ask your questions about prime inc here

Break me in?! If I get a Fm ima gonna ask in a nice way to run me hard ill show u what I'm made of ..
I may be a newbie but not a scary cat or a whimp!

 

while I was at prime I had a 2012 587, it was a sweet truck but it was expensive. I averaged about 7.5 mpg with a 15L cummins. If you have a choice try to get into a Cascadia with a Detroit and be a year or 2 old. you payments will be cheaper and I talked with guys getting over 8mpg with em and better. don't get too caught up in the pride thing of having a pete compared to a freightshaker, cascadias are actually really nice trucks.

 

Yeah they are. My uncle has a 2011 that he drives for maverick and I've got to say I'm impressed with how nice the inside of the truck is.

 

your FM can make or break you, I kept getting a lot of cheap stuff and was only averaging $700 a week take home and my last load that I pulled for prime was out of jersey going to Nebraska and it was a 2 day run and to the truck was only .49 per mile, that's no joke it was a load of Arizona and Snapple tea. heavy load, 45k plus and it only paid .49 all the way to Nebraska. didn't even cover fuel. I told hime over and over again to not give me such cheap freight but kept getting a lot of cheap stuff like he was more concerned with just keeping me loaded instead of actually helping me to make a better profit, I swapped the load out in Chicago and headed to spigmo hoping to find a new FM or do my classes to become a trainer so atleast I could benefit form team miles. I got to springmo and was told I would be on a major back log for a trainee and that I couldn't get a new FM so I just turned the truck in and hoofed it home to vegas. I have to say I really liked prime, the trucks, the facilities, and the treatment were all top notch but my FM just soured the deal with all the cheap freight. I learned a few key things. If the load is cheap, just turn it down, the FM wont like you much for it but at the end of the day its your truck payment so demand a little better out of them. Thyere there to work for you as well as you for them.

 

That's messed up that u had to haul juices from the east coast to the mid west and the pay per mile wasn't great. I mean your Fm either was a cheapskate or he playing favoritism towards drivers on his board.
Either way it was wrong and dirty..
ty for the advice on the topic on how not to take cheap loads!!
I will remember that one..

 

So you were a lease op that got a load @ .49 cpm with no FSC? Was that on percentage?

 

Let me guess... 2008 or 2009? Everybody was diving into Springfield trying to get into the trainer business. Stan 'n Steve weren't having any of this give me a new FM stuff either, especially with Pittston just coming on line. Seriously tough times.

Yuppers. This is something I've tried to stress in the lease thread: You absolutely have to know what your numbers are, and that can't be left to a CPA at tax time. If you're running a lease business, and you don't have a handle on what your bottom line costs are there's no way you'll know whether it makes sense to turn down a load. Or if you're even making money.

First, the FMs have very little say of which loads they get to work with- it's more up to the load planners. Now if my guess on the time frame is right in '08 or '09, then there would be very little freight to choose from in the first place, and we didn't have the benefit of the elog system to provide feedback to the planners. That was the depths of the recession, and it was seriously hard times especially for the lease and owner-ops. Not only did the quantity of freight drop precipitously, but every other flatbedder in the country became a reefer guy overnight. There were even less flatbed loads than reefer loads. Now there's a zillion more trucks competing for less loads. So it wasn't the case of "not taking cheap loads," as much as it was those were the only loads available.

All of our loads are percentage with FSC and accessorials. This is one of the risks inherent in leasing or owning a truck. When the economy is doing well, we do great. When the economy heads for the pits, its awful. There is less of this boom and bust cycle for the company drivers, but they get hit too. I was driving on the company side, and the worst place to go was Ohio. You were guaranteed a 34-hour restart because NOTHING was coming out of Ohio with all of the plant closures.

 

LOL, Your FM has to be able to trust you, there's gonna be loads that absolutely suck, low miles, long delay in unloading, Washington DC or Philli during the rush hour etc. Guess what, your gonna get those, as he is testing you. You will get decent loads but the majority will sucky for awhile. Once he/she figures out how you like to run then your loads will get better.
How about when you deliver your load at 9AM after sleeping all night, and then get told you have to pick up another load at 7PM-8PM and drive all night to deliver say at 5AM. You get tired quick as you sleep clock is totally off. But it is all a test. Sucks but true.
Best thing you can do is at your 1st meeting with your FM, discuss your expectations and limitations. Mine was I wanted 2500 miles a week and I would not drive on Ice. I told him I would run at 55mph, unless he wanted me or the load dictated I run faster. He always met my expectations, I was never late on a load, never had an accident, never b@tched about a load and towards the end I was running loads at 64mph average, but being paid as if I was running them at 55mph.
Basically you need to become the solid driver on the board, who will do whatever it takes to get the job done, legally of course.
Hope this helps you and be safe out there.

 

A good working relationship with your FM is essential to success, company, lease, or O/O. Just like the relationship you build with customers and brokers if you are running your own operation. That does not mean that you have to kiss butt, but that you have to have understanding and respect. I joke a bit with my business associates, but I also grill em when my BS detector goes off.

 

TO ironypony: thank you for the advice and my goodness I didn't know during those years 08-09 was horrible. Have frieght loads numbers bounced back or are they the same??

To highway 101 : yea that does make sense because if you do well with scrappy loads afterwhile
u get the good stuff. Also how about the loads that most people don't want or loads that are odd. Does that happen a lot getting loads that are odd? The only person how far you can go humanly possible is yourself but its wise to talk to your Fm about what u can or cant do plus driving legally. Thxs highway 101