Get paid .92cpm or a percentage?

According to the last PM I recieved from DICK... He doesn't want anyones advise or opinions. He obviously is one of these truckers who really truely knows everything. H

He just wants everyone to tell him that he is doing the right thing. I don't believe he is. And I believe he will fail terribly if he doesn't do his investigating with people through-out the industry. He is only talking to Swift Leases who believe they know everything as well... So why even start a thread asking questions if you don't want to accept the answers?

Anyhow DICK, I to was just like you at one time. 2 years exp. & thought I knew everything. Wouldn't listen to what others were telling me & I leased a truck through a company lease program.

6 months later I failed. Just as I presume you will unless you take the time to educate yourself with the O/O side of the industry. There in more to it then just signing your name to a peice of paper & driving away...

But you will learn the hard way. I am now done with this thread & all your other posts since you think everyone is against you, Dick!

 

Okay, this is a copy of my answer in another thread to the same question, but very relevant here too:

I ran percentage for Prime. It was 72% of line haul and toll pay to the truck. (Prime picked up 28% of all tolls, so kept back 28% when it was included in the rate.) 100% of all fuel surcharge went to the truck as well as any lumper pay collected from the customer, because those are driver expenses.

I lost my #*$.

Not because I wasn't running, but because I was at the mercy of the contracts between Prime and the customers...and had no hand in the negotiations.

I'm doing a zillion times better with Swift on a cpm basis, it's way more steady and I don't have to continually worry about whether the next load is going to sink my whole week.

As Redd indicated above and others have said, the potential is higher on percentage pay. If you want to see what loads are paying average throughout the industry, get a trial membership to some load board like....GetLoaded...and check it out for a month. Get honest averages for yourself as to what the brokers are offering. In most cases, they are offering about 80% of total revenue from the load. So do the math yourself and see which would work better in the areas you plan to run. Even check areas you don't plan to run. Make sure you're looking at freight you will likely be hauling. You've been with Swift long enough to know what the usual stuff is.

So:take the revenue offered by the broker and divide it by .80. This will give you the approximate full amount for that load. Then multiply it by .65...which is what Swift is offering. Keep in mind that in most cases, a broker lists a rate that already includes a fuel surcharge, so you will have to add whatever Swift is offering that week. Make sure you include deadhead miles to each load. It's mileage and counts against the revenue. See for yourself which of 92cpm + FSC loaded/81cpm deadhead or 65% is the better deal.

 

It's not finished.

I will make not one single comment after this sentence regarding your past statements regarding leased trucks and the drivers inside them.

I will say that if you want vinyl work done, go see "Pops" at the T/A near the Denver terminal. I have already given him the design of the "new" Swift logo. The door design and the final stuff yet to be placed on my truck are exclusively my property, as is the name Taiowa Transportation and the name Many Paths. However, IEL will allow and even encourage you to customize the look of your truck. Pops does nice work for a decent price and will do custom decals, as my truck shows.

The best place to find a large variety of chrome is Iowa 80, but you will pay a premium price for the convenience. Another good shop is that one across from the T/A in Greencastle, PA. His pricing is somewhat more reasonable and he has electrical stuff available you won't find on the shelf in most places.

 

that is one nice looking truck injun---i really like that colour--

 

and another nice truck i am a kw fan--for the most part they are a good truck---for a company or lease truck--it is a great looking truck you have--for myself tho--i would prefer older--after 04 there are just to many little things that can pop up and mess your day up
but no better feeling than being the first driver on a truck

 

Is that a metallic red? Does it have Cummins ISX? I'm not a Paccar fan at all, although the drivers and owners are able to make them look good. With Paccar, it's all about the person in it giving it some personality.

 

For those of you who are interested in leasing a truck from your carrier I would ask you if you have put all the costs of operating that truck down on paper. I am not talking about just fuel and insurance. There is much more involved in running a truck than those two items. It is easy for some to become enthralled with a shinny truck. Your weekly deductions from the carrier will likely run somewhere around $800/week. That doesn't include maintenance, fuel, oil changes, and a number of other expenses associated with running a truck. Whether you lease or buy a truck you need to have money set aside for breakdowns and out of pocket expenses. A blown tire can run $300-500 plus the cost of road service. Your costs could easily run upwardly of $800. If you blow an engine, tear out a transmission or clutch, would you have the funds saved to pay for those repairs? Just because you are leasing a newer truck that has a warranty doesn't necessarily mean that a breakdown will be covered under that warranty. If it is covered and you have a major breakdown you could be out of work for several days. I had a driver who was broke down for a week in New Mexico waiting on a transmission. Mine wasn't under warranty and with the tow bill cost me about $8,100. The tow bill alone was $954. Fortunately, I had the means to pay for the repairs. Most likely any warranty would not cover a wrecker.

I think that most drivers want to be an owner operator. You should understand that when you lease a truck from the carrier to whom you are under lease that you are NOT an owner operator. You are a lease operator. You don't own anything. You are making payments on the truck that your company owns and they are marking those payments up.

If you want to be an owner operator why don't you just save your money and pay cash for a truck. If you don't want to save that much then you could save enough for a good down payment. If you can't save that much money then I don't see how you can expect to make a success out of leasing from your carrier. You can buy or lease a truck from a leasing company with a monthly payment of less than you will pay each week for a company truck that you will likely NEVER own. Some of these fleecing companies can make it sound really great. I have lost count of the number of former lease operators and owner operators who have lost their shirts who have called me for a job. All of these people had a couple of things in common. They had poor credit and didn't have any money set aside for a major breakdown. When the breakdown came they were out of business.

A truck is nothing more than a tool to make money. You don't have to have a new truck to make money. There are thousands of trucks across the country that you can purchase for less than $20,000. In fact, I would wager that you could get one for around $10,000 that would make a good living for you. You could then afford to put money aside to trade up to the truck you want without having a boat load of debt. I know it may not have that "new" truck smell, but you can go to any auto parts store and buy some new car smelling spray for about $2.

I have been at this for many years. I have owned a number of trucks. Believe me, you don't need a new truck or big truck payment to be a successful owner. I have managed to survive many ups and downs in this industry. If I had big truck payments I am not sure that I would have been able to survive the last couple of years. I NEVER leased a truck from any carrier. I saved and paid cash for my first truck and trailer. It can be done if you are disciplined enough. I have leased to a couple of carriers, but have mostly run my own authority.

I would encourage you to take a deep breath, sit back and try to take an objective look at this lease arrangement. I have looked at most of them over the years. None measure up. I have not seen a single one that really works out for the driver.