Thinking of going O/O, Forward Air or Summit Transport?

i'm doing the books on Q4 right now:

2 trucks averaged 2,700 or more after removing week 52
1 truck averaged 2,489 exactly even through the final week of the year - but its on a dedicated

The team truck averaged 5,932 after removing week 52 - drivers went home XMAS EVE through this saturday

 

Not significantly higher. Your fuel burn, insurance, etc etc etc etc is bigger set of numbers.

If I was O/O I would not pull anything less than 2.00 where possible per mile in 18 wheeler. And even then it's iffy. 2.50 a mile or three would be really good. I used to run for companies that averaged around 2.50 to 3.25 a mile on my loads.

 

is the 1.44 for senior guys or even for new guys coming in

 

Asking for new opinions on Forward Air. Who actually is leased onto them with their truck and are they successful today?

 

How are you liking it so far? I’m working on my CDL now and plan to be in a truck as an O/O within 18 months. I like the idea of terminal to terminal, plus I prefer to drive at night.

Thanks!

 

I've worked in 2 divisions of Forward Air. LTL and FAS.
LTL runs nights, and it's terminal to terminal unless you're doing airport work, which I covered tons of times.
All the BS of trucking is eliminated and I routinely cleared $3k+ per week. Everything runs smoothly, no one is angry, and dispatch is staffed w/ great people.
I ran over 3k miles per week in this division and was paid $1.08 for my hazmat endorsement. Considering how light the loads are and the fact that almost every minute of your 70 is profit, it's actually a decent wage.
I ran 30 day cycles just because I wanted to, and they helped me w/ any repair I was unable to cover.
Everything is drop and hook, there's always a place to park when you get into a terminal, there's showers in most terminals and the freight is always 30k or less. Typically you'll pull around 14 to 25k.
The FAS division (solutions) is store deliveries.
Some of the routes suck and it took me a year to get a dedicated route twice a week.
This division serves Marshalls, Home Goods and TJ Maxx stores.
Home goods is not palletized and can be hand unloads that take about 1.5 to 3 hours to unload for $150.
Not a great deal, but it's not horrible either.
TJ and Marshalls are all palletized w/ 26 pallets per truck load, less most times and anywhere from 2 to 4 stops on a run. The trailers used to all be roll ups, but there's a lot of swing doors in the mix now that make dock bumping a much slower process.
The pay is $1.03 / mile, and the loads are light.
I'm currently running Tucson to Lubbock twice a week and take home about $2500 and am home 5 nights a week.
It really boils down to how often you want to be home and that's going to mean less pay.
For me it's a good balance and the dispatch are really solid guys. You'll never reset on the road unless you're in the LTL division.
They're introducing forward facing cameras as being mandatory and I'm not a fan of that as there's no due process or appeal process to an arbitrary 3rd party to determine if you've done something wrong.
Like all companies, the safety department is the enemy. They're HR people who care nothing about you, they're not your friends, any issue will always be your own fault, and of course, none of them have ever driven a truck. Everything is black and white to them. And there's no room for error.
Safety will keep you walking on egg shells worried that they'll disqualify you for some thing you could've prevented.
They're the only bad thing I can say about FA. They're a nightmare to deal with.
Hopefully I've given you some clear insight.
Pay is fast, every Tuesday @ 5 a.m. and the fuel discounts are solid.

 

Read comment #26 I just wrote.
I don't lease, I own my truck. Lease Purchase is never a good deal, but FAF has tons of freight and the work is easy.

 

Just keep 2 things in mind if you're going owner op. Never take a lease purchase under any circumstance and most lenders won't touch you with a conventional loan without 3 years of experience.
This leaves you stuck as a company driver unless you lie to the lender.
Lie to the lender, if you can pull it off. If you're old enough, cite experience from the '90s, there's no way to disprove your claim and they'll lend you the money.
You'll typically need $6-7k down for a $55k used truck so be prepared. You're not leaving without a down payment.
Avoid Cummins ISX engines before 2016 as they were still working out the bugs, refuse California and North East loads, leave the mega carrier as fast as possible, and delete your DPF before you loose your tail in repairs.
Also, don't buy the premium 2k warranties w/ a used truck. It'll cost you an extra $7k and they won't repair anything, they'll just steal your money.
I'll tell you two things my dad told me years ago, and it's proven true regarding trucking
1) Everyone is out to screw you, so pay attention to everything involving your money (including settlements, repairs and cost of parts).
2) It's always your fault, even when it isn't.

 

actually its not bad for dry van,light weight,drop and hook no delays.Check out the spot market isnt much better and you dont have all the overhead.You guys are in for a rude awakening when it goes south like in 2008 and thats when Il’ll jump in,been waiting for used truck prices to plummet cause ain’t no way I’m paying what they want currently.I’ll wait til theres a bumch of repo’s.

 

Thank you. Some of you are drunk on 2018.... the hangover is going to hit ya!!