Lease operator?

I was just wondering, How old are you?

 

I believe it is a sales trick. New guys see that $2000 a week paycheck potential and think they can make it work for that. Truth is, pay like that won't be consistent all year long. Eventually the truck needs maintenance and service/breakdowns/replacement. At the megacarrier rates, the driver has to give up the truck and start over with a brand new truck and lease option, continuing the insanity. There's only a 5% chance of making it, same odds as spending $900 bucks a week on lottery scratchers.

 

Ok you just threw out a whole new equation saying you aren't going to lease from a company! Though I admire your bravado, there is a big difference in bravery and stupidity! You know absolutely nothing about trucking and are going to lease a truck!?! First off you are going to be very hard pressed finding anyone that will lease to you. Most leases contracts from dealers require experience. Let's say you get past that hurdle, now you have to find someone willing to insure you! There are a few select companies that will but are very, very expensive! Right there you just ate up a good percentage of your profits and you haven't left the dealership parking lot!

Ok so now you have a very expensive lease payment and insurance payment and no job and no experience! Now you will learn to drive and find someone willing to hire you with no experience. So now you will have to park the truck, continue to make your truck and insurance payments and go ride with a trainer for two months. Does this sound like the "cart before the horse" scenario? So after you ride with your trainer now you have to figure out how the industry works and struggle to learn how to operate your business while still learning to drive! Hopefully you have picked a good company and by the good grace of God, have a good dispatcher that is going to provide you with miles! As a new driver it is going to be tough, very tough just to acquire the 1800 miles a week to break even!

I think this is a very expensive way to obtain the feeling of driving a new truck! I highly recommend you take a step or two back and climb the ladder instead of falling off of it!

 

Scratch everything I said!

I think you should go buy a brand new truck. Please for the love of god, keep us up dated!

 

A very good friend, an old Army buddy actually is an O/O and has been for the last 14 years. He has been driving since he got out of the Army, and that is what we both did while in there.

I visited him in May and we sat down and went through his books from last year. He works on a percentage and is leased to a very good carrier that treats him well. He only works three weeks a month and then he goes home for a week, so essentially he is taking 6 weeks off a year.

The long and short is that he grossed $212k last year, he netted $60k... his fuel was $115k, maintenance amother $20k etc... his truck is on 01 with 1.7 million miles... he has no trucl payment and his insurance is reasonable because he has a squeeky clean driving record.in the 19 years he has been doing it.

Now a new driver will not get the loads or make the money he is, will have lower maintenence costs, but will carry a truck note and much higher insuranccle rates... in other words when all is said and done, you are likely not going to make much as a new driver trying to be an O/O

 

What they're all trying to tell you is that every mile you drive should be producing enough income to cover all your overhead, as a new entrant, your overhead is at maximum exposure and you'll 99% likely be running at a substantial loss for a many many months until you build up experience which in turn will lower some aspects of the overhead such as insurance.

What it sounds like to us is if someone were wanting to start up a sandwich shop and came in and proclaimed they were gonna put up all their own money upfront and the only thing they were concerned with was turning on the lights every morning; the sandwiches make and sell themselves.