Good Night From II

not always, i was over 90 miles and wasnt allowed until i started the ups gig last year

 

Wolfy, I didn't say always, I said mostly.

 

If I'm not mistaken don't they consider your area (and most of SoCal) a high risk area. So that would prevent you from parking a company truck there. Silly policy, but rules are rules.

 

brocelli,,, yeah they do lol. like innkeeper said, terminals have differant rules.

 

Thanks, in. My house is almost exactly equidistant from the terminals in Gary and New Boston, but because I live in Michigan, she said that would be 'home.' I'm seriously considering a lease, so as my decision making process moves forward, I will either confirm or disregard that information as it applies specifically to me.

Taking home time wherever I need to is important; I have grandchildren in two cities in Oklahoma, OKC and Lawton, so spending time there is almost more important than coming back to my own domicile.

 

My home terminal is Otay Mesa, CA.
My home times alternate between Denver, CO and Inver Grove Heights, MN. I haven't been at Otay Mesa more than a few times in over 3 years.

 

True. I usually bobtail home, about 50 miles from Jurupa Valley. However my home is very secure, as long as the pit bulls are fed I can make it to the front door.

On the other hand if you live in an apartment building and plan on parking in the street, you'll likely be required to leave the bobtail at the terminal.

 

when I was helping out the ups lease the boss let me bobtail home every week and park it anywhere, when I first got to the Target account the site manager let me as well until the store that was supposed to be mt for me to stop on the way back turned into a sweep and swift trailer security blew up our phones about taking a load home....sweeps are no longer a loaded call but I just drive my own car back and forth to the dc now which is about 52 miles each way plus its easier than trying to work out loads going through Tehachapi on my fridays.

 

NO. NO NO NO NO [COLOR=#ff0000]NO![/COLOR]
​

(If I could have made that even bigger, and flashing, I would have.)

Don't even entertain the idea of a lease until you have at least a year of experience under your belt.

In your first year, you will damage your truck. You haven't yet learned what I call "space management"; where each part of your truck will be as you exercise a maneuver. How far does your tractor swing to the right when you are doing a driver's side back? Is that guard rail/post/tree/fire hydrant 50' away anywhere close to your backing path? How close to the trailers across from you will you get when backing up? You get so fixated on where the back corner of the trailer is heading that you don't consider the path your front bumper is taking.

When (not if) you break some plastic or dent some metal, you take a company truck into the shop and they fix it. Do it too many times, and Safety will want to have a word with you. With a lease truck, the cost of the repairs comes out of your settlement. Do it too many times, and your banker (DenaliMom?) will want to have a word with you about how to pay the rent.

Also, when you lease, YOU are running a business. A very expensive business. Ignore the siren song of total freedom and big paychecks; the drivers that make that kind of money aren't first year drivers, unless they happen to have an MBA. If you drive with the speed up against the limiter and getting fuel wherever you happen to stop for a 30 or a 10, you may find that you aren't making any more money than a company driver. Find where to save money. Fuel is your biggest expense, and the one you have the most control over. Where is the cheapest fuel along the route? Going to that other station on the next exit could save you $20 on your next fillup. Where does your truck get the best fuel mileage? Probably not when doing 68 MPH. There's a reason why all those Prime trucks are going so slowly. It's not because of their speed limiters; their company trucks are limited to 62 MPH, the same as ours. Prime has a rather impressive fuel mileage bonus program. Would you slow down a few MPH to make an additional 5 cpm? You can, when you are footing the bill for the fuel.

Speaking of the shop, if your company truck is in the shop for three days (which is typical, if they have to order parts), you see a smaller paycheck that week, then next week is back to normal. As a lease op, the fixed expenses (lease, insurance, and such) keep coming, so you are likely to see no check that week... and maybe none the next week, as well.

I've been solo for a bit over a year. I have over 120K dispatched miles (meaning closer to 150K odometer miles), nearly 500 loads delivered, 100% on-time performance, zero service failures, zero preventable accidents. (The aforementioned "bumps" have all been under the dollar threshold to be considered chargeable.) I would be a Platinum driver, if I wasn't on a dedicated account. I do plan to lease in the future (maybe in another year), but unless things change significantly, it won't be through Incredibly Expensive Leasing's rent-a-truck program. I want to own my truck, and IEL's program isn't set up to do that. (Before you get out the pitchforks and hot tar, please know that the so-called "balloon payment" at the end of the lease is the cash value of the used truck at turn-in. You have built exactly zero equity in that truck during your lease.)

Are you getting the idea that I think that leasing is a bad idea? I hope not, because it's a great idea... for some people. The rewards can be higher, but the risks are much higher. A couple of years' experience can go a long way toward minimizing that risk.

 

MsJamie, that post should be stickied for any newbie considering leasing.