Leasing at Prime

Yes I can do that for you.

Because I run a dedicated regional route in the Pacific Northwest where prime doesn't have a huge freight network in they don't have the same buying power for fuel up here as they do for the rest of the country. What that means is they don't get the huge discounts like they normally do. Prime has to negotiate with each location we have in our network to get the discounts they get and it's always based on volume. That's why you hear guys talk about how the fuel solution we get makes no sense sometimes when it'll send you to a more expensive location when right across the street it's ¢3-4 cheaper. That's because they have to meet those volume requirements to keep those discounts each month.

Another factor is that all those places that give you "free" showers or points with each fill up are really charging you for it in the fuel price. So you do end up paying for those anyways. It just make you feel good when you can use points to buy an over priced truck stop item.

Now because of the account I'm on and were I deliver the trailers everyday the last location prime has for me to fuel at is just before a scale house and the shipper I pick up at everyday has me get an empty weight so the can fill me up to 79,990 lbs. If I fill up at that location I would be overweight by a lot going across that scale.

Since I've been doing this now for over 3 months I've learned that based on which series of trailer I'm using what the max fuel I can have on board by the time I get to the shipper and filling up at the one place that's in route to the shipper I wouldn't burn enough of the fuel by that point and would then be overweight when I got loaded at the shipper. We are contracted to carry so much product on this account and any time I have to have it cut I get an unhappy message from sales asking me why, lol.

Long story short I guess. Since I'm on a dedicated account this works best for me. Plus one if the fueling locations is 2 blocks from where I drop the loaded trailers so I can fill up the trailer and my truck and not worry about overweight issues at that point. The trailers I use have a 75 gallon tank and not the typical 25-35 gallon tank the OTR trailers have.

There are other fueling networks out there as well that would be cheaper then prime for OTR drivers, you just have to research them. I get a daily price quote for how much my cost per gallon is at the network I use and compare it to prime's prices using the prime app everyday. I'm actually heading to Springfield this weekend and will be using Prime's app to determine where I'll fuel padded on the prices I see regardless of what there fuel solution says.

The other part I like is I get billed for the fuel every 2 weeks and then have 18 days before they automatically debit my checking account. This way I'm not worrying about did I fill up to much on this load or that just before payroll cut off and then you're screwed with a small check or no check that week.


I hope that helps,

Redoctober

 

Excellent explaination! ^^^^^ ^^^^^



To throw a bit more to you........

As an OTR guy, I look at all fueling possibilities across my entire route as part of preplanning. I first look at price (true base fuel cost, not pump prices) and plan my partial & fill up strategy to maximize this.

While the QC many times agrees, most of the time I can do much better. Have to realize that QC has you stop no matter at 1/4 tank. If you know the actual/factual milage your truck is getting on paper (not by dash display or QC, always inaccurate), you should know exactly how far you can go at interval (within your own safety margin) & plan your strategy accordingly. You also get familiar with how weight, terrain, trailer series & features, etc. variably affect your vehicle milage with time.

I also see QC picks at times that are above other nearby network fuel that is lower, sometimes across the street. I also think contractual obligations MAY have one thing to do with it, too. Although, it may just be nature of an "infallable" machine at times, too.

Hey, it works good enough to have me #2 on my board of O/O & L/O for fuel cost. Now, to figure out how to take out that #### guy above me.............? If I could just find some FREE fuel, I just may knock him off! LOL

 

SInce it's been a few days anyone has posted in here and with IP gone and I really don't want to see this thread die.

I had posted this information on another thread earlier today and wanted to bring it over here because of how usefull I think it can be for drivers looking at becoming a lease op at Prime and especially for drivers that currently are lease ops.

I just spent 48hrs at Springfield to accomplish a couple things that I jsut couln't get done over the phone. Somethings are just to #### important and require looking your dispatcher, sales and the planner in thier eyes. Also, while I was there I took the ACE 2 class. For me the class was pretty much a waste of a day, but for most of the drivers that lease at Prime, YOU NEED TO GO!!! The ACE2 Class is basically Business and Accounting class 101 for being a lease op. I think they should teach this to all new drivers before they sign a lease, but I understand why they make you wait at least 6 weeks before you can take it. It's much easier to show you with your own numbers how your business is doing and hwere you can improve. For me, I had all the numbers already and knew exactly where I was at.

While I was at the terminal I had conversastions with a few drivers and students and I noticed a theme: they were either happy about the rate per mile they were getting on the load they were on or they were pissed and blamed there DM for giving them a crappy load. I have had some days where I want to scream when I get a load that is paying crap but then I realized it's not always about that one load, it's about the average of all the loads for that week, month or year.

Here is an example of what I mean. My 10 0day round trip from Seattle to Springfield and back basically took me 3 loads to do. the round trip. I went from Seattle to Springfield, stayed 48 hours in Springfield for the ACE2 Class and take care of a few things with my dispatcher, sales and the planner. Then from Springfield to FT Worth and FT Worth to Portland. My gross revenue per mile for this tri-haul is $1.38/mile for 4,406 dispatched miles. Not to bad most drivers I think would say. Now for the breakdown.

The breakdown would be Seattle to SPRIMO, 1995 miles @ $1.47/mile, SPRIMO to FT Worth, 439 @ $1.66/mile and FT Worth to Portland, 1972 @ $1.23/mile. Grand total of 4,406 miles @ average $1.38/mile. Not to bad for a round trip in 10 days. The thing is, a lot of drivers would be freaking out over the $1.23/mile load saying it pays to little and isn't worth there time (I did as well when I got it), but when you look at the average overall for this roundtrip you're making a gross revenu of $1.38/mile. That is how you should be looking at running a successful business here at Prime. Just to help with my example here, my overall average gross revenue since I started leasing in Janurary with Prime is $1.86/mile and my net revenue is $0.83/mile.

These are real numbers and an example of how you should be looking at your business here at Prime and if IP was still around he would be preaching the same thing, KNOW YOUR NUMBERS!!! Just seeing you have a positive check each week to the truck (which by the way is money that belongs to the truck not the employee. The truck pays the employee/driver a salary) doesn't mean you are actually being profitable.

Good luck,

Redoctober

 

I lease at prime on the refer side, and I would like to jump to flatbed. has anyone done these? my lease is not up, I been with prime for about 8 months. lease the whole time would I have to get a new truck and would I have to get a new despatch? The latter would bother me at all. I wanted to start with flatbed, but I did not have a full year of experience when I came to prime so my recruiter said they would not take me.

 

@redoctober83 - I don't like to look at rate per mile, with as variable as it is. I look at it purely as revenue gained versus expenses managed. I am much happier that way.

 

I completely understand that way of looking at it since I look at it that way as well. I know what my net profit since I've started leasing has been as well. The point I was trying to get across was you need to know these numbers. You need to know how much it costs you to operate your truck per mile, per day, and per month. What are you fixed costs? How much revenue so you need to bring in each week to cover the fixed costs, the variable costs and your salary?

The thing with this business is knowing your cost per mile so you can see if you're on track for the week to be profitable. It also allows you to make decisions on if you should sit and wait for another load or take the one offered knowing it's going into a region where the freight is higher.

It doesn't matter how you look at your numbers as long as you know them, what they mean, and how operate your business profitability and meet you personal finance goals. That's my main point.

My second point with that post was to show drivers that you need to look at everything by the week and month, not just by the day or load. If they only look by the load you'll be stressed and complaining about how bad everything is.

To sound like a broken record, KNOW YOUR NUMBERS!!! The only way you'll be very profitable here.

Good luck,

Redoctober

 

Speaking of numbers, I use Apple Numbers for ipad/iphone for my personal cost and revenue tracking. If anybody wants copies of my spreadsheets, I can happily send the templates via email.

 

Red October, what kind of truck are you leasing, and what's your average mpg?

 

I have a 2015 Freightliner Evo. My average MPG sucks since I am constantly climbing the cascade mountain range every day at 80,000 lbs. I usually average 7.32mpg.

Redoctober

 

all you prime drivers be on the lookout for the little guy trucker, he is now at prime.