Holy Hanna !!

Assuming this is not a rhetorical question.

Mega's make money running dedicated year round contracts on companies engaged in some form of retail business. Retail surges some 30-50% during the holiday season. Given that the retail customer now days is a freight customer at least twice before the retail freight makes it home to the end customer, retail freight is at least double the surge of what retail themselves surge.

Now days, you see, most retail freight is run from China to the ports, from the ports to distribution warehouse (1st freight customer opportunity), from the warehouse to the store (2nd freight customer opportunity). Of course their may be, and often is, many freight opportunities in between. But the point is the retail surge results in a multiplicative effect in the trucking industry.

Now the point of having dedicated contracts with the megas, is that the megas promise the capacity to cover the anticipated retail surge. This means money.

It also means since demand surges so ridiculously much, when this surge is over, the trucking companies have to rid themselves of excess employees. The cheap and easy way to do that in trucking is to fire drivers. If you fire them for 'safety reasons,' you don't have to pay unemployment. A huge cost savings comes from micromanaging drivers, adding up their faults, and firing them after the Christmas surge rather then laying them off and paying higher unemployment taxes.

To make this all work, you get drivers to pay for their own training. You sell them schooling and get them to sign a contract for repayment. You make them team for less then minimum wage for 6 weeks. And before they have an opportunity to recoup the training costs with the contract you offered, you fire them for 'safety' reasons.

Of course the high turnover, allows you to work all angles with the WOTC and gain the opportunity to get half of all your drivers wages covered by the government, while still sticking the driver with the schooling costs and denying them unemployment from running your high value seasonal business.

 

This is pretty much how Prime works. They bring between 80 to 120 students a week on adverage into the Springfield terminal. They have much smaller classes in Salt Lake city and Pittston, PA, but they train in those locations too They churn a huge amount of drivers each week into their program

What I will say, is they do put a lot of effort into their training program, so they arent just skimping by, they actually do have a pretty good program. IMO they probably put most CDL schools to shame. Granted, the 1st week in orientation you are treated like a number from many of their campus staff.

Once you get on a truck, the training comes down to how good of a trainer you get, but for their credit they will pull you off a truck and get you a new trainer if you feel its not working out for you.

For a mega company, I will say IMO Prime does the training side right. They also have a pretty cool SIM lab full of truck simulators that are pretty fun to play with. Just dont ask the instructors where you put the quarters.

 

Pryme suck those operators drive slow but then one tried to show me one time. I was a believer he went 68 mph and I had to mash that pedal and show him he need to calm down.

 

The onlything slower than Prime trucks are street sweepers and snow plows.. I'll give you that.. Company trucks are 58 on the pedal and 62 cruse. Lease trucks are 65/65.. I have heard on the logistics side, the OOs can set their trucks up to go faster.

Also they try very hard to get you to drive slower like 55/58 by claiming you save fuel and so on..

 

I love about this is hirschbach is by far the best program on the whole you can’t fail unless you don’t wont to work. I seen a guy he showed his settlements he’s made good money. I really want to say it’s a cameraman company can watch reality tv of you going down the road. That guy did over 60,000 net according to the numbers on his estimates.

 

60 grand for someone taking on the responsibility of a lease is pathetic.

 

Yeah but he pays 0 in maintenance he just got a set of singles put on and new Egr valve and PM. I looked at that and I tell you for a fact as a Lease operator if you net 60000 you doing good. Better then losing your home. For all I know your probably just jealous.

 

What would possibly compel me to feel jealous of a l/o making less than I make as a company

 

My thing is just that why are you saying 60000 isn’t any money. When there’s plenty of people not even grossing near that I commend that guy for his courage to follow his dream of being a successful lease operator with a good attitude and being that open about the money side. FYI I had a bad year with a truck that’s paid off and netted only 40,000 two years in the row. There’s no bar setting if he’s good with 60000 and I’m good with 40,000. Then let us be on our way as long as I’m turning a profit no matter what it’s a great day.

 

Forty grand with a truck that's paid off. I don't know what to say.