I have personally done the lease with FFE. This was before the duffs bought it.
I was moderately successful there but I had one of the best possible routes the company had. I did linehaul from terminal to terminal. All drop and hook little to no wait time, could run my clock to nothing if I knew I could make it to a terminal. 3500 miles was not hard to hit. Most of my loads were 20,000 to 30,000lbs. Excellent fuel economy.
Like you, I had no wish to own the truck. I wanted to take hometime when I wanted and for as long as I wanted. I wanted to make more than the company drivers. I did both of those things.
You don't have to have decades of experience to be a successful lease op. I started leasing 6 months after I started. That was the requirement back then. Leasing right away is a KLLM policy that I do not agree with.
Here are some hard truths to consider.
You are brand new. You do not know how to drive a truck. You don't know how to back a truck. And, you're going LTL. Before I started leasing I did many LTL runs. Many of those involved small docks in large cities. Blind side backing off main roads. Unloading freight by yourself. Finding the trailer is loaded backwards and your first stop is in the nose and your last is in the tail. The list goes on. The reason I mention these is simple. Time. It takes more time to negotiate these deliveries and pickups by far. More time means less daily productivity. That means fewer miles, late deliveries and pissed off customers. It also means you make less money.
More hard truths. FFE will not want you to use your own fuel card. 2 reasons. First is they do your ifta reporting for you. Second and most important is fuel discounts. When I was there is was pump price -.03 cents per gallon. They did not pass on the discounts to the driver. They kept the lions share for themselves.
Tires. I have seen mention of tire brands and rolling resistance on this thread. Good advice. At FFE you won't have the option to get these. Tires are good quality and scream fuel economy, seriously it's all over the sidewall, but they are not the ones mentioned in this thread.
You will be a number here. Nothing more, nothing less. Some guys love that and wouldn't want it any other way. Reading several of your posts I don't think you are that kind of guy. You seem to need more direction than this company will give.
Couple of tips.
Take your hometime in the middle of the pay week. Meaning you run a load and go home before the end of the pay cycle. Gives you revenue for the week at home and starts you in the middle of the next cycle to get a load in before cutoff. Means you can stay out of the hole and still take time off.
Don't play the fuel game. Fill up where it's cheap and the fuel tax is good. Don't be the 50 gallons guy to make this check bigger. If you're running your business week to week it will fail. Over the course of a month, a quarter and a year you will have paid less in fuel.
Pretrip and take care of your equipment. Catching a simple problem early is cheap and quick. Letting it fester to a big problem can be a lease killer.
I really think you should run company for a few months first. I'm a proponent for a good lease and this isn't one of the best ones. It can be profitable, but not for everyone.
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Any advise on saving fuel?? And fuel cards?? For lease driving what's the best way to save and maxim
Discussion in 'Lease Purchase Trucking Forum' started by Kwan23, May 24, 2017.
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TAfool, Kwan23, driverdriver and 2 others Thank this.
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Wow, we have 2 in one thread~! ^^^^
driverdriver Thanks this. -
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Kwan23 Thanks this.
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My trick is to set the cruise at 65 to 67. Keep your foot off the gas.
G13Tomcat Thanks this. -
Tires make a big difference! Proper inflation ! 10 or 13 speed ! Gear ratio! Additives dont work! Clean filtets fuel and air!
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