Prime, never been insulted by employer before.

tcssucks · Nov 20, 2010

Hey man, thats crazy. Almost the same experience for me at Triple Crown Services.

kirk cullum · Nov 22, 2010

ironpony said: ↑

Nope, the operating statement is not required - however, it's information that's essential to running a business. That's the basic information on income, costs and where your money is going. As an independent contractor, I'm paying for a service - and I wouldn't expect to get something for nothing in this case, as I would if I were still on the company side. The value obtained in having this information is much greater than the $15 invested. If you can't read and understand your operating statement, you aren't going to know whether you're making money or not.

As far as your starving lease op is concerned phroziac, I'd imagine you were talking to someone who thinks that the lease op gig is just employment on steroids - which its not. Most of the guys who can't manage to turn a buck leasing, will never be able to do it on their own. It starts with the company driver mindset they can never shake. Controlling costs, knowing where your money is going, building an operating reserve are a few of the things these guys have never heard of. As well as paying yourself... not just blowing every cent you make.

Paying for a couple of load locks and a set of thief-proof locks? Wow, I feel so used! (Sarcasm) I've made more money off of load locks I was reimbursed for than I ever put into the system. The lock set I got from Prime would cost about triple what I paid for them if I were to have bought them online. Still have the original set I bought... and they've outlasted every cheap Barjan or Master padlock I've ever bought. I'd have spent more on the cheap crap in a couple of years than I ever spent for locks with Prime - and that would be an on-going thing. So I'm really ahead of the game by buying the two stinking load locks, and those two padlocks. Do the math.

The lease price on a truck at Prime is based on a three-year payoff, with the interest compounded on a weekly schedule. In other words, you pay a lot less interest doing it this way than stretching it out over say five years. The payments are higher, but the note on the truck is retired two years sooner - and you're paying less in the long run than the guy whose into it for five years. Do the math. If you're doing a lease/purchase - instead of a five-year-old, million mile truck that will need an inframe shortly, you end up with a three-year-old, half million mile truck - that still has life in the engine. Enough left on it to make some money, and put aside the cash to keep it running.

I don't see this "revolving door" crap that keeps coming up either - that may be due to the fact that I don't spend much time at any of our terminals. Much has been made of all of the people that Prime brings in... for the last year the company has been expanding. So yeah, it stands to reason if you're putting more trucks on the road, you just might need more people. I also see a lot of folks there who have been with Prime for years... so the nonsense about driver churn here is just that - nonsense.

So some guy spends a couple of weeks at Prime, doesn't get the red carpet treatment his ego demands, has a bad time of it due to a poor economy/timing - and then decides to paint the entire company as being a bad deal without ever really knowing what the rest of the company is about. I do get a little hot when I read crap like that - and then because I have the nerve to call them on it get called "a cheerleader" by a-holes who have never worked for the company. I've been with Prime for over three years now. I've seen some good things and some bad things, but overall I've been treated fairly and with respect. The company tightened it's belt during the downturn, and has come out stronger - U2 I'm sure will agree - that he and I certainly didn't do badly on the company side, compared to many other outfits. I've seen threads here that tell newbs they shouldn't expect to see even $30,000 in their first year. Well I made $47,000 my first year, and about the same the next year when the trucking industry saw its worst year in decades... that ain't exactly chicken feed.

Is Prime the best thing since sliced bread? Nope. Never have claimed it was. It's a trucking company - better than some, and not better than others. Am I a "cheerleader" for this company? Nope - if one actually takes the time to look at my posts, you'll see that I've often not agreed with something they're doing - like those lightweight crappers they've put a lot of company guys into. Do I occasionally mis-state something? Yup. Sorry guys... I'm usually busy trucking, not sitting on my a%% in a truckstop, so I might just be tired enough to let my fingers run the keyboard a bit ahead of what I'm thinking. None of this is cheerleading. The naysayers spew BS like it's going out of style, and when someone who actually works for the company says that's not the way it is, then that's when the 8th grade name calling by the BS-ers starts.
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I dont work for prime,but what he said.

" OPTIMUS PRIME " · Dec 18, 2011

sazook said: ↑

Where have I said that number is linehaul? I haven't. Linehaul guarantee at $0.95 plus fuel surcharge guarantee at $0.28 equals a minimum rate of $1.23.
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Is this before or after your 72%? What I'm trying to ask is, if you would get 72% of the $1.23?

OR, is the $1.23 yours for all loaded miles?

U2Exit · Dec 18, 2011

OPTIMUS PRIME ";2308625][B][I][FONT="Georgia said:

Is this before or after your 72%? What I'm trying to ask is, if you would get 72% of the $1.23? [/FONT][/B][/I]

OR, is the $1.23 yours for all loaded miles?
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Hey might not answer you for a couple months.

He completed his lease, took the payout and went to Europe for a couple months.

I talked to him before he left... he said he would lease again, he just doesnt know if he still wants to drive or do the college thing.

He's basically got 90 days to come back without having to go thru re-hire process.

" OPTIMUS PRIME " · Dec 19, 2011

U2Exit said: ↑

Hey might not answer you for a couple months.

He completed his lease, took the payout and went to Europe for a couple months.

I talked to him before he left... he said he would lease again, he just doesnt know if he still wants to drive or do the college thing.

He's basically got 90 days to come back without having to go thru re-hire process.
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Oh ok, thanks allot. Can you answer my question?

ironpony · Dec 19, 2011

That's the minimum revenue guarantee contained in the lease contract. Your gross revenue is 72% of the linehaul payment, fuel surcharge and accessorial payments that is contracted with the customer, but not less than the minimum guarantee.

silverfox28 · Jan 12, 2013

EmersonSC said: ↑

Um... you do realize that Primes Lease is NOT a lease purchase?

At the end of a 3yr lease with prime, there is still a $64,000 bill. Dont believe me? I'll be more than happy to take a picture of this straight from one of Prime's lease agreements and post.

Lets do some math shall we?

a 2009 Peterbilt 387, according to Prime, costs them $122,000. We ALL know thats a load of steaming cow manure. Prime has hands in the dealer they buy these trucks from, AND get a bulk discount. But thats neither here nor there.

Back to the point and math. Now for the first year you are charged $869/wk. 2nd year is $849. 3rd year is $829. Lets remember this is ONLY the truck payment, not all the other nickel and dime b/s.

1st year you have paid: $45,188
2nd year you have paid: $44,148
3rd year you have paid: $43,108

totaling: $132,444.

Now, since at the end of that three years you still have a $64,000 pay out, that means you only paid $58,000 in principal which means you paid a total of $74,444 in interest.

With an average truck payment of $849/wk, or $3396/mo... this means you would have had a 57% INTEREST RATE!

Now Prime claims you can get a total lease completion bonus of up to $24,000 given you've trained and never went home (they actually run the numbers in lease orientation avg 4200/wk for 3 yrs, and took some money off for what most drivers are charged for in damages, tires, brakes, ect). IF you were to take that off of the $64,000 you owe still, that leaves with with an even $40,000 on a 3yr old truck with 650,000mi on it. First of all, that truck isnt worth $64,000, or even $40,000 for that matter. And good luck finding a bank that will lend to you with a reasonable rate.

Prime steps in again and says we will loan to you. Now this is where my knowledge stops. I havent had a chance to sit down long enough with an ACE driver to know what their interest rate is, but I'm sure through Prime, its not forgiving. But for numbers sake I'll plug in a few nyumbers for everyone to see. I do know a lot of them pay around 300-400 for three years depending on the truck.

$40,000 for 36mo at 25% yields an approximately . $1590/mo payment.
That's around $17,254 interest.

Final break down.

$122,000 Truck has now cost you $213,698 over 6 years.

That's $91,698 in interest, or 75% of the vehicles actual cost.

OR an annual interest rate of approximately 20.5%.

This all assuming you've followed through and bought it AFTER you 3yr lease.

So again, Prime's Lease is NOT. I repeat NOT a lease-purchase program. In order to own the truck you must pay on this truck for another three years based on a bogus value.
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u need to get your facts straight. the numbers you quoted for the truck payment ABSOLUTELY do include the insurance and quallcomm rental, which is easily 200 a week.

Trucker79010 · Jan 12, 2013

Why would you do a lease(fleece) purchase anyways man

Allow Me. · Jan 12, 2013

The above post by silv erfox quoting emerson sc isn't quite correct. A truck payment of $849 a week does not tally up to $3396 a month. To wit: there are 4 weeks plus two days in a month, for purposes of business days. Some months have 31 days or 28 (feb) but for business purposes 30 days is the norm. So, if you figure $849 a week, which is $121 a day (not counting change) a monthly payment is actually $849 times 4 PLUS those two days figured in at $121 each, which equals $3638, not $3396. After all, there are 52 weeks in a year. Now I find it amusing that truck companies have you pay their loans off weekly VS. car loans which are paid monthly.

silverfox28 · Jan 13, 2013

Allow Me. said: ↑

The above post by silv erfox quoting emerson sc isn't quite correct. A truck payment of $849 a week does not tally up to $3396 a month. To wit: there are 4 weeks plus two days in a month, for purposes of business days. Some months have 31 days or 28 (feb) but for business purposes 30 days is the norm. So, if you figure $849 a week, which is $121 a day (not counting change) a monthly payment is actually $849 times 4 PLUS those two days figured in at $121 each, which equals $3638, not $3396. After all, there are 52 weeks in a year. Now I find it amusing that truck companies have you pay their loans off weekly VS. car loans which are paid monthly.
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That has nothing to do with what i said i was simply correcting his statement that 849 a week is just the truckpayment alone which it is not. The 849 includes insurance and quallcomm rental which i said was roughly 200 a week. So if u subtract 200 from the849 u get 649 your actual truck payment. Big difference

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