Prime's lease deal. The math gets done.

I have been doing a lot of research for the last year and i think that prime is the way to go at least for me that is.

 

A lot does depend on your FM, but the same can be said about any company. The TRL dispatchers (we picked up when we bought them) were in the habit of running their trucks until they hit $4k in gross revenue to a truck during the week, and then letting them sit...

It's the same situation now with the freight rates being crappy, especially being January and February. You can tell just from the highways... most of the 80-mph-cowboys have parked their trucks! That's when it's really important to make every load count, even the poor paying ones.

That hasn't changed much, although we are picking up Dole loads out of Manatee. It's unfortunate that the Smithfield plant down there is closing... one less opportunity in an area that doesn't have much outbound freight. That OJ load is a heck of a lot better than a deadhead anywhere at least it covers your fuel cost to get to a better load... that sure beats the heck out of paying for that fuel yourself!

It's about averages. We're getting a lot of very good paying hazmat loads right now, but to get back to one of those good paying loads, you take an average to poor load to get there. You can't judge your overall results based on one or two loads, and that isn't something that changes based on the state of the economy. Not everywhere has an economy based on production (FL is a great example!) - consumer areas just won't pay as well - and it depends on the availability of trucks to haul that freight. Too many empty trucks are going to depress freight rates just as much as a bad case of no-freight-to-haul disease.

Nothing has changed about staying out... if you want to be home every couple of weekends, then OTR anywhere is not going to work for you.

The last few years have been "flush times" for all of the industry. We're now in one of the cyclical downturns. Granted, it's not a very good period to be an owner-op or a lease-op, but it is what it is. When you can't work the revenue side of the equation, it's time to work the overhead side.

Too many drivers don't understand that being a lease-op is a small business, and as such you have to run a monthly profit/loss statement. It's even more critical now in bad times than in the good times - it's about pennies, not dollars - and a P/L statement shows you where those pennies are. One has to squeeze those extra pennies per mile out of being careful with equipment and especially fuel - you've just got to be efficient in these kind of times. And a driver just can't be taking every dollar out of each settlement and putting it in his pocket; there's got to be some reserve built into the revenue stream. Pay yourself a wage, and stick to it.

It's really tough right now for solo lease-ops. One of the teams I keep up with told me they just had their best January ever. So things aren't uniformily bad. Best advice: If you're starting at any company right now - stay company until the economy turns around. Now is not the time to be trying to launch a business, especially if you've never done it before.

Enough soapbox for tonight... it's unfortunate that your experience here at Prime wasn't a good one. Personally, I have a good relationship with my fleet manager (they are paid a small base and a large commission based on how well they run their fleet) and I believe he is getting me the best loads he can given the state of the economy and the part of the freight cycle we're in. Yup... it's not good, but then again my wheels are mostly turning, I have a job that's putting money in my pocket and I'm confident that Prime is going to come out of this little economic H-bomb stronger and in a better position to compete than when we went into it.

Good luck to you supersnackbar!

 

Info / opinions that are 8 years and 5 months old ( 9/11 reference ) is not worth much. Things have changed in that time period. Anyone looking for DETAILS or INFO on "ANY" company needs to base it on TODAY's INFO.

The FM that was this or that is likely gone , poor paying customer is likely with another carrier , junk equipment is long gone ( now have NEW junk equipment lot of EGR problems with new trucks)

Would you buy a new car based on your 3rd cousins next door neighbours opinion of a Chevy Impala that he owned in 1999 , not likely so why base your decision on employment in the same manner.

 

When I was there, the teams were actually doing ok as well. But there is no way I could ever do the team thing.

The best money I made there was when fuel prices went up...they did have a good surcharge that kept up with prices.

 

I tried prime could not make a dime then we got into it they fired me told me they took ins. off truck so i drop truck at drop yard no they put crap on my dac record they need to be shut down crazyjimmy

 

Yeah OK

 

reading that just hurts my eyes and confuses my brain.

If you dropped it at a "drop yard" then you didnt drop it where you where supposed to... Now if it was a terminal... then you might have a defense.

 

Be an even better DEFENCE if he actually worked there something not right about the TOOK INS.OFF TRUCK.

Last thing I would do if someone with 1 of my trucks was not sitting in the yard and was getting TERMINATED would be dropping the INSURANCE.

 

A crazy thing in the O/O side of things. How many prople have heard that "I will take a low paying load to get a high paying load'? If O/O's will let those low paying loads sit there they will pay more to get it moved. DONT HAUL CHEAP FREIGHT. Your hurting everyone in this industry. Let those "BIG" companys haul cheap freight. They can't haul everything. Sooner or later people will pay more to move there freight.

 

Yup he never worked there, never had one of their trucks... Prime is self insured, who are they going to call to "took the ins off truck". Why would ANY company take insurance off $80k worth of equipment in the first place? Easy - THEY WOULDN'T!!!

And how exactly do you get "fired" from a place you are leasing a truck from? The only way I can come up with is if crazy jimmy (a lot of info in the name) was a screw up in the first place and was constantly late picking up and dropping off loads - they will NOT put up with that very long... and then you starve because they won't run you.

If you dropped it off at a "drop yard" you abandoned the truck, so yes they put crap on your DAC. You have to return it to the terminal in Springfield so you can sign paperwork to terminate the lease. When they say "it's a walk-away lease" they don't mean you can walk away from it where ever it is sitting at that time.

Problem with lies are they don't make any sense.