and RELEASES them from PAYING YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE along with everything else. YOUR ON YOUR OWN OUT HERE. AND A LITTLE ADVICE, DONT TAKE ADVICE FROM ANY TRUCK DRIVER. WELL you need to stay away from the big mouths and know it alls.
Like yourself
Hahaha
What a dill weed.
I take offense to your categorization of “what’s driving these trucks.”
There are bad apples in every industry, and trucking has it’s fair share. But to say “half of them can’t even walk” is just plain not true. Drivers are the backbone of our economy and we’d all go hungry if it wasn’t for their sacrifices. I also take offense to your summation of all lease purchases. We’ve had several owner ops that started as company drivers, completed lease purchases, and now own their own trucks. There are bad trucking companies, bad drivers, and bad shippers and receivers. There are bad parts to everything. But this industry in general is made up of some of the best, hardest working, most genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure to deal with. We should be applauding the good drivers, not putting down the few bad ones. Lead by example, don’t belittle from the sidelines.
Thank you. Have you ever driven a big rig? Have you ever been a company driver? Just wanted to know why the offence.
Plainly spoken.
CUDOS
LOL..look in the mirror!
Good Advice – oh wait….are you a trucker?
I agree, lease options are not a good way to go. Before a driver decides to own they need to understand the industry. Good credit is a must so that they can purchase a truck on their own. Unless they’re a diesel mechanic AND want to wrench on their rig they’re better off buying brand new and paying the extra to warranty up!
Be slave to the payment’ thats just what all corparations want indentured servants ‘ I can tell you with my own authority truck and flatbed maintained and payed for over 10 years that the rates are just not good enough to make giving up any more of my life to the parking lot or the traffic jam’ so the ELDS was the straw for me and not all but a large amount of brokers are the scum of the earth steel cheat and lie to make a buck’ so many take over 20-40% of the load for them selfs all profit while the carrier may if lucky with no trouble may get 10% and does all the work finances the cost and provides the insurance’ theres no up for the small guy any more.
Yeah like you!
I agree with you. I’m new to driving. If they can walk why does all the truck stop parking lots smell like urine? Why do businesses like Walmart refuse to let us park in their parking lots? Why do shippers refuse to let us stay on their property overnight? I’ll tell you why, because most truckers are dirty, lazy and don’t respect other peoples property. I think true professional drivers are few and far between and are the exception not the rule. If this offends you then you’re the one whizzing and god knows what else in the parking lots. If you agree let’s lead by example. As for the lease programs. Remember two people can’t reap the benefits from one truck. Like vegas the house always wins. The profit margin in commodities is around 3 percent. Hardly enough for two owners of one truck.
And when you get tired of paying for their truck they will find another and another and it just keeps going!
Those “Contracts” are similar to The Indentured Servitude Contracts of the 17 and 1800’s… You need to Google The Indentured Servitude contracts from the past…
Remember.. “Indentured Servitude”? Wasn’t Slavery.. Per Se…
So many of these turd companies come to light when it’s much to late. After the wife and children, after the painstaking time spent to build your own business along comes a multi million dollar trucking company with every intention of making sure you get nothing.
I’ve just experienced this with a local port company in Long Beach, California folks and after a few bounced checks to unavoidable deaths(both in the staging yard), an arrogant owner of a family business locking off reserve tanks, employees literally running out of gas on local runs, faulty trucks because of lack of upkeep, watching two tractors burn to the ground and my bank refusing to honor the companies check…I was done.
As drivers we see the signs…..and as humans we either face a fight or flight reaction. Fighting seems to an a natural reaction because you put you hard earned “Swear Equity” into your daily pulls, so you figure you will come out on the other end not being skinned alive…but make no mistakes you as a driver are only a number to them, whether you just graduated or you are a million miler, companies just don’t give a crap the freight must move and if you aren’t rolling with their bullshyt business you my friend are expendable.
But ‘Au Contraire’ you are a professional driver which can do many good things so run fast, and far away and put them in your rear view like a bad client….when you are pulling away from the dock! As drivers we must not confuse the issue at hand…we drive the economy and without us as a value added commodity who move goods day and night we can take that valuable skill set to a decent company who will make life much easier lest we go it alone.
Remember that ! Drive on TRUCKER …..DRIVE ON!
Yeah that’s good advice. I know what’s up it’s not a loyalty think! It’s being professional getting paid and treated reasonably well! I find something better I’m gone!
Finally!!!! Prime has ripped off far too many drivers. They pick favorites and if your not one of them then not only will you not be getting loads they keep you as far away from home as possible. They push the lease program but your not going to succeed unless you train and never go home, not to mention the unrealistic lease payments which means most drivers have to go back to being a company driver. Just look at their facility in Springfield you’ll realize who’s making the money and it’s not the drivers.
This is why there is a trucker shortage, nobody is willing to work for free.
Shortage? I can’t even find parking out here! There’s trucks everywhere. I don’t believe there is a driver shortage. I’ve been driving for 4 weeks on my own and grossed over a thousand a week for three of the four weeks. I know I’m not getting rich but I’m not working for free. I’m an old fart to so you younger guys an gals gotta be making twice what I make. If not then put on your game faces and go get what your worth and stop complaining about not making money. Remember its performance based.
What he should sue for is the right for truckers to have any contract written by trucking companies, be reviewd by the truck driver’s attorney, before any agreement can be finalized by the carrier and the driver!
That is actually the law. The issue is the truck driver doesnot have financial resources to hire a good lawyer who knows how to fight truck companies and protect the driver job
stay a way from prime
To be an o/o you have to have a business mind.
You have to be a truck mechanic. Your wife has to support you 110% above even her family. You have to be a saver not a spender.
In one mth you net $6,000.
Next mth you net $2,000.
Thats $4,000 avg. Save it up. Maintenance maintinance. Set a scedual and keep it. And until the base plate and ifta’s are in your name free and clear. Your just a cheap co. driver pulling the stuff the co. drivers don’t want.
You have that right.
Any one that signs any kind of contract without having an attorney look it over and advise first… Is an idiot. THAT right is already in place.
I’m sure nobody is preventing drivers from having their attorneys review any contracts they sign for anything
That might be true from a legal point but u go somewhere to lease on n tell them u need to take this paperwork to your lawyer n see what their reacation is ??
The truth is most don’t do it. They’re not prevented. They simply don’t do it
Yea they expect us to stay out for a month and be happy with less than 50k a year
Yes Mike. It is called a hustle just like mileage/percentage pay and drivers are ignorant enough to fall for it instead of researching other driver’s experiences and making an informed decision not to work for them.
I agree now let’s do something about this wrong
I agree now let’s go forward with my positive planabout to correct this concern
If you’re on the road for a month at a time and making $50k/annum or less, you’re at the wrong company.
I stay out for 7 days and am allowed up to 5 days at home for every 7 worked. I don’t usually take the full 5 days because I want money more than I want beer. However, when I want to take the month of August off to go globetrotting with my sweetie every summer – nothing gets said.
I earned $50k my first year in the truck, a decade ago at $.30 per mile. Now I’m making $.62 per mile, and run 3600 miles dedicated every 7 days.
The catch? No DUIs, EVER. No tickets for 5 years. Minimum 5 years or 1 million miles verified. No at fault accident for 10 years. No failed drug screens EVER. I have to wear a uniform and lose my safety bonus if I look shabby on the job. No criminal convictions or arrests, EVER. Hazmat qualified. FAST card required, no exceptions. Able to cross the border.
50k a year? Where do u live? Coz here in NJ, we can’t live on a measly 50K a year. Our CDL insurance alone is 6k a month. Then there’s all the other expenses. We NEED to make at least 5k per driver a week. And right now we have 2 drivers working on our Authority. We just got a third driver. We figure we get a few more and we’ll be good. We get 25% from every load they drive. This is the only way i know how to get around the ELD’s and still make money. In the past 3 weeks alone our drivers made about 24k each and that’s AFTER we took our 25%. So they took home 24k in 3 weeks driving for us. No wonder we’ve got tons of ppl beating our doors down wanting to work for us. But we are a small company now, if I take on too many drivers, I won’t have the time to drive. I’ll be too busy booking loads for my guys. I can’t afford to stop driving yet.
This should apply to all contracts with “arbitration” in them. Just because you agree to them, it shouldn’t stop you from a court hearing. They are fighting it because they know that they are wrong, and if they loose, it will open the flood gate. Go get um!
A smart, thoughtful truck driver would never touch the Prime lease purchase deal. It’s a fool’s game. I spent hours looking at their actual agreement at their terminal in Springfield, NO about 18 years ago. It was obvious to me even at that early part of my career it was a bad deal. So heavily weighted in the company’s favor it was stunning. Told them it was not for me, and I left immediately.
Loved the “lease completion incentive”. They give you your maintenance escrow back, and imply it’s some form of bonus. But they never actually call it a bonus. Very slick way of skirting the edges of what is legal.
Also, they use a serious part of that “lease completion bonus” to repair the truck to factory new. Then they sell the truck through their Pedigree Truck and Trailer Sales…..and Prime pockets 100% of the deal. The driver gets a fraction of their Lease Completion Bonus……..but late at night, when it is very quiet….you will often hear that voice of Prime saying….”I love you”!
What I can’t figure out is why these driver’s lease these trucks from prime to start with you are NOT A owner operator you are just a bona fide companie driver with NO benefits AND NO money OH and a slow truck lol
Dont know what you experienced but i did there lease about 4 years ago made good take home money had benefits and paid off my truck i was doing good and i was only out 2 weeks at a time but then i got hurt
No spit…. I can’t understand how it’s even legal to do what they call lease program.
Lease trucks are governed at 65…Company trucks are 58 on the shoe and 62 on the cruise.
These big fleet companies try to get the little guy to lease their equipment so it takes the burden off their backs on maintenance, repairs, and break downs, usually it’s the inexperienced rookie who gets the shaft, and left with holding the bag, then when you fail to fulfill your obligation then the company scoops up the truck and re-sells or re-leases the truck to another unsuspecting victim who didn’t completely understand the agreement or contract, wish this driver well, no telling he might be victorious
Just a stick behind the wheel. Just trying to put a body in a truck.
I don’t understand why someone would lease from a company they are leasing back to.
The company holds all the cards.
Lease or buy from a dealer then lease to a company.
If things go wrong with the company, take your truck elsewhere.
As a former operations employee at Prime, I was disheartened to see good people work HARD and owe the company money on settlement day. Call the ‘lease’ program whatever you will, but in my opinion, the only people benefiting from this program are the owner & upper management of the company. Want to be your own boss and make a liveable wage with a truck? LOOK ELSEWHERE!!
G Jackson Is there anyway we could talk? You could be a huge help D. Oliveira
We need to take it back to Jimmy Hoffa,times all truck drivers must Man Up & get a union. We must “Unite..”
Have u seen that Stallon movie called FIST ?? Thats what we need people n they do this everywhere else except here in the USA ?? No body wants to put a lil effort into this n now we have all these foreign people here driveing ?? Good luck getting them to stand with us n be part of the movement ??
those where the good days i get a very good pension from the teamsters
All of these Trucking Companies will get what is coming to them probably less than Ten years. The current Generation of Drivers that are in their Fifties in age is the last group of truck drivers. Unless they can inport
So called driver’s from other countries there will not be much of a driver’s pool to hire from. Driverless Truck’s, this Country does not have the infrastructure in place for a large scale program such as that. This will be a serious problem for the Country.
Having gone through a similar situation with my former employer Ruan transportation, Atlas Warehouse and Kroger, I can emphatically state if you are in a union, you should be fully aware of your rights. This means read the contract in detail.
In my case the Teamsters Union “did nothing” to support safe working conditions. The union actually represented the main source of violations, (Atlas Warehouse.) I resigned from the Union because one should never pay for something that is not delivered.
The court dismissed my case because of the collective bargaining agreement. There is nothing collective, bargaining or an agreement about a one sided, bias process that favors the party that pays them off. In other words, the union supports the most influential source. In this case, and in mine, the party that is deprived of fair, honest treatment and justice has no rights.
One would decern that treatment in this manner would not be tolerated by our judicial system. This driver was clearly in a different position concerning compensation and Prime acknowledged the change, but wrongfully cheated this individual of correct compensation. Corporations using their own justice system, i.e. arbitration to deprive workers of safety and being properly paid is a travesty.
My case is under appeal with the Administrative law review board. I have not received a final decision. If any attorney is out there that believes all individuals have the right to work in a safe environment, the public should not be subjected to food contamination, and is willing to represent me; contact me. Many of the crimes that are committed in our society today could be prevented. Our civil rights are being taken by powerful corporations and the government that allows it.
Unfortunately in the past 50 years we have moved to the model of “Government of the Corporation, for the Corporation, by the Corporation.”
And we get what we elect. Politicians who argue that corporations are entitled to the same rights as humans, and in many cases, more rights than humans.
Getting my drivers education here let’s say we have these companies sign our contracts before we work together
OTR guys deserve every last cent they can earn. Can’t do it myself. XPO pays me well but treats the drivers poorly. Organizing may be the only solution. Corporate greed has never been higher. Every product you own was on a truck or being pulled by one at one time. Stand up against this crap now or be replaced by automated trucks sooner than you think…..
Myself I think the courts or the government should just out right ban all lease purchases. But it’s not there problem really if someone rather he’s a rookie or a seasoned driver and (yes seasoned drivers do lease purchases also)decides on signing and agreement with any company to lease a truck the only one responsible for him being a idiot is himself you can’t fix stupid. I understand the the desire to own your on truck one day but there’s a right way and a stupid way to accomplish your dreams and leasing a truck is the stupid way. Because the only one who is wins is the company they have absolutely nothing to lose and you have everything to lose. Don’t be there next victim just be happy as a company driver it’s a whole lot easier and in the long run you’re going to make a heck of a lot more money.
Not all lease purchase plans are the same. Bottom feeders like Prime and CR England are among the worst.
John Christner is a little better, but when I calculated everything, it did pay anymore than an average company driving job.
You don’t have to lease purchase your truck through the company you work for either. There are companies like Loan Mountain, and my friend has a truck through them, has his own authority, but pays like $2700 for a truck payment… Plus 1300 a month for a trailer he bought a year later.
He finds his own loads, has his own authority, but he didn’t get to this point overnight. He has 2 more years of payments left.
No way would I want that high of a payment, but at least he isn’t tied to a bottom feeder company like PRIME
I’ve said it before: drivers need government regulations to protect the drivers, not the companies. The companies are abusing drivers and underpaying them because the government ALLOWS them to.
All the other bs with not being able to drive because you’re out of hours; no inspections because you don’t get paid for your time; being given garbage runs or denied work for refusing unsafe equipment/hours of service needs to end. Everything else will fall into place.
The only right way to own a truck is to save money for a down payment, have good credit and go purchase your truck with a bank loan. Or you could pay cash. Remember it’s a cut throat business. Profit margin in commodities is around 3 percent. Run from company lease programs and drive a company truck. Less stressful and you might get some time off being a company driver.
Disagree truckers do have good lawyer defense legal shield is perfect and not expensive if we join and use.
Many of us make decisions long term from the heart. Instead long term(especially a lease) needs logic and yes attorneys help. We have many avenues the low paid driver can afford for legal help.
Unfortunately he is going to lose.
Trucking is exempt from regular labor laws by the federal government..
Therefore there is no such thing as a fair lease.. leasing is a concept created to allow a trucking company to earn money against the onerous taxation and regulation in place now.
Prime is part of a triad of Mormon owned companies Swift, CR England that are the most repressive on wages and worker treatment…
At CR England I had no other choice but you drive on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I drove for a contractor in los angeles and on my final 2 checks i was suppossed to get he tells me that he was not gonna give em to me to pay for a minor fender bendef that supposedly cost him 1300 bucks, so i wrnt to see labor commission and 30 days later got a letter in the mail where hes supposed to pay me 200 bucks for everyday that i was not paid not to exceed 30days plus 1280 and an addditional 600 so do the math…hey prime driver more power to you the hell with these companies misclassifying us also…godspeed!
The ELD law is just another example of government over reach in areas they know NOTHING about.
I am not a government hating conservative but this law is WRONG.
It’s an invasion of privacy and a payday reduction plan.
If warehouses or any company dependent on, on time deliveries don’t want to see late deliveries or even no deliveries due to this law they had better look at the CRAZY restrictions placed on drivers by it.
They would do well to talk to someone IN the drivers seat and see the dangers of driving under the pressure this new law places drivers under.
It’s just another example of lawmakers who know absolutely NOTHING about an industry forcing the drivers to work ny rules that are totly unreasonable.
Think he is gonna lose. They hold all the cards in this card game. Why do people sign those fleeces. Is it desperation, or not having a calculator? Feel sorry for some of them. Like other comments said. When you sign a fleece (slang for lease) you take on the burden of ownership. All prime has now is door signs and fleet insurance. No more workers comp on you, tax issues are on you, health insurance, trk maintenance, plates, the list goes on and on. Very few succeed, dont know %, but figure low. When you give trk back..they clean it up and wait on next victim.
As a 41 year veteran of trucking, (including fleet management & brokerage) I have never understood why someone who wants to be an owner leases from a large company. Granted, it’s not easy to build your own business especially in trucking but there are very few large companies that will help you become their competition. If you really love to drive, find a medium-sized, well-run company that operates in the areas you want to run and enjoy your work. Life is short. Enjoy it.
While drivers fortunate enough to have good credit are quick to say go to a bank, dealership, or lone mountain for a truck rather than Prime or England it is a good theory but not always an option.
Before I was a driver, I was working in an office for subpar wages, in an abusive marriage. My credit totally ruined due to the marriage. I didn’t have family to help and let me tell you government resources are a joke. Prime helped me get out. The opportunity to own a truck with no credit is a blessing for people in certain situations.
I went through their training program and then completed a 3 year lease. I am now in a lease purchase with them and will have my truck paid off in just about a year. I don’t always get great pay and you do get charged for every little thing but when I pay off my truck I can go elsewhere with it. Sure my truck only goes 65 but I can have it turned up when and if I leave Prime. Sure my truck will have almost 400k miles on it when in pay it off but have you looked at the used trucks at lone mountain. Other than paying a fortune for my truck it is comperable to what is on the market used. I also have the blessed knowledge to know what has been done and to know that it has been properly taken care of as far as maintenance and repair. I have a couple more years before my credit is back in shape but Prime isn’t all bad if you manage your money and work hard.
As for fighting for the right to file a lawsuit. God bless this driver. If something isn’t right and you do at first try to get the problem corrected through company channels then the company should not have the right to say you can’t get the court system involved. Nobody in this country should be above the law. I believe that not being able to file a suit infringes on the driver’s consitutional rights.
The only thing that can help so many drivers in so many different job locations is to unionize. I used to be against the union but they can make these companies pay better and give you less crap. They are forced to respect you.
Sadly, no, much of the time they do not. In order to be permitted to participate in collective bargaining, you must give up the right to individual bargaining.
That means that if the union fails to adequately represent you, you have nowhere left to turn. Many unions quickly become union shills, if they weren’t founded that way. Some companies start up as union shops, just to take control of the union from the start.
Unions have become as corrupt as corporations. Which is to say that there are just enough good ones to sustain the bad ones.
Hawk I agree if you are a driver you are getting screwed by your company the government the dump ass four wheeler and other driver. No one has the the finances to stand up to these corporate greedy people but drivers should be more helpful to each other no matter who should stand together.
Company Leases are a scam. At the OTR company I started with they pushed their lease program beginning at orientation and more or less advertised it as “being a REAL trucker! The newbies who fell for that line were usually the most obnoxious!
A couple of things about our lease plan really stuck out at being the worst being the fact that there was still forced to dispatch! Let me tell you something, “if you are under force dispatch you are not an owner operator!”
I was smart enough to not ever sign the lease but at least thought about it! When I would make it through our company is terminals I would talk to drivers who had fallen for the trap and they all said the same thing!
It was an awful deal!
I also bumped into many former owner operators through the lease program and they all said the same thing too! The closer you get to the end of your lease the more the company tries to Starve you out!
They have no incentive to let you finish that lease!
As you get closer to fulfilling the lease requirements they start looking for anyway to kick you out of it! Yes, if you read the contract, there are many ways the company can forcibly remove you from the lease and keep the truck! Half times they not only keep the truck but all the money you have invested in it! Also it’s possible that the maintenance money you’ve been putting aside will be lost! Read the fine print in the agreement! Everything is geared towards the company!
The thing anybody considering a lease should understand is the company has no incentive to let you finish the agreement and give you the truck! It is to their advantage for you to walk away at some point so they can turn around, take your truck and do the same thing to someone else with the same truck and lease agreement that you just walked away from! They can contractually remove you from the lease or they can starve you out! Either way you lose!
Never forget this statement;
IF YOU ARE UNDER FORCED DISPATCH YOU ARE
NOT
NOT
NOT
AN OWNER OPERATOR!
Run away as fast as you can before you do something stupid!
If you have exactly one customer, and you are not allowed to take work from anyone but that customer, you are not in business for yoyrself; you’re an employee.
I can’t believe that people don’t understand why people takeep leases. It’s not complicated. Most new truck drivers, today, didn’t actually ever want to be truck drivers. They go into this business out of desperation. They are broke, not otherwise employable, sometimes homeless, and the company strings them along through “training”, until they can no longer afford to say “no” to anything.
Look, when your kids are hungry and the power has been shut off at your home, and you haven’t paid the rent in two months, and the car has already been repossessed, and your wife is talking to her parents about leaving you – or you already owe back child support, and the district attorney is talking about suspending your license and making you serve jail time…
When this is your situation, and your carrier tells you that it will be a month before a company truck becomes available – or you can lease, and we can get you out there making money, tomorrow – you really don’t have a choice. Yes, everyone knows that the lease is a bad deal, giving the company all the power. But no one submits to the jail shower rapist, thinking that they are getting an orgasm, either. It’s about self-preservation, and it’s no different when people get started in trucking. Just enough people get through it okay, to make the rest see some faint hope that none of their other alternatives offer, so they risk exposure to Big Bubba Trucking, Inc., in that faint hope that they will be one of the lucky ones.
Most get reamed. Some manage to make it in the prison gang/workplace, after the reaming. Many wind up as cannon fodder or… in less savory roles… Some get out. Seriously, it’s just like being a prisoner. Most drivers become drivers, these days, because they are out of options. They don’t really have a choice. Call them “idiots” if you must, but when the automated trucks roll into this industry, what will *you* do to keep paying the mortgage and car payment, so your kids can live indoors, and eat food from the grocery store? How long will it take before *you* get desperate enough to have to choose between bad deals and disasters?
It can happen to any of us, and probably did, already, at some point, for you to be in this business, now. Don’t go getting all high and mighty because you stand at the top of the latrine, now. The bottom isn’t that far away.
So true, I met so many of the people described.
Prime doesn’t even pay practical miles. When asked, they said they pay by ” home movers ” guide. That alone should tell these desperate hoping to be owner operators. Then at the end of the lease, they have to either just give the truck back to Prime and get a new lease on another one, or get a loan from a bank and pay Prime for what the “full price ” of what the truck is still worth at that time. TOTAL SCAM!!!!
Worked for prime 17 years ago glad to see they have not changed still as scummy as ever. This was my favorite thing, they had there own hotel full of truck drivers every Monday for oreientation, kinda tells you what kind of truck driving company they were back then will take everything you have and convince you you are going to be successful like there same five or six drivers who they spoon feed loads to, and can say these drivers did it. WHAT CRIMINALS
I did a lease purchase with Hub Group and I had no problem. Their contract was pretty straight and to the point. There was no playing with words. I didn’t get a lawyer to look at it but I read it myself and anything I didn’t understand clearly I called free legal aid for my state and the state where I purchased the truck and asked my questions. They had alot of options too. I had a balloon payment in the end but you were offered an option to take out an amount you want to take out and set in an interest bearing account. At the end of lease I got $4500 back after my $5000 balloon payment was paid. Hub did require a $1000 maintenance escrow while under a lease but after the lease you can be refunded the money no questions asked or you can transfer it to a interest bearing maintenance account. I had no issues my weekly note was $315 including $50 for the balloon payment. It’s cheaper to buy your own plates but you do have that option. I see alot of negativity in the comments when I read any story on here. If you can’t spew positivity then keep the negativity to yourself as well. Lease purchase can be a good thing but you have to read and comprehend what you’ve read. If you don’t understand ask questions to a lawyer preferably a laywer that know truck law. In the end you have to do what’s best for you and if not don’t sign.
Yeah… It’s nice to hear that there has been at least one good experience out there, but you don’t get the right to tell the people with negative experiences, to shut up. Yours is not the only point of view, and if negative experience can’t be shared, then it can’t be learned from, and it will almost certainly be repeated. If that’s what you want, then you didn’t deserve your positive experience.
If you can’t handle the negativity, then stop listening/reading. Suitable consequences will almost certainly follow from ignoring the warnings. You haven’t the right to silence anyone, and it is condescending of you, to suggest otherwise.
Well, call me double stupid. I have leased 2 trucks from Dart Transit, and I found them to be fair and honest. What the drivers don’t tell you, is how they took the truck home, and stayed. I guess they thought that the truck payments stop when they do. Leasing is not for everyone, and everyone cannot mentally qualify for a program. I sent my contract on my first truck to OOIDA and they said it looked good. I didn’t take the Liability insurance from Dart, but found outside prices better. No leasing is not for the steering wheel holders.. I looked at Prime ( started by a former Trucker) and saw they were not the one for me. In addition, I did not have great credit, and no money to invest as a down payment. I JUST WANTED TO GET MY FOOT IN THE DOOR.
As we speak, I own both trucks, it took me 15 years, but if I hadn’t , I would still be driving. I have nothing but praise for the Oren family, who still run Dart and not an insurance company.
Well said, Archie. Not that I think Dart has a great program where ICs can make a ton, but it is a fair program with some plusses to their program that you just won’t find everywhere. If someone wants to know if a program is fair, find out what the turnover (failure) rate is. If it’s really high, steer clear. If it’s reasonable, make sure you understand the program and that it should be a good fit for you. Thankfully, we all have different wants, needs and priorities so some programs that will work for me, may not be ideal for you. With today’s market, ICs should be able to net well over $60k per year (there are plenty who net over $100k), but you have to be contracted to a carrier where that’s realistic.
This is the day and age of no personal responsibility. Everyone just signs any contract in front of them knowing that if it doesn’t go the way they want, they’ll just sure the other party.
This is also the day and age where one party writes the contract, establishes the circumstances under which it will be presented to the other party, and uses those circumstances to manipulate the other party. In the rare cases in which those tactics fail, they learn from their mistakes, reset the trap, and try again with the next one, until they succeed. At no point are they held individually responsible for trying to trap victims, in the first place.
Individual responsibility is a thing, yes. So is corporate responsibility. The latter is a harder thing to find, since individual irresponsibility comes with consequences accruing to the individual, and corporate irresponsibility comes only with consequences accruing to the corporation. Corporations are formed for the express purpose to distancing the individuals who make up the corporation, from being individually responsible for their behavior. So do you really think that it is fair to hold one party individually responsible, but not the other?
Is any contract likely to be fair when one party writes it, and controls the circumstances of the signing – and the other party can only sign or reject – not edit? Doesn’t that makes the latter party little more than a supplicant? A beggar? Do you really think that’s how employment contracts should work?
Doesn’t that remind you of biblical stories about contracts with the Devil?
Yeah…lets you and i draw up an agreement to Rob a Bank. When you get caught and are facing the Judge, you can point to the contract and say ‘Reggie made me do it…i was bound by contract’……
Every time i go by the Prime yard in Springfield i get on the radio and say
If it’s too good to be true…it ain’t true
Can’t buy a truck for 1 dollar down
Call OOIDA before you sign
You’re not REALLY an owner op if your truck does 63…youre told where to pick up…unload…buy tires and fuel and if you need permission to go home
I do that in Olathe at Trans Am as well
Trans Am…too stupid for radios…Prime…they cuss me out and start bragging in another Magic UNICORN day they’ll own a second truck and faeries will fill the air with flowers.
You hit on it Driver! INSURANCE companies RULE this industry and their LAWYERS!
Sad but oh so true. We pay an exuberant amount of insurance and we have no other choice. Sometimes I sit and think “how is this all legal”? But it is.
Wow you all are out in left field on this one……..
The courts are deciding if he can even legally file a lawsuit against Prime because part of his contract included an arbitration agreement.
He has to fight for the ability to take them to court over the breached contract.
Drivers sign lease agreements because they are lied to. I use to think you could trust what the companies told you, I know better now. Hard and expensive lesson learned.
All drivers, whether O/Os ir company drivers are soon to get screwed by big CorpaTruck Companies. They soon will be replacing tbeir diesel fleets with electric autonomous vehicles while the rest are stuck with outdated diesels. Electric trucks can pull grades at tne same speeds as cars since they really arent limited by the narrow torque power range of diesels. That means diesel owners will soon be out of business.
Gonna be a lot of bankruptcies.
Yeah the future is coming faster than any of us expected. Autonomous trucks will replace us all. And if u think u can buy one of those trucks, think again. You’d never be able to afford it. Try Millions of dollars per truck. They’re saying it’s gonna happen in the next 10-20 yrs. We are hoping to make our money before then and get out of this business. Put our money into real estate. There is no future for us truck drivers. You can not stop technology. There are going to be millions of ppl out on the streets, starving, desperate. No jobs available. Most jobs will be taken over by robots. Get ready for it. It’s coming. And ppl out of work means nobody is paying taxes so the government will be shut down. So no government help. It will be complete CHAOS. It truly will be the rich vs the poor. Exactly as they’ve planned it. Getting rid of the middle class, the working stiff, the small business owner. It’s coming. I pray I won’t be here to live thru it. But I’m not that old, so I will most likely be around to see the horror that’s coming in our country. And all over the world actually. The future is very grim. It’s inevitable.
Those big companies have the government under their payroll, they are not under any regulations, they do whatever they want to their drivers. and nothing you can do. 99% of regulations out there are to the drivers.You signed a lease purchased agreement that contain 4 pages, when you take them to court they have 12 pages with stipulations you never heard or received. You are the stupid looser.
If WE the truck drivers all together stop for driving for at least a week we might get a chance for some respect/pay. But this idea is just a dream.
I have been looking at this trucking for a job, and after very close consideration, and all the studying i have done, all i have to say is to hell with trucking. . I can do better. I see now its not for me. But good luck to all you other truckers out there. May god be with you all and safe travels.
The problem with most of y’all who get into this lease program thru your company!! READ YOUR CONTRACT before you sign anything!!! Even if you gots to get a lawyer of your own involved…..do it. These contracts are meant to screw the driver over and help benefit the company by protecting them!! That’s why they will never go over the detail parts of their contract… they just want you to hurry up and sign it. Then your screwed!!!
If I could get all unpaid wages for all the years I’ve been driving I could probably retire early.
I can go back to 1985 I started as a company driver, then to lease purchase.
It’s a no win situation you drive your butt off to make revenue.
( 2 log books)
Only to have them steal your money.
Nothing has changed about Prime.
Arbitration clauses should be looked at long and hard by the Supreme Court, they force a person into a situation where they don’t even have the right to question a bad employer. It is skewed too far toward the employer!
Get organized. I asked about a job in Waco.Not enough experience.They recommended Prime or JB Hunt.
Prime…and transom what a joke…if these lease to own or lease was worth anything good there would be a waiting line for one..Don’t be fooled by wolf in sheeps clothing…
They said their insurance company decides who they can hire.I have no tickets,no dwi,no record. Have a class A license ,three years local experience.But I am 62 years old and inquired in person.Rather hire young drivers willing to work for peanuts.
Its how they get you to become an indentured servant.. its ok for them to optimistically describe the company and over exxagerate how neww state of the art their equp is but any little f up you do is made into a court case to make you feel like your on thin ice so you become weary of complaining
Clearly this is a one of the bad companies to work for, if stealing money from your drivers is the only way to make a profit – then they should not be in business.
Spread the word and tell every driver you know not to work for them.
If they have no drivers then they can’t steal from them.
Nothing will ever change until truckers unite together and force the law makers to recognize the injustices and unethical practices that are taking place in the industry. The laws we have in place today are specifically crafted by lobbiests and attorneys on the payrolls for the major players that employee the majority of drivers on the road today. Money drives legislature and the specific examples of this are as countless as the stars and have been felt and realized by just about everyone employed as a professional driver.
Having said that it is truckers them selves that are their own biggest obstacle when it comes to making any meaningful/beneficial changes to the profession as far how they are treated and the compensation that is received for their services.
They won’t see or realize the power they have as a whole continually failing to organize and are constantly bickering amongst themselves. It’s this division amongst ourselves that gives them the power and ability to manipulate.
It’s real simple, our economy fails without truck drivers, everything retail happens because of a truck.
Are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to get your voices heard?
That’s why you read everything you sign it takes me one day to read all that paperwork most truck drivers don’t know how to read or are too lazy either way it’s your fault
So much abuse in the trucking industry. JB Hunt put false information on my DAC report and I had to hire a lawyer to get it corrected. These companies need more regulation to protect the drivers.
Do research, prime has all ways done it like this. Hell once you get to the last year of the lease they start starving you so u have to spend the money you set aside for the balloon payment at end of lease and then you have to renew the lease instead of paying off truck and leaving to a better company.
I’m not optimistic for the driver’s chances with the Supreme Court. The conservative justices have a majority and they seem to favor the big company over the individual driver. In his last judicial appointment before being named to the Supreme Court, Gorsuch ruled against a driver who was fired for leaving his trailer to get out of sub zero temps. His tractor heat was not working and after waiting hours for roadside repair to show up for something like locked brakes, he drove to a truck stop because he was feeling numb and hypothermia. Gorsuch of course ruled in favor of the company.
If you don’t sign the so called agreement then you don’t get hired! They the company does not give you a choice! I will not go to work for any company that makes you sign the agreement! All it does is protects the company butt!!!
if arbitration clauses are upheld why would these snakes bother going by the contract? who oversees the arbitrations? some prime lackey?
Careful what u wish for… Out of business truck stops mean electric trucks have reached a number in service that makes selling diesel en mass simply unprofitable as electric trucks may need it for an apu or refer only, until they too are engineered for electric power only. Electric trucks are by nature 100% drive by wire, brakes and all. No transmission, no fuel tanks full of fuel, no alarms for clogged def filter, no massive engine block, head, injectors, no anything associated with a combustion engine, no exhaust, egr, oh… And no driver.
This is what happens when you don’t have A Union to protect you…
You become Easy Prey to every company that wants to take advantage
of your Ignorance..
Example: This Guy Dominic Oliveira? May loose his case for back pay…
If? He used his own Tractor to Pull for PRIME, And PRIME Paid for
ANYTHING To keep the Tractor Moving…
Be it Fuel, Or Tires, Or Any Type Repairs.. Because The Second They Paid
FOR ANYTHING ON ((HIS TRACTOR))? That Made Him A Contractor.. NOT
AN EMPLOYEE…
Prime isn’t responsible to make repairs, Or Buy Fuel for someone’s Privately
Owned Tractor… One CAN NOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS…
Huhuhuhu the old lease purchase. They get a 50,000,000 dollar line of credit from freightliner or whoever then order 500 trucks that would cost you or me 90,000.00 and get them for 45,000.00 because they bought so many, use it for 4 or 5 years in the company fleet,make a bunch of money with it then lease purchase it to you for 50,000.00.WHAT A DEAL!! but that’s not enough. They pay some lazy button pusher to figure out every way imaginable to beat you out of every penny possible. Thank God I’m no longer a part of that dead end industry. It only took a couple of years to figure out why 95% turnover rate and have to utilize recruiters to con people into taking the bait.I started driving by the hour for a company that doesn’t need recruiters because people are looking for them not the other way around. If I sat for six hours getting a tire fixed I was getting paid. I drove slower rather than faster and made more money than ever. Then a lucrative contract came up with the same co.,my dad bought my first 379 brand new for my birthday and the rest is history.been making money home almost every night ever since. People just need to do the math.numbers don’t lie. If you worked 100 hours for 1,000 dollars away from home then you made 10 bucks an hour any way you slice it. Less than walk mart huhuhu.and they go home every night. And if they breached the contract any subsequent agreement should be null u void. So take them to court.sounds to me like another Mexican trying to take Americans job and it backfired. Huhuhuhu welcome to America!!!
Guys guys. Please. Let’s not be the problem here. We don’t need to argue. Some of you don’t use the stores in the truck stops and some do. Don’t call each other names because each one lives different. If u can organize a boycott, then do it. If people go along then it is needed. For heavens sake fellows we’re all just trying to do the best we can
” Let the buyer beware” Eco 101. Barf yes the company can charge what it wants, do what it wants but it needs to be reasonable. Excessive and gouging is not appropriate and is against the law. Fraud and Abuse. Yes this follows under “abuse”. Lets take advantage of the poor uneducated truck driver who does not have a law degree and in all probability cannot afford a lawyer. Besides he wants a job and the company knows that. That is what is abusive. Shame of Prime.
So what does this mean for past lease operators with prime? Do we have to wait to sign up for the class action?
AND…’by law’ you are NOT independent contractor if you are forced to work for 1 company exclusively….PERIOD. These companies have been getting away with murder for decades….!!!!
“National Truck Driver Stike and Standown” December 1st to December 20th 2019. Just in time for the Christmas and the ELD Mandate. Let your employer know right now you’ll be taking at least one week off during this December event, due to burnout. You can then hang out at home and watch TV as the Government and Corporations duke it out trying to force drivers to drive, as the nation starves. GodSpeed to Truckers, we got this. Flyers will be posted at EVERY truck stop in America…if the flyers get removed (TA , PETRO, LOVES and Pilot have been removing the 2019 Driver Strike flyers because they are afraid of losing fuel sales during a strike, word of mouth WILL be our best Paul Revere moment. Send letters to all your trucker friends and company drivers…request as much of this time off as possible: 12/1/2019 to 12/20/2019. DC’s tell your employer you want to work on Christmas day, but you need to be off prior to the holiday. Trick them for the time off. This will be the largest trucking strike since the 1970’s. REMEMBER DECEMBER 1st to 20th this year! Call in sick…if need be, just dont get caught driving, unless you’re on the national pump blocking team!!!! God Bless America, God Bless Our USA.
I DON’T THINK ANY DRIVERS should be made to buy a truck to work for a company. That’s what I’ve been been told by some Prime Drivers.
i am a Prime lease operator. I’m hoping someone has just made a mistake in my settlement. As it stands, I have been charged over $6000 plus $1000 for the deductible after a very minor accident for repairs Prime DID. WHY? It’s an insurance claim! No one seems to want to answer that question. By the way, just a tight dock at night and the deer guard hooked a concrete/steel pole which did a little front end damage. Anyhow. I dead headed into Springfield because I trusted them to take care of this correctly. Now, I’m worried. If someone doesn’t correct this billing, guess I’ll just have to give them back their truck and they can sue me. At that point, I believe they waive their right to arbitration and I will counter sue. This is not the first abuse, but I needed this job and I was afraid to speak up. But, if this is not corrected, I will have little choice.