Eagle Logistics Services. Indianapolis, IN

I think you misunderstand.

In the first story, he had the option to either do nothing and end up ~$1300 in the hole, and play catch up the next week, or do what he did and help take care of those payments while he was gone. It's true that the math works out the same, but never underestimate the psychology of not being in debt (or at least not as far in debt). It feels better to get a paycheck then to not get one, and he made sure he'd be getting a check in his first week back. That's always a good thing.

In the second story, he didn't cancel any loads, he just had one load and took the initiative to add a second. So instead of taking his only load for the day, he took it and tried to grab a second. It shows good initiative and desire to succeed without having to be babysat.

 

He wasn't, and that's the problem.

Some people already understand what it is to be a good L/O driver, but a huge number of potential applicants don't know. That's why I said I really hope we get out driver orientation program up and running, entirely in-house with Eagle, as soon as possible.

Just got word it would be up and running July 6th, so if all goes to plan I'm pretty excited about that.

 

I think the real problem is going into debt in the first place because he wants some time off, im leasing a truck, and i take time off every week or every other if i cant find a load taking me through my house, and never once have i gone into the hole, not even close. So again, the real issue is if your not making enough that it only takes a few days at home to send you into the negative, then something needs to be done, whether its the company or the driver. My 2cents.

 

Well any time you take a true vacation, you're going to end up in debt. Almost every L/O driver with Eagle will have between $1000-$1400 in fixed costs per week, so regardless of how successful you've been to that point, a week off will cost you at least that much.

 

Eagle op can you post the agents list here

 

What has your experiance been with Eagle since you have started??

 

I didn't misunderstand the first at all. As for the ... meh. Getting as much revenue as quick as you can is what it's about. If he was doing it just to add to his "paycheck", not so much.

Which comes back to the first point ... the whole "paycheck" is a non starter. That is employee thinking, not business owner thinking.

I posted below in another thread ...

"This whole going in the hole thing is nonsense ... there's no such thing, if you're running your business right. It's just cash flow, your salary is an expense and it should never be such that you need all your cash flow to meet payroll.

To put in perspective and keeping with the season. You know why it's called "Black Friday". Retailers are in the "hole" for the first 11 months of the year, it's the Christmas shopping season when they finally break even and make a profit.

A single proprietorship trucking business is the same. Some weeks you make more revenue than others, some weeks you make none. The revenue from the flush weeks need to cover your expenses - including your payroll - of the lean weeks.

When you do your business plan, you need to know your payroll requirements - your salary. Then your lease business needs to throw off enough cash to meet your payroll, operating expenses, build a cash reserve and make a profit.

This is key reason so many fail at leasing, they look at their statement as a paycheck. Not as the accounts receivable that it actually is."

Now to follow up on this point ... there is a fundamental that separates a bad lease deal from a good lease deal .... it's the cost/profit equation.

The net revenue for any 7 day period, after variable costs - fuel, taxes and maintenance - needs to be more that twice the fixed cost for that 7 day period.

In other words, if you take 7 days off, the first seven days working should decrease you average net revenue by only 50%. 14 days off, your net should be at break even.

If Eagle's fixed costs are $1000-$1400, then a driver should expect to average $2000 - $2800 net revenue per week.

 

Do you drive for Eagle? I am curious what you think of your experience with them if you do?

 

No ... I'm following this doing my due diligence ... always looking at opportunities.

Follow fr8monkey's posts in here ... the most straight forward and with solid data that you can use for some solid modeling.

 

Awwwww,he beat me too it? Well I'll add MysticHZ is the resident swift business genius and trucking "machine" but he likes to come by and dispense his knowledge,stir the pot and generally whip us eaglets into some sort of shape.....I think he wants to eventually join us....if we can straighten up,and work out some of the bugs for him,haha......that or he is plotting a take over merger to seperate eagle from celadon.....jk.....