Saying "No"

of course they give you the keys 0 down,and pay the base plate. for the rates they pay they'de be stupid not to throw out every set of keys they can.

do you see how you really are a company driver yet? 'cept you get to pay for their equipment too.

correct,they don't care.

 

and i aint' picking on you,roteck. but you lease purchase and sign on guys get this treatment because they got yer balls in the vice. you guys get treated worse than the company drivers cuz a company driver will just quit,and good drivers are hard to find. so they just squeeeeeeeeze you instead. cuz you aint going anywhere with their base plates and or lease agreement.

 

You are going to spend a lot more than 2 hrs doing 4 d/h

 

Yeah... go get a good company driver job and save your money. When you're making 50-60k a year you can take the bigger paycheck and save the extra money for the truck fund. When you've got ~50k (should be sooner than your 2.5-3 years) you're ready to go get yourself a raise by owning a truck. I'll be here paying 3 bucks a mile on produce and flatbed stuff when you do.

 

Refusing loads to and from Chicago is financial suicide for a long hauler in my opinion.

Chicago is THE great crossroads of the upper midwest. If you won't go, you've cut yourself out of a boatload of potential freight.

Look, I get it. I hate, loathe, and despise Chicago myself. But I go in and out and even through with a grin pasted on my mug. Why? Cause I'm getting paid.

Wanna avoid a city? Avoid Pittsburgh, or NYC, or LA. A lot of us do for long established, valid reasons. Well...I don't avoid Pittsburgh, but I'm almost a local there.

 

Seriously, you are no where near even contemplating that.

 

I've never been an owner op but did drive for Werner.You'll be sitting a day or two in Larado you're not getting paid to sit are you?If you don't take the load you'll never hear the end of it.How about you negotiate with dispatch for a fair price.

 

A truck is a cost not an asset. That's how the company sees it, and that's how you should look at it. You took responsibility for a lot of costs (truck payment of 350/week, maintenance, fuel of .336 per mile) to get what sounds like 1.20 a loaded mile w/FSC instead of at least .40 a loaded mile free and clear. You are literally getting poorer every mile you drive.

And it's definitely possible to make WAY more than .40 per hub mile as a company driver somewhere. You need to take another lap around the job market and have your mind blown by what's possible. There are guys in this forum making 1500-1800 a week driving trucks. All you have to do is find a trucking company or private company that sincerely needs truck drivers to run hard and efficiently.

You become an owner operator because you're ready to take the trucking company owners cut of the profit away from him because you have the money part and the business part covered. Not because you are randomly responsible for owning the truck.