Prime Inc driver thread

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by true122, Apr 28, 2011.

  1. ironpony

    ironpony Road Train Member

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    Depends on what you're looking for. What I put in were very conservative numbers. Company drivers would be well-advised to run a "shadow business" for awhile to ensure that the lease and profit potential are in line with their expectations before jumping in.

    Speaking from personal experience, or just parroting the usual TS Bravo Sierra? You get out of it what you put into it. As a company employee, you also get to put up with company management, company dictates on how your truck is used, kow-towing to the latest dispatcher crap. If you are a businessman - all of what you mentioned is already in your plan. And the BUSINESSMAN who owns the trucking company that puts up with your employee hind-end also has to plan for this - and more. And put up with your whining employee Bravo Sierra. Gotta quit thinking like a whining little company driver.

    I'm making considerably more than what I did on the company-side.

    Breakdowns... covered by warranty. Where to fuel? Takes about 5 minutes. I can take off what I can afford... goes back to good business management. We don't "turn miles" at Prime. Its about gross revenue - and it hits the Fleet Manager in his paycheck if we go negative; they have a vested interest in keeping us in the black. I "stress" considerably less now than as an employee. Maintenance is part of my business plan.

    And your short-sighted point is? Particularily when I was working as an engineer in disk drive manufacturing, we "rented" millions of dollars of test equipment to support our operations. It made no sense to purchase much of that equipment that would either be replaced in a few years with more advanced models, or may have no longer been required due to changes in production requirements or product end-of-life schedules. Next time you get on an airliner, understand that just about every one of them is a rent-a-airplane. See those trains movin' along side the highway? Yup... rent-a-train. There are real advantages to leasing capital equipment that most drivers with a company-mentality (gimme my bennies) can't see past.

    You better stay on the company side. You wouldn't make it, and you'd have to whine over in the bad company folder.
     
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  3. DragonTamerBrat

    DragonTamerBrat Road Train Member

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    Yes, we know. You folks keep hammering that at us. However, there are benefits to leasing and NOT OWNING (whether that's a brick and stick building, a home, a car, a semi). There are benefits to OWNING. Each person's family and tax situation is different. What fits you like a glove may either fall down around my ankles or strangle me.

    What we may or may not decided to do in the future will be in OUR best interests, and with our eyes wide open.
     
  4. reptij

    reptij Medium Load Member

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    My trainer says for.the last 2 years he has been bringing home more than triple what he was as a company driver. And that is not including what he gets for training which is considerably more. So your comment about making the same as a company driver when all is said and done is b.s..
     
    tdcanterbury67 Thanks this.
  5. Vegas Reaper

    Vegas Reaper Light Load Member

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    cool thanks for the info guys, so just a little more, if I lease a truck and want to take trainees with me is there a charge to take a trainee? I know CR england takes a fee but havent seen anything about prime. As far as owning a truck or being a company driver, I owned 2 trucks before so I know I want back into that world in some way, I saw the money get better but that was as a truck owner, leasing like this is foreign to me and info has actually been hard to come by.
     
  6. reptij

    reptij Medium Load Member

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    I dont know anything about a fee but I know my trainer makes a substantial income above what he already earns for training.
     
  7. ironpony

    ironpony Road Train Member

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    On the lease side, the student is treated as your employee - you are responsible for his wages, FICA, etc. That is deducted from your settlement, and paid directly to the student.

    There is a different system for company driver-instructors. U2 has dealt with it in other posts.

    I'd be asking if he'd let me review his settlements if I were you.
     
  8. reptij

    reptij Medium Load Member

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    Because I will be going lease and he is teaching me everything he can about it, I am able to review all of his settlements every week as a learning tool.
     
  9. jlkklj777

    jlkklj777 20 Year Truckload Veteran

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    Good advice. No argument there.



    I was a lease operator back in 1998 thru 2000. The pay and structure hasn't changed much and Prime has a rep for having more failures than success stories. This forum is chock full of them so I dont have to "speculate" at all.


    Pretty vague. You sure you don't suffer from "selective memory syndrome?" How about some figures to back up that assertion? From what I have seen over the years; lease ops like to look at their gross pay for the year and compare that figure to the gross earnings they made as a company driver. They FAIL to deduct all the business expenses before they make a comparison (dont forget self employment tax). They also fail to compare the number of days away from home or the number of miles they turned. Without ALL those calculations your'e just whistling in the wind.



    Too bad your so called warranty has more loop holes in it than swiss cheese! Unless you get a loaner truck while your truck is out of commission for this "warranty work" then you aren't making squat now are ya? Best of all your'e making payments on a truck thats "in the shop." Your load was probably either repowered so you lost it or rescheduled so you lose time and money you could have been earning while running.

    So it takes you 5 minutes to calculate where the cheapest fuel is? You figure in fuel tax? You calculate which state has the best deal based on that? You look at the company discount at each truck stop chain? You know what the company price of fuel is at the terminals before you "select" your fueling location?

    Or you just fuel where the company tells you they have a discount and you let them do all those calculations for you? Who is calculating the road use taxes and fuel taxes for you MR BUSINESSMAN???? Who actually files and pays them?


    A fallacy. You do in fact turn MILES. You have to DRIVE the truck genius that means MILES. That means wear and tear, fuel and burning TIME. Just because you want to focus on the "percentage" pay doesn't change the underlying fact; "you be turning miles." It's up to you to figure out whether the miles turned and time expended is worth the percentage pay offered for that paricular trip.

    Thats right. You can go home when you like but I bet it's always in the back of your mind; "I aint making ANY money" now. When I am ready to get back to work will they have a load for me right away or will I have to wait for a load? Will I wind up with a negative settlement?

    Some day you will look around and ask yourself; "what have I been doing for all these years? What do I have to show for it?"



    I am well aware of capital leases. You pay through the nose for equipment and then turn it back in and get newer equipment. FYI your'e also liable for damage to that equipment when you turn it in. YOU never own it and the so called "buyout" provision is so outrageous most drivers don't even bother attempting to buy the equipment (outrageous as compared to similar trucks listed online or in truckpaper).


    Your'e right. I do prefer the company side of things. I offer my insight and expertise (20+ years of driving) free of charge to help educate and enlighten some of the newer entrants to this industry. I give them food for thought and a counterpoint to some of the pie in the sky BS I read here.

    I routinely crunch the numbers on running my own show and the fact is I get better compensation this way rather than ANY lease program I have seen yet and I don't have to work nearly as hard or as many days.

    Moving on:


    Perhaps a reading comprehension course is in order for you. Read my post again in context;

    "Face it dude, the money these solo lease ops make after ALL their expenses amounts to less than what a company driver earns."

    Have your "trainer" show you what he was making as a company driver. Ask him how many days he was on the road. Ask him to show you on his settlement sheets how much monay he earned AND how many miles he had to turn to make that money. Then take a hard look at his figures as a lease operator. I bet you find out he is training to help him stay profitable and put him in line for longer better paying "team freight."

    Now its obvious you have stars in your eyes and have dreams of bags of cash in your future but let me give you a little advice; Don't believe everything you hear. Without knowing how many days your "trainer" was on the road or how many miles your "trainer" drove for those years or the revenue per mile he generated for those miles your just drinking the kool aid too. Trust but verify young man.

    Its very simple; compare the miles you drive to the pay you get AFTER all your expenses and taxes are taken out. Then come talk to me. I will show anyone my pay stubs for the past several years. They show how many miles and exactly what I was paid for. By the way I work approximately 5.5 days per week and AVERAGE a little over 2500 miles per week and made 70 this year (a down year for me AFTER a 10% pay cut to boot). This isn't bragging either its a statement of fact designed to challenge the other posters to "put up or shut up."

    If your not making more than what I do (after all your "business expenses" then your wasting your time and just don't realize it (yet).

    Face it; to make more money than I do (and scores of other COMPANY drivers out there) you will work HARDER AND be on the road LONGER than the rest of us. Is it really worth it?
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2011
  10. OpenRoadDreamer

    OpenRoadDreamer Road Train Member

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    Trolls are back... Wish they made troll spray... "Troll Away, for all your troll problems"
     
  11. DragonTamerBrat

    DragonTamerBrat Road Train Member

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    RAID doesn't work?
     
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