BEWARE!Universal Am-Can,Mason Dixon

I stay within 600 miles of my house and over 70% of what i do is drop and hook with no waiting. I don't really need to use a different agent. I spoke to another O/O with Universal and all he does is drop and hook for a furniture factory. He stays with the same agent as well. He has been with Universal for over 15 years.

I'm making very good money where I am and with the agent I'm with. I don't have any reason to try to fix it and go find my own loads.

 

The $ problem is usually with the contractor ( o/o ) not the company , like you stated the $ is paid by the load and can be put on your card as well as you can likely draw an advance on the load , just like at LANDSTAR.

They draw an advance , get a claim on the load and I DID NOT GET PAID , saw it loads of times when I was with LS , then its ALWAYS the COMPANIES fault.

 

dave o755 you dont know me dont you tell me i cant do my job!!!!!! you have no idea what my situation was. if your doing good with them thats good but dont insult me and say i dont know what im doing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I talked to a driver from Universal the other day while we were loading and I was discussing this thread with him. He explained it very well. Here's basically what he said.

"I started driving for Universal about 5 years ago. It wasn't easy. It was hard to figure out. I still had the company driver mentality. Just give me the load and I'll get it there. If something breaks then I call the company and just their money to get it fixed. I found out Universal doesn't work this way. You are basically on your own. You need to keep a truckstop directory in your truck. Or have a internet phone or someway to contact someone in case you break down. Universal might help you contact someone if you breakdown but YOU are responsible for the truck. NOT UNIVERSAL. It's like working for a dispatch service and you having your own authority. They don't bug you on the phone and they don't expect much from you except when you take a load they expect YOU to get it there because YOU accepted the load. Now for the driver you was talking about on that internet site. He didn't realize probably that Universal was this way. He was thinking like a company driver still just like I used to. You just have to understand when YOU buy a truck YOU are a business owner NOT just a company driver. You make more money as an O/O because you are a hired contractor NOT an employee of the company. It took me a long time to realize the difference. You can go home anytime you please because it's your truck and YOU are in command of it. Some companies want to still rule over the O/O just like they do their company drivers and usually those are not that great when it comes to pay. They offer benefits such as assisting in driver breakdown and babysitting but usually they don't pay much as a trade off."

Universal pays pretty good in my opinion. They keep me very busy as well. It's just they WILL NOT babysit the O/O. If you need money then call the bank. If you need breakdown assistance then call a truckstop or a dealer. They don't have your back when it comes to running your business. To me this isn't a bad thing. I left home when I was 17 and never looked back. I don't need a babysitter. I thought long and hard before I bought my truck. I knew what I was getting myself into. So far except for that first company I was leased onto I have no regrets.

 

What are the deductions with universal? i have my own authority do they accept O/O with their own authority? Are there any trl fees? Are they percentage co or miles?

 

I read these whole thread through and I can see the point that sixdogtruckin is making and the major errors in judgement made by him and the company.

My thoughts are that you should not have to even consider asking the company you are with for a loan besides maybe a fuel advance once in a while. But companies do need to stand behind their o/o more than what they are doing. I'm not saying that the % they take is suppose to be used as loan money if it is ever needed...that money is for the company to operate on and show profits with. If a company has no profits it won't be able to survive plain and simple.

With that being said, the company would of been better suited to help you get a rental truck to keep moving freight while yours was down. Not only does this generate revenue for you and the company it keeps the customers happy. My truck went down twice in the past 4 months (second time due to bad workmanship from the first breakdown) and both times my carrier setup a rental for me to run for the duration of the repairs. All the was required was that I pay my insurance company to get the truck insured and Penske billed my carrier directly. Then my carrier deducted the exact amount out of my settlements with no added charges and proper documentation.

As for the company repowering the load...thats their right to do it and look into your lease contract they probably state that fact along with you being responsible for any expenses incurred to get the load delivered. Is this the right way to handle the problem? Yes and no, but thats the way it happens.

 

Hey dave_0755
i am with universal and you can get your own loads off the load board, you can go threw any agent you want. i haul loads threw many different agents. i have also negotiated high frieght rates with jbkunt and other nitwit trucking companies then call my favorite agent and have him book it. unfortunately even thow i like universal. i cant stay ever since jan i have been over 30 days late on my truck payment, i am now nearly 3 months late. i have decided to get a load home and call the lender and im gonna tell them to come get the truck, cause it is a loosing battle. listen there is no way in heaven or hell any owner operater can stay in business on percentage pay unless you get over 85 % and you own the trailer or there is no trailer rental. frieght is just too #### cheap and not much out there. if i could have kept the truck i would have moved to a milage pay carrier. anyway. i have had it with trucking so im gonna be leaving the industry for a while. good luck with universal.

 

Sorry to hear that turgeo. I paid cash for my truck and pay cash for my breakdowns. Universal pays me very good. I get a very good settlements.

Not to piss anyone here off but as long as you are leased onto a good company that will keep you moving and your expenses are low you should make it as an O/O. The first company i was leased to, they didn't keep me moving and the load pay was crap. I almost went broke with a paid for truck!!!!

I would never be an O/O with a truck payment and I wouldn't even think about a lease purchase deal from ANY company.

I broke down in Dallas this week. My alternator belt broke while I was getting unloaded. I just ran over to the TA and got both belts put on. It cost me $165 I paid it went and got my next load and kept on trucking. It's like that when u don't have overhead. It's so much easier.

It took me over 10 years to save up enough money to where I could buy a truck and get money in the bank to where I could feel comfortable to be in business for myself. I won't get rich anytime soon but I'm making a good living.

If everything goes ok from here on out. I might buy another truck sometime next year and hire a driver to see if I can make money with both trucks. I will be extremely picky on who I hire though. He will totally understand it's my truck and he will drive it the way I would or we will part ways. We shall see how it goes.

 

I'm not meaning to pick on you personally, you just happen to have brought it up so I am going to use you to prove a point.

I also shredded an alternator belt this week. I pulled off at the first T/A that was ahead of me. They didn't have any in stock, but they called their local Napa and had a set delivered to them. Total cost of repair to me was $46.02 for the two belts, and 30 minutes of my time to put them on myself.

You were going to lose that time anyway by having them do it(probably even more time lost by having them do it actually.), so why would a person pay over $100 extra just to have someone else do something that they could do their self? That makes no sense to me.

It is my opinion that a guy should do as much as possible them self in regards to repairs. This not only saves you huge amounts of money, it also helps to form good habits, and it also lets you get to know your truck better so that you are more likely to spot an arising problem sooner.

Like I said, I don't really mean to pick on you specifically, but instead, I was making some generalizations. I see it all the time, guys go running to the T/A or Petro shop for the simplest little repairs that they could do on their own. I can't do much but shake my head and go on about my business.

As for your aspirations toward expansion, I will simply say; Good Luck with that.

 

turego--I have to take issue with your claim that you can't make money on a percentage contract unless it is over 85%. We pay our contractors 68% pulling our trailer (no rent), or 75% pulling theirs. We have 15 contractors on this program, and have had no turnover in the last 2 years, and very little that I can remember. Many of our contractors have been with us over 20 years. We focus on lanes where we can keep MPM high, deadhead low, and get a FSC. We encourage contractors to run the same way we run our trucks. We try to share our knowledge and purchasing power with them. I know a lot of companies that pay between 70-75%, and their drivers make money.