Saying "No"

have you even recieved a response yet from your fm? id wait on that before i speculate then i would make an informed decision as to what to do always remember this is a buisness and buisness is for profit so it is always acceptable to say no afterall look at it this way werner didnt get started hauling loads for free and you cant either

 

How do you make money? Those rates are pretty low.


You have to say no. You will go bankrupt running like that every day. A favor with something solid on the backside is better. Not getting roped into at all is best.

 

How much are you paying your driver...
(Gross before taxes taken off)

If the answer is very small, consider the outcome after 4-5 years or once "the truck is paid". You will have paid your driver how much at this time? And you will be left with a truck that will be worth how much? And in scenario 2, if you give the truck back tomorrow and drive someone else's what do the numbers look like then? You got into it with little to nothing so you may be able to exit relatively unscathed sooner rather than later if you realize you are digging yourself an ever deeper hole. Of course, if you are paying your driver significantly more than he can earn from driving someone else's truck then you are golden. Which in my mind is very difficult at those $1 + pennies per mile work, nevermind the peddling junk around while you may as well do nothing.

 

Most people don't grasp how to do the IFTA filings, owning own plates is difficult for them.

 

You cant buy the truck from who you work for. A company like land star or Mercer, you look at the load board and see what is there and pick it. There is lore to it than that, but it isn't handed to you.

When I was on with Mercer I wouldn't go to Laredo , since freight out sucked. I might if the money in paid enough for me to go 500 miles empty after words. But a % pay company is normally better. I would get 2.00 a mile to the truck down to Texas from upper Wisconsin. Then drive a day empty for my next load.

 

1°be polite. No raised voice . Be supercool. Think before you answer anything he says.

2°to throw him a bone you can tell him "1 misereble day a month"

3°make it clear that if there is no profit for you,you might as well sto0 the lease.

 

If FM & account mgr have a bad attitude towards you, then I think it's time to walk away.

 

Um... what am I missing here? How are those rates profitable? Like ever? Isn't cost per mile in the 1.10-1.40 range depending on the equipment/driver/fuel cost?

Seriously I'm routinely paying 2400 dollars on 830 miles (to FL but still... only have to make 800 coming back for it to be pretty decent)... I have a hard time believing that it's a good idea to own a truck that is committed to those rates contractually. I'm almost 100% certain you're better off as a company driver than as an 'owner operator' who is taking in 1.00 per mile.

EDIT: This deal is kind of like a subprime loan from a buy here pay here car lot. Yes the interest rate is really high, but the way you're REALLY getting ####ed is that they no longer have to answer to a bank on the collateral value of the car. As a result you end up putting 2k down, owing 10k and the metal you now 'own' is only worth 6k tops. The MOST they could have charged on a conventional loan is 8k and the most they could have charged you on an outside subprime loan is more like 7400 (90% of collateral value+ your down payment).

The WORST part of your deal isn't the actual details of your lease but the fact that you're forced to fish in their private pond where they get to set the rates any way they like. The spot market is up a ton for the year? Tough ####... They will be collecting all the revenue from that and the money you see won't be changing at all. The contract pays them 2.25 a loaded mile+ FSC? You'll still be getting a dollar a mile.

The whole reason these 'Owner Operator' programs exist is because they have a lower cost per mile than owning the equipment and paying a driver. Hint: the difference comes from your end. If you want to be a trucking company owner more power to you... But that means having sufficient credit/cash to buy a truck outright so that you can shop around for options based on the FREIGHT that companies have. Let them add a variable to the negotiation (the truck) and you're almost certainly about to take a pretty serious poking.

 

So sit for 4 hours today. Get set for tomorrow.