L/P. Bad idea?

They have their own trucks full to capacity with drivers paid on a W2 who have benefits. Lease purchase drivers are 1099's who can more easily be hired or cut as needed. If they get a little bump in business they can use LP drivers then when or if it drops off back to normal they can starve out or fire LP drivers.

 

The costs you are obligated to pay are legally binding on you whether you drive or not. The trucking company is not obligated to give you any miles by which you earn money to pay those costs. Lease-Purchase is a way for a company to shift all of the financial risk onto the sucker with big dreams but it obligates the trucking company to almost nothing. Unless you personally know of current working drivers operating for at least the 2nd year under this agreement and they are putting money in the bank AND HAVE PAID ALL OF THEIR TAXES TO THE IRS, you are considering biting down hard on a shiny piece of fish bait. Don't do it.

 

Those numbers are insane. You are essentially buying a job and paying for everything at an inflated cost.

 

You can't worry more about those 100 drivers. You can only decide for you. Say no, don't consider it for 1 second after that. MOST 1st time L-P guys hang around with the "fish" that are about to sign up, and the "fish" that just signed up but haven't realized they are going bankrupt, long enough that the deal starts to FEEL possibly OK. Then they sign up and jump off the cliff thinking if they just claim they didn't know jumping off of the cliff was dangerous they won't have to face the IRS or bankruptcy judge or family when it gets really bad. Go get a company job and stop considering L-P. If something keeps you from getting a company job work on getting that fixed. The pay on a company job is all profit.

 

People volunteer to get ripped off every day of the year. Many of them think if they just wallow in the sadness of losing over and over again then odds guarantee they will eventually hit the jackpot. If people keep doing the wrong thing they will keep getting the bad outcomes.

 

Good.
L-P is only good if you know VERY WELL the details of the deal, the trucking company offering the deal, and have known them long enough to see it work with your own eyes and drivers will show you their records that prove it works. I worked for a L-P outfit as a company driver because I only knew it looked OK and I trusted one guy that told me about it. That wasn't enough for me to sign up and pay those bills. But they did pay me mileage and they did do what they said, 100%. The trucking company used their business credit to get brand new KWs from the dealership on a Full Maintenance Lease. Every bit of maintenance except washer fluid and road hazards were covered by the dealership. You could walk away for any reason, provided you gave more than 30 days notice before the next lease payment was due. Guys made money, walked away as described, everything proved their offer was exactly how they described it. I was working for them before I had enough time to do thorough research into their deal. They needed a reliable driver by next Tuesday and everyone involved was honest and considerate. There are some deals like that. But a driver needs to find those people/companies with those deals and do the research to verify the details are true. 99% of L-P guys are desperately broke, need a paycheck tomorrow or they are homeless, have terrible credit, terrible job history, and desperate to believe any con-man that talks to them.

 

You were smart to ask here instead of falling for their predatory trap. They don't call them, "fleace purchase" for nothing.

 

I was a L/P for the Schneider Choice program and was quite successful. A lot of success/failure falls on the shoulders of the lessor....at least at Schneider anyway. Run as hard as you want as much as you want. No dispatcher, it's on you.
I would NEVER lease on to someone that chose my loads or my route. That's just crazy.
If you want to do the L/P thing, I highly recommend Schneider Choice.
Good luck