CR England "beware"

Tell me how they control how much I make? I have fixed costs. I have varible costs that are based on paid miles. As with almost any job, you have someone else in control of figuring out what you made and what you take home. They figure out the deductions and the expenses. If I wanted to do all that myself, Id become a true owner-operator.

As far as the financial bondage part, I can leave anytime I want. I can turn the keys in and go my seperate ways pretty much anytime I see fit. Supposedly I can get a negative mark on my credit score if I cancel this lease before the end of its term, but thats with any kind of the lease. In alot of ways, thats why its called a lease in the first place.

I have more control than you think or even give me credit for. I may not have "owner-operator" control, but again, Im not an O/O. Im not really even an I/C, even as much as England likes to label what my wife and I are doing. I know I cant choose my own loads persay, but I have no reason to to. But, I assure you, if there is a special place I have in mind that I want to go to, I simply request it.

But again, if you want total control on what you haul and where you haul it, go be an O/O or go work for a company that gives you option.

I have recourse.

You sure about that??

Ive outlined it already a few quotes ago. They drop the ball and not keep me busy, I turn the truck in.

***sigh***

I have no reason to. As long as they keep me busy, I could care less if the trailer thats beghind me all the time says England on it.

I think we both know I shouldnt have to answer this.... With some of what I said, it should be self-explanitory.

Define exactly what you mean by equity... If Im on the right page, I wont get anything out of this truck when I turn it in because I dont intend to keep it. Im basically renting this truck to do my job just as a contractor would rent a back hoe.

Not ecxactly. If you do your job like you said you would when you signed the dotted line on the contract, you really shouldnt have anything to worry about, or at least to the extent of what your probly thinking when you wrote what Im replying to.

Well, unless I see some real reasons to be concerned, I feel no reason to be alarmed in any way, no offense. Ive been leasing this truck for over a year and a half now. Most people, according to the norm of posts and threads on this site, dont even make it past the six-month mark. In a way, its kind of like, if you can make it 6 months, you shopuld be in the clear. I dunno, what do you think?

So, with this right here, its always the company's fault, huh?? Not one shred of a chance that maybe, just maybe, one person actually was at fault? Well Im sorry sir, if I dont fall for these sob stories like you apparently do just like so many others. I work for this company. With all thats been said here, I really cant remember out of all the people ive had the pleasure conversing with on this subject who have actually drove for England but its kinda disturbing that Im at a loss of sugesstions to get people to realize that yes, there are people in this world that can take on such a supposedly tough task as "fleacing" for a company who everyone wants to call a bottom-feeder and make it work. As Ive said before, Im not by any means getting rich. Am I making money? Yes.

People need to realize that company's like England are starter companys. Yes, they do have a few or so 10, 15, maybe even 20+ year experienced drivers for them, but the majority is new drivers. We all gotta start somewhere whether its with England, Swift, Werner, Prime..... If you wanna make killer money, well, you gotta start from the bottom. Theres a reason why most companies that pay much better wages wont hire anyone with zero experience. Thats where these "bottom-feeders" come in. Start there, get some experience and after a few years, move on. But dont expect "many years experience" pay at a company that mostly pays "newbie" wages.

Again, I dont need multiple customers. England gets load, they assign the load to my truck, they pay me to haul the load. Plese explain whats so wrong about this.

 

Exaclty. It is not a true business when you have little control of it. Be a real business and step out on your own.

 

Great, now i got two business experts tellin me otherwise.....

Exactly how is not a true business?

 

Control is an illusion. There is no business that you have that much control over, there are many factors that are out of your control, even if you have your own authority. What anyone does have control over concerns ability, work ethic, talent, and skills.

 

It is apparent (from this and other posts elsewhere on the forum) that your need to be "right" far exceeds your desire to learn. I wish you good luck.

 

I'll still be around in a year and a half, after that truck is turned in, and the shop does their bit... and his maintenance account is whacked all to hell... but losing $3/4/5k in an ACCOUNT, that you never really see, isn't like actually taking money out of the ATM and spending it $20 at a time, so they'll likely not miss it.

 

Yeah, whatever.

As I said, give me a reason to be concerned. I got no problem doing what I said I would and signed up for. If I didnt agree with the contract, I wouldnt have signed it.

Finally, you are treating this like the business at hand is runnin a trillion dollar bank on Wall Street.....

This reminds me.....

You claimed before that you knew you were gonna owe like 1500 bucks on other things when you turned the truck in but they said it was gonna take like another 4 grand or so for "questionable" repairs, correct? Now, whether or not these repairs were actually needed, Im assuming not because you even said that when you questioned them about the back of the sleeper supposedly having to be repainted, they said basically tough poo poo or somethin, anyways, why didnt you seek legal action against them for false repairs? Hell, if a woman can get 300 thousand dollars out of Mc Donalds for burning herself with hot coffee, you shoulda had some kind of case.


But still, I like your consistant attitude on everything that happened to you will happen to everyone else..... Its rather funny, actually.

BTW, I freind of ours had to end his 3-year lease about a year and a half early because of a medical condition and all he had to pay for in repairs was the damage he caused. They didnt "dream up" repairs that magically and coincidentally added up to the ammount in his maint fund. I dunno, maybe they did and he lied about it..... But you know what, why would somebody lie about that?

 

First, Corneilious seems to be doing ok at England - so maybe you guys ought to lay off. He made his bed there, is layin' in it and seems to be comfortable. Granted, that doesn't necessarily seem to be the average experience, but he's making it work.

Second, Ronin is right about the escrow funds Corneilious... and you should be concerned. OOIDA sued England in federal court over how they were handling those accounts - and won big time on it. It looks like the settlement is going to cost England millions of dollars to repay previous lease-ops what they bilked them out of. Just because they were caught mishandling escrow accounts in violation of federal law in the past, doesn't mean they've mended their ways - and you should be thinking about how you're going to handle that situation when the time comes to turn-in your tractor.

 

Thanks, IP.

Sad thing is, my wife and I really arent trying all that hard to do good at this company, even while leasing. We just, drive the truck. Also, we do have a healthy amount coming out of our check going into our downtime fund just incase we need it. Plus, we have a little extra taken out to go in our tax fund as well so if we need some of that, its there to be used as well. We have had a bad rash of repairs, though. Thank God fer the downtime fund. Also, we dont have to live off cash advances, either. I mean, we get'em every once in a while, like comin off a long hometime...

I dont recall him saying anything about the Escrow funds, I thought this was more-less him warning me about unnecessary repairs when the truck gets turned back in.

 

Interestingly... and I'll be glad to post the name of the CRE attorneys I spoke with... I DID pursue action against them. I first tried to explain and settle the matter pre-litigation. Being an expert witness in automotive cases and a former service manager, it was easy to dissect the repair orders (same ADP program that's in most dealerships)... and explain what I figured was needed and what wasn't.

The service manager had already referred me to the legal department. I worked with the legal dept for about 6 months, hit a wall continually, and began contacting Utah attorneys. I could not find a SINGLE Utah attorney that would go up against them. I asked my wife's grandpa, Mormon bishop, about this oddity... having worked with many lawyers who were VERY willing to jump on a case, especially when it was involving a retainer and not on contigency.... but grandpa advised that no Mormon attorney would cross a Mormon business, especially one as strong on the church as the Englands. I spent over a year trying to find an attorney in Utah... the church is stronger than the dollar there, and that's a rare scenario.

Serious Catch 22... sure, I could sue them, willing to pay a retainer, and I'd provide all the base information as well as expert work... and couldnt find a lawyer who wouldn't hind behind religion. Made me want to puke.

So, with all of your "success", and high and mighty attitude, and ability to laugh at me... you can go pleasure yourself, as far as I'm concerned.

I've drawn up an entire thesis on the events.. my whole experience there, and the legal conundrum afterwards... and will be forwarding it to a couple of journalists I know and have worked with over the years.