PRIME NEWBIES~Any comments from orientation?

Employment history for 10 years??? or is that for drivers only?? Honestly I can't remember that far back

 

Employment history for 10 years if you have driving experience, otherwise 3 years. and to whomever was talking about leasing, dont do it. Unless you like spending 2800 bucks a month for the truck. NOT including the gas and other expenses for repairs... A lease pretty much allows you to make the same money as a company driver, but the chance of failure goes up drastically. DO NOT DO IT. Just let them handle all of that crap and make your miles.

 

Uhh... not exactly... way more expensive payments on the truck. Earning potential is far better than a company driver. Way better $ = more risk.

Company drivers have MPG minimum to maintain and a restricted hometime policy. 1 day off for 7 days out. 4 days off in a row Max with at least 3 weeks in between. Gotta have that 4th day banked if you want to use it.

 

I have a question..I'm gonna be a real newbie, no CDl to start with. I had 4 jobs in past 5 years. 2 were with temp agencies that lasted a total of 10 months and of course my current gig which i got to start in September (independent contract courier) and then the temp game went down the tubes, will the temp agencies count against me??

 

That is assuming you do well... If it is way more money then why are so many lease operators loosing the shirts off their back? I don't feel like becoming the horror story that everyone else seems to be going through. Company driver for me!

 

Nope, as long as you filled out a w-2 form and payed taxes. It has to be verifiable, if they cannot contact them because it went under, then they will need a copy of your w-2 form or you will just have to put it as unemployment. I had a job where I worked under the table for a year...well they couldn't verify it because anyone could answer a phone and say yes this guy had worked for me. They changed it to unemployment. basically what I am saying...W-2 will be your help here.

 

Now the Independent distributor thing, those you are supposed to file your own taxes on your income earned at the end of the year. Unless under 10,000 you are not entitled to unless you want to. If you failed do file then your only hope is that the employer running the business can fax a copy of your new hire contract to them stating your hire on date. Independent contractors usually have new employees sign something in this manner to protect them of any loss of product or pay discrepancies.

 

I have a question, home time during training. Since I live in CA, and training is in MO. Will home time during training be in MO?

 

Honestly, most (not all) of the people I know that have had trouble while leasing were horribly unprepared for what they were undertaking, and mismanaged themselves into the ground. That's not to say that some people didn't get a fair shot, but it seems to be few and far between that that's the case.

Case in point, there is one guy I know that decided he wanted to lease after being on a lease truck in training. Within a month, he was sitting almost $2000 in the hole. He sent me his settlements trying to figure out what he was doing wrong. He was actually getting better revenue than I was, and at the time I was profiting $1000-2000 a week. The difference was costs. My costs were 92 cents per mile, and his was $1.36 per mile. He wasn't planning his fuel stops for efficiency, he was running his truck harder than he needed to be because of poor trip planning and falling behind, and due to the poor trip planning his utilization was poor. He had gotten to the point where he was ready to leave. After talking to him about his training, it came out that his trainer pretty much just used him to get more miles/revenue. While getting that is the nice part of being a trainer, the trade off is that you're supposed to have your trainee ready to handle a truck by himself when the training is over, and he was not. So after about 2 months of having this guy call me on every trip and going over planning out his trips and fuel on each trip, he figured out what he needed to be doing, and is now doing brilliantly well as a L/O.

All that being said, there is a risk, and if you don't have the tolerance for that risk or are uncomfortable with the risk, than by all means be a company driver. U2 is company and perfectly happy doing what he does. IP and myself are lease, and both are happy, and as far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters.

 

If you have a clue about running a business and you can operate a rig efficiently, then its quite possible to make money as a L/O - better than on the company side. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone without the ability to consistantly achieve 7 mpg, no business experience, and especially a brand-new CDL holder.