Prime inc lease owner ops

They just pass on the cost of the tag, and permits. You pay what the state of Missouri charges for licensing the truck, and the cost of the permits.

The cost of insurance is far less through Prime than it would be on the open market. As a new entrant with a fresh MC, one can expect to pay anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 per year for the first few years. Make the math easy... you got a break at $12,000 per year... $1000 per month, average it at $250 per week. I don't lease, but my insurance through Prime runs at about $80 per week. How is that over priced? BTW... for a guy leasing a truck, part of that $1000 per week truck payment is his cost for auto liability and bobtail insurance.

So Prime (aka Robert Low) puts his capital out there on the line for an expensive piece of equipment, and he doesn't get a return on his money? The guy could take all of his chips, put about 10,000 people out of work, put his money in the market, and be out on the beach. He's not supposed to make some money off of a $150,000 investment? While Prime get's a break by purchasing very expensive trucks in bulk, I really doubt it's that kind of mark-up. Last I checked, no one is buying 2015 Cascadias for $50,000.

It's not "their" tax service. Abacus CPAs are a private company that rents office space from Prime in the terminal. You certainly don't "have" to use them... it's convenient for a lot of guys because you can park your truck, go upstairs and talk to your tax guy. Since they do a lot of transportation tax returns, you can be fairly sure they have a clue. If you want cut rate, go to H&R Block... then you can spend your time (how many $$ an hour are YOU worth?) arguing about how to calculate per diem for transportation workers, and how depreciation doesn't work the same way for a commercial truck.

Nope, can't pick your own loads. Most of the guys don't have enough experience to get their truck down the road economically either, and how are they supposed to have a clue about rates and freight lanes? You get access to Prime's freight network. $1.20 per mile? Where do you get that from. That's average for dry van loads, but not reefer. While there is some contract stuff that goes that cheaply, normally the company guys are pulling most of that. $2.00 per mile is more like a reasonable average for what we get. Fuel is a cost you pay as a 1099 independent contractor. See the 2nd sentence... most of these guys don't have a clue about how to drive a class 8 truck economically, or for that matter buy fuel cheaply.

The fridge for a Cascadia from Freightliner... as in a dealer, is more like $750. For kicks, I priced RV fridges as well, and the answers I was getting were around $1000.

You're an independent contractor if you're leasing, and these days that means you're responsible for yourself and your health insurance. How exactly are you different than the rest of the country? If you're complaining about the cost of health insurance, go talk to your government representatives. Under ACA, Prime is legally required to provide health insurance to their W2 employees, and can't do the same for ICs because of the requirements of the ACA.

As long as you're running under Prime's authority, they get to set the rules. Part of the low cost of their insurance is that speed setting. Another part is the fact that any of the drivers can be dispatched to Canada at any time. Their speed limiter law is rather strict at 105 kph... or 65 mph max. Here's something else... most of the low time lease operators should be thanking Prime for that number. They'd be bankrupt in a few weeks from the fuel costs of a truck set wide open.

1. Don't cross the GWB. There are other routes.

2. Prime pays you what the customer pays... we get percentage of linehaul, fuel surcharge and accessorials - Prime doesn't pay lease operators by the mile. Short routes in the NE with a 1-day load pays you the same at Prime. Generally well above $2 per mile... I've seen as much as $10. 3000 miles? Why would I want to run 3000 miles? I don't get paid one penny more for running "more miles." In fact, the fewer miles I run, the lower my fuel costs are, and the more money I push across the bottom line.

3. Last I checked, tolls are a cost of doing business. If you're running as an independent motor carrier, I don't see anyone paying you to cover any percentage of your tolls. Maybe you ought to check your map... there are plenty of untolled roads up in the NE.

4. Lease operators don't pay Prime for reefer fuel. You pay the oil companies. The first fill-up on a Prime reefer is generally covered by the company within reason. The rest is on you. That being said, the software Prime runs isn't the same stuff you get on a generic reefer. Unless we're talking ice cream on a hot August day, most of the time I spend very little for reefer fuel.

5. Many folks don't want the responsibility for maintaining a truck, and the administrative headaches that come with being a motor carrier. Leasing a truck puts all of that back onto the carrier they're leasing from. If being an independent and dealing with all of that is your bag... that's great. For some people it's not, and if one knows how to run a business, leasing can provide you a better income than what the company guys make. Yep... the carrier one leases from wins too. Why's that a problem?? I don't see YOU volunteering to risk your capital for no return Mr. Small Business Motor Carrier. So why is it that a guy who has achieved a large portion of success as Mr. Large Privately Held Business Motor Carrier is required to bend over, and go bankrupt?

Really, $20000 in taxes???

Dang... send your business my way. I can do better than that with TurboTax, and give whoever is paying that a serious break while making a pile for myself. Even better, the tax guy I use at Abacus does way better than that. I'm pretty sure that you and I are paying about the same marginal rate.

 

Iron, I just went back and read the posts from September of 2013. You were very right about staying company until you're ready. I've been company driving ever since and just now do I feel like I have enough experience to make the next move. Not with Prime however

This forum proves to be an invaluable resource time and time again.

 

Good luck wherever you turn up at.

 

Those numbers came from prime tax gut 28%

 

No the truck note 945.00 bobtail 52.00

 

Let me explain I own pay my own insurance book my own freight have a firm doing my taxes so I know the difference in lease and independent owner operator. My truck run what I want when I want. I know exactly what I'm getting paid cause I deal directly with shipper. See the difference. When can any lease driver say they brokered their own.

 

But you have a right to your own opinion, but people one here need to know your look for recruiting bonuses. But I'm just putting the information out there that your not telling.

 

That's great. I'm really glad for you. I have a firm doing my taxes too... that's all I use them for because I despise doing taxes. I do my own books, so I know exactly how my business is doing - to the penny. The difference between a lease operator and an independent owner operator (aka a motor carrier) is that I pay my carrier to do the backroom stuff, and provide me with a dispatch service. BFD. Why is it you guys all think that we have to be you?

Pretty much the same thing here. I can go with the best money available at the time I get to the top of the dispatch queue, or tell my travel agent where I want to be, and take what's available. I can (and do) tell them I want nothing to do with the load that's offered when it makes no sense for me to take it.

I know exactly what I'm getting paid too, because federal law demands it when you're being paid a percentage of linehaul. Any time I wish to check the numbers, all I have to do is go to Springfield MO, and ask to see the original freight bill.

Yeah I see the difference, you have more headaches than I do, and an ego that exceeds your GCVW. BTW... you don't broker your own freight. You may contract independently with a broker, you may contract directly with a shipper. If you're brokering freight without authority, you're violating federal law.

 

My ice is too thin for this. Explain to me why it is that we all have to fit into the same box? No one "dictates" to me BHW, and that's what you guys don't get.