Anyone here completed a lease with STEVENS?

From my experience: I have been driving since 1972. Was an O/O my last 18 years, then sold out and retired.
But after nearly two years, decided to go back on the road.
Found out no one would hire me without verifiable experience for the last two years, so had to start over.
I chose Stevens.
They have been excellent to me. They have done everything they promised and never renigged on anything.
I had to go thru the entire training program because as an O/O there was no DAC on me.
Came thru with no problem and upon entering grad fleet, they paid me the rate they promised (which was higher than new driver starting pay)
After two years, I joined the Alliance (lease) program and they have been good to me there too.
I get the miles, they get me home when I need (which isn't as often as others may want) and pay me promptly as promised.
What else can I say?

 

thats cool im not worried about getting home when i ran for trans am i stayed out 8 weeks at a time and would just take home time at the yard had my car there and would get a hotel and just relax no kids no girl no rent or anything so i just stay out and run

 

You will do well at stevens then,we usually have the freight and miles.

 

I went back and compared miles with other drivers I know that started at the same time I came back, but with other companies that 'paid more'.
In no case did any of them get as many miles as I did...by far in two cases. I figured my miles at Stevens starting rate ( I negotiated a higher driving rate after completing training) and I outearned each of those 4 drivers.
So it's not necessarily the rate you're paid. It's the whole package. Granted, there would not have been a whole lot of difference, but I still would have beat each of them. Two left their originial carriers in the first 6 months because they couldn't get the miles.

 

It seems to me that leasing a truck is essentially the same as making their payments for them and paying their fuel costs for them, that doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

 

I'm struggling to see how that pencils out myself Sarge .

 

Guys any of us on here will tell you its tough,but there are some us who do quite well on the lease side.And who cares if we are making a truck payment for them.In a round about way so do company drivers.Who cares what Im paying for if Im making more money than a company driver.The bottom line is the bottom line.You not think an O/O has to pay for his own fuel.Now having said all this I train,so I get extra miles to make even more money.Some guys can make it work,some cant.

 

Who is this clown.

 

then you do not understand business. Yes I take more risk as a lease operator, yet I make more money, have more freedom, and it works well for me. With your idea of what leasing involves, you would not make it, and would go broke.

 

Think of it this way: You are renting a tool that you will use to make money. If, when all is done, you have more money than what it cost you to rent the tool, you have made a profit.
"Equity", which is the buzzword of the un informed, is an etherial asset you can't eat.
Cash is what counts.
Who cares if you make someone's payment, so long as you make money yourself.
Do you think Walgreens owns those buildings they retail out of?
Hah!
It's a tool.
Or how about your local McDonalds franchise? you think they own those buildings?
You get to bill the same rate if you are buying or leasing a truck.
But if you're buying, your payment is higher, since you're paying the interest, depreciation AND THE EQUITY.
True, when you're finished buying, you have a paid for asset, but have you looked to see what a five or seven year old tractor with 800,000 or a million miles is worth? Not what they're trying to sell it for, but what it's worth. $12,000?
That means you will have paid that extra 12 grand out over the last five years, whereas leasing you keep that money and do what you want with it.
then, when your lease is up, you hand it back to the lease company and walk away. or buy it if you choose to. But you get to negotiate at that point.
I have done it both ways. From a purely business point of view, leasing is more attractive.
It would take me two pages to detail the advantages, and I'd probably bore you to death.
I had millions of dollars of equipment, trucks and more when I decided to close up and retire. I thought I had all this equity.
Ended up having to take pennies on the dollar, just so I could finish up and go home.
Now I lease. I don't worry about it. I look at what's left over after my costs (including my lease payment), divide it by my miles and find I make more money than I would (did) as a company driver.
Makes the decision easy for me.
But as others have said here. Leasing isn't for everyone. You have to work smart and hard for a good payoff.
But you don't try? You don't get!

FYI, I earned nearly 40 cents per mile after expenses (but before personal income taxes) with my lease since I started last August.