Thinking of working as a subcontractor?.......New drivers beware.

If anyone has ever wondered what it would be like to work as a subcontractor without being the owner of the equipment,stop thinking.

It is a waste of your time and eventually it will be a waste of your money when the company decides not to pay you.

When working as a subcontractor,many "Gypsies" will ask you to go out and get a business license and tell you the virtues of being able to write everything off against your taxes. The first thing you should be asking yourself here is "Do I need to spend money to get a driving job,when I already have a license?". No you shouldn't,especially if you have zero say in regards to how the equipment is used. Many of these "Gypsies" will hold back a "deposit" in case you damage the equipment(most likely they won't tell you that until you come back from the first run,so basically you can kiss that money goodbye,you will never see it.).

They won't pay you anymore money than a company driver but they promise that the tax deductions will make up for it. Revenue Canada won't recognise you as a subcontractor and accept your claims for one main reasons. 1)You must own the equipment you're using or be making the payments on the truck. Otherwise you are just a employee that has waived all their rights by agreeing to "work under the table" so to speak.

They will most likely promise big mileage runs into the South or Southwest.
The reason they can do that is simply because they have cut the shipping rate to get the freight. They can afford to cut the rate simply because they won't be paying you benefits,vacation pay,stat holiday pay and they won't be paying into your employment insurance.

Questions to ask: 1) Will I have an employee/employer relationship?
2) Will there be any "holdback"?(Holdback? Run.)
3) How often will I get paid? Weekly/biweekly/monthly? (monthly or bi weekly? Run....depending on the next run they could be sitting on at least a months worth of pay).
4) Where is your yard located?(no yard? Run.)

Here is an example you may call if you don't believe me. This add caught my eye right away.
If a job looks to good to be true......it usually is.

http://www.driverlink.com/mydl/resu...0&djid=11060&jobpostingid=11058&officefeid=-1