Swift Transportation and their Lease Purchase Plan

I never said that was my only experience teaming. My truck was a team truck the entire time I was with Celtic. The last bit of time I was with them (small mom n pop outfit) it fell to me to train my own boss. He was an excellent student. I learned that, while lucrative, teaming creates too much stress in my life. Therefore, I am adamantly solo now.

 

Why would you assume I was intending to be mean in telling the truth as I see it? It doesn't do anyone any good to paint a picture through rose colored glasses...only recruiters do this, to get unsuspecting, and uninformed or misinformed drivers into lease trucks.

I stated facts, about insurance, operating costs (real time costs), mechanical issues, and personal issues to be aware of...not to mention the excessive and rising cost of fuel. The one thing I avoided is the fact that an APU can never pay for itself...it's initial cost is too high and the "fuel savings" far to low to be a cost effective contributor. Could be the reason Swift and other companies don't put the expense onto their rigs.

I was a successful L/O with Swift without an APU...but I was smart enough to know when to idle and when it wasn't necessary. Tax wise fuel is a business expense and therefore deductible on your taxes...but that does contribute to a lesser profit margin. It all depends on how you wish to handle your business...in comfort (either idling or with an APU) or to suffer through the ugly hot summer months.

Always the optimist aren't you!

But what good does it do to be a pessimist?

 

Darn straight! TD... if you're even having a vaguely irritating itch to get into one of these deals, you'd be well advised to back off and learn how it really works. Yeah, one can be successful at it, but it takes preparation, knowledge and dedication - and at your tender age in trucking, you certainly don't have the first two... yet.

Taking some round numbers as a for instance....

APU cost, say $10,000, amortized over 3 years and fuel at $3.50 per gallon.

So... over the course of 3 years and using $3 per gallon to account for APU fuel burn, but neglecting say PMs...

10000/3 means you'd need to save about 3333 gallons of fuel to pay for the APU. Round that up to 3500 to account for maintenance.

In 3 years you have about 1095 days, so 3500/1095 is about 3.2 gallons of fuel per day. I don't have any experience with idling for heating and cooling, but I've "heard" the figure of about 1.5 gallons per hour bandied about. So if you burn more than that on the average idling - but you save that money because its invested in an APU, you'd have paid for the APU in 3 years. That drops to a little under 2 gallons of fuel per day if you are paying your note off over 5 years. And if fuel costs continues to climb, it will be paid off in even a shorter period.

What this shows is that if you idle your truck over the course of a 10-hour break (or even a good fraction of that) every day, you'd be much better off to invest in an APU in the long run.

 

Only an idiot idles a truck that much! (or a bad company driver) I probably idle my truck about 20 to 30 nights a year when it's just too hot or cold not to.
Lots of drivers idle constantly regardless of conditions and then they snivel like babies when their companies say "enough!" and put idle limiters on them.
At $3.50 a gallon, Idling 30 days a year the cost would be around $1050 per year so based on the cost of an APU being $10,000 it would take a long ###### time to pay for it....When you add in the cost of operating the thing and keepin' it running and the weight added to the truck, it starts to look like a loser deal to me.

Even if you double the number of idle hours it still looks pretty impractical.

 

I am not sayin that is B.S.,but 20-30 nights a year,REALLY??? If I had to bet my life on it,(preferably though someone else"s) I would guess that number to be higher,but only you know for sure.

 

If it's above 25 degrees....I shut it off.

If it's below 85 degrees....I shut it off.

If it's warm out I put in my screens and open my sleeper windows and run a fan, If it's cold out I get the truck warm before I go to bed and then shut it off...Stays pretty cozy under the covers as long as you don't get out of bed.

It's a cold walk to the key switch in the morning though!
I was in Colorado the other day and was sittin' there relaxin' with the truck shut off and every other truck on the lot was idling...Wasting fuel!

 

i got caught in a big temp drop--cant remember how much--at least maybe 30 degrees--was melting wheni went to sleep--had the little diesel heater on low--under my covers nice and cozy--woke up at 0600 and it was close to 40 below with a wind-needless to say the truck only went grrr---thank god i had a reefer--still took a long time to get it going tho

 

Ok... so double it. That's now *by your numbers* $2100 per year. You just paid for it in about 4 years and 9 months. You are in this for "the long run," yes? So... even the super tough BW9 could probably go for it and have just a bit more comfort!

 

Those are not "my numbers" I don't idle nearly that much and never have, I just tossed that into the mix for the hell of it.
You're also not counting the fuel that it uses and the cost of maintaining it and keeping it functioning. (which can get pretty steep when the things break)
I have no interest in a APU....Too much weight, Too much money for what little use I would get out of it, Too much noise and they stink when they are running and I like the peace and quiet of having the truck shut off and most APU's are as loud if not louder than the truck.
Maybe someday if the technology ever improves...Right now they're a collossal waste of money in my honest opinion.

 

The point is that anyone who does idle more than you would benefit - no slight intended, but y'all are roughing it a bit. I don't thing the TriPac's are that loud, but I'll pack up and move away from a RigMaster or some of the home-brew jobs.