Current Prime Lease-Operators: discuss your experiences here

Yeah I knew about the trainer turning the trainer out for a week or so as a solo. Initially from my trainer 3 years ago and then from a couple airbags in the driver's lounge.

Just never heard of anyone actually doing it.

 

It takes a few phone calls & the trainer is more than made aware that anything that happens (good, bad, or ugly) it's all on him.

Trainee (if started as a C-seat) has to be over 50K miles... well... HAD to be... how they may work it now that they are dropping C-seats to 40K, who knows?

Quick story... my trainer, in addition to everything else, was(is) a bit of a smart*ss... I happened to catch the last part of his conversation with safety about it as I was getting back in the truck from running in to get fuel receipts...

Safety: ...remember, if something gets screwed up it's going to be on you.
Trainer: Heck, I'm not worried, he can run & drive this truck near as good as I can.
Safety: How long have you been driving?
Trainer: 14 years
Safety: You mean to tell me he's that good already?
Trainer: Either that or I s*ck.
Safety: (extended laughter) OK, well, then have a nice vacation, happy anniversary, & tell Wayne I said good luck.


Yesterday afternoon my phone rings... it's my trainer...

Trainer: So, how'd the testing go?
Me: piece of cake, no problem, I'm an A-seat.
Trainer: D*mn, I thought I paid Joe enough to fail you so you'd have to come do another 20 on my truck

 

Been wonderin' where you've been... congrats on the A-seat!

The fuel page gives you a big picture look at prices...

 

Dix are those rates what is paid to the truck? And does that include fuel surcharge?

 

That would be the case... we get a breakdown of the parts (linehaul, fuel surcharge, reefer surcharge, accessorials) - but "estimated gross" would be the total paid to the truck. The key number on the lease side here is not the per mile rate - that tells you how hard you're going to be working - but the gross revenue to the truck for the week.

 

Ok,I was under the impression reefer paid more. Has Prime increased their rates this year?

 

Actually they did increase rates, and I've been a recipient of that! Keep in mind that fuel has gone up substantially since last year - and even though fuel surcharge has gone up as well, if you happen to be in an area of the country whose average base price is above the fleet average you're gonna take a hit on your wallet.

Dix generated almost $4400 in gross revenue to the truck. Now he doesn't show his fixed costs (and there's more in the variable side to consider) in that, but he'd have around $1100 (conservatively) net before taxes in his settlement. That's on about 2700 dispatched miles, or about $1.63 in gross revenue per mile. That isn't bad.

It'd be interesting to see his settlement statement and do a little analysis from that. I suspect that his fuel cost is probably around 20 cpm... which can be improved quite a bit through a better buying strategy than macro 27. Macro 27 does a reasonable job in a pinch, but it has a couple of problems - one is that it assumes you're an idiot who can't interpret what the "E" mark on the fuel gage means. The second problem is that the company can direct you to a fuel stop that needs the business - not necessarily giving you the lowest price. Its designed to keep company drivers out of trouble, and keep them from bankrupting the company through fuel purchasing at their favorite truckstop chain.

See, the real trick with this is not moaning about rates or how much loads pay... the only thing you can reasonably do about the gross revenue side of the equation is to make yourself available as much as possible. And yeah... those trips around $1.20 a mile are ones I'd think about turning down - depending on the lane and time of year. Its about containing costs - you need to be a durn penny-pinchin' miser on the road. Your number one controllable cost is fuel, and there's two ways to attack it... loose the lead foot (fuel economy) and buying cheap. If you're efficient enough in running your business, you'll make money at this.

 

^^^^ What he said ^^^^

I deliberately left out the fixed costs of this particular case because it would have been misleading... remember, this is a trainer's truck so my fixed weekly pay also comes out of that which would seriously skew the net... but even after that added cost I still pulled a profit into the truck... as a solo on a limited routing schedule... not bad indeed IMO.

Yea, somewhere between 1100-1300 or so was what we figured a solo lease-op would have cleared... depending on exact fixed costs (which do vary some by exact truck year/make/model) & how much fuel mileage could be squeezed out of that particular truck.

Of course, fuel mileage-wise I had it easy... the new DD15s get great fuel mileage... my average for that week was 7.4... & I had one run from Joliet to just outside Nashville that was tight time-wise... I had it on the limiter most of the way down for that trip.

I pulled up the macro 27s but ended up not using the suggested fuel stops either time because the price I got from the fuel desk beat the macro.

1st time was 1st load out of Reed City MI... suggested stop was at a Love's somewhere along I-94 in IN... I called and asked about Gary IN and got a price that was 6c cheaper... my guess is that Macro 27 won't go "out of route" for fuel... now my route was to pick up I-65... well, the T/A in Gary is only about 4-5 miles up from where you pick up 65 off 94.

Other one was Nashville... I was in Lebanon & had a pickup in Murfreesboro... suggestion was to fuel up in Lebanon at the Pilot were I was at... I called & got 3c cheaper in Nashville at the T/A... I had fuel enough to make my pickup & then fuel up on my way through Nashville... so why not?... apparently macro 27 doesn't like it if you get below 1/4 on the fuel gauge... but I had 30 gal at least on board... plenty to deadhead to Murfreesboro at 10MPG & then get up to Nashville.

Exactly... yea, I had one load that didn't really pay all that well but I took it... sure, it was a bit of a deadhead & didn't pay all that great... but it got me out into the decent freight lanes & paid for filling the tanks in Gary... sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

(note: edited miles & rate on load #4... I was copy & pasting the format & forgot to edit that line when I originally posted it)

 

If you have a smartphone with internet access,which it seems like you have something since you're on here,you can goto Pilots website for accurate daily pricing at all Pilots/Flying J's. TA has the same thing on their site and Loves has a smartphone app that will give you the current pricing. Saves trying call.

 

That doesn't reflect our price, so its useless for us.

Prime has a corporate discount that is passed on to the operator - its a little different with each chain, and varies depending on how the fuel stop is varying his price to compete with neighbors. Dix got the best prices in the areas he was in... the TA in Gary or Lake Station IN has the best price up there most days, as well as the TA in Nashville. Sometimes the Pilot on TN155 will beat the TA though. But if your route takes you through Peru IL or Knoxville TN... ya better know about those prices!

That being said... the way to shop for fuel is to download the price list for each state you're running through on a trip from the website as part of your trip planning - sort for your route because it doesn't pay to go out-of-route, subtract the state fuel tax... AND THEN look at fuel prices. Very easy to do with a spreadsheet. You need the big picture, because just deciding that its time to buy fuel because you can will get you a lousy price even when macro 27 says its good.

An example from the other day showed our lowest corporate pump price in Kentucky and Ohio along I71 at about the same price point - $3.73 per gallon - and that's what macro 27 would tell you as well. It doesn't adjust for state fuel taxes, nor do the folks at the fuel desk. The TA at Florence KY came in at about $3.56 per gallon after adjusting for KY fuel tax, but the TA in Hebron OH was at $3.45 per gallon. Where are ya gonna buy your fuel, eh?

Macro 27 being about as stupid as a Washington politician would say... Duh! You got only 3/8 of a tank... better buy it in Kentucky! BS... I can manage my fuel state better than that, and take advantage of every savings I can.