Help... Cant find a company driver

Nightbright, I do flat bed work and I don't think they do anything else here, I work for Maverick. drive55cat

 

Pro Driver whats your final take on this opportunity?

 

well my "final take on this" is that the original poster is an owner-operator leased on with Dart as he states. he offers (to me at least) a low starting wage, no taxes taken out (not a good idea) as he thinks its not his responsibility to track the taxes he has to pay for you, so he will be paying the driver on a "1099" tax form, meaning the driver is 100% responsible for paying ALL the taxes, quarterly to avoid a huge penalty to the taxman. the "benefits" are probably "offered" through either his own health care provider, or Dart", but at what costs....?? do you think ANY owner-operator will absorb ANY health care premiums....?? i think not.

also, since he is a contracted owner-operator leased on with Dart, he has to wait, maybe not too long, but wait nonetheless for his payments from Dart after the loads are delivered. this could quite possibly mean that "payday" can be "anyday" he gets to cut a check for the driver.

personally, i would stay away from any owner-operator that himself is leased on with any company. when i was "younger" i did drive for an owner-operator, and only got paid for LOADED miles, not empty miles. there were no benefits, taxes were not taken out by the owner-operator for me.

he will never find a "good driver" only a "steering wheel holder" for the money he is offering, and the (possible) high cost of the benefits package thet either he or Dart supply. a driver could end up working in all reality for a mere 20¢ per mile, if he pays for his own health care, etc's...........

not to mention, a possible delay in getting the "weakly" paychecks..........

i been there, done that..................

 

I agree with Pro Driver above. Made me think what happened to me. I worked 3.5 weeks for a company (as they put it) as a "Contract Driver". I learned this when I asked for the W-4 to elect withholding. They said I had to pay it plus the 15.3% Social Security. Talked with my CPA and it wouldn't be a problem. Company did offer health ins and other Benefits which was quite attractive. Trucks were safe but with high mileage. Got paid loaded and empty, company paid all fuel and all reimbursements. Sounds good, right...............

When I returned 3.5 weeks later for a PM, the company handed me a Contract to sign which I knew nothing about before hand which stated I needed to provide my own Workman's Comp (1st Red Flag) and a paragraph that I couldn't really understand. I told them I am letting a lawyer look this over and my CPA. No problem they said.

The CPA looked it over and said, "It looks funny to me, have the lawyer look at it." The lawyer looked at it and said, "I'm glad you didn't sign this. If you had and been in an accident (whether my fault or not), the company would have turn their back on you and you would be left out to dry." The lawyer also said, "If you stay with this company, get a 10 million dollar Liability Policy to protect you." I mentioned this to Company and they re-worded paragraph to no avail. I said "adios" and returned Truck and left.

Thank goodness nothing happened in those 3.5 weeks. If company had shown me the Contract before I took 1st load, I would have handed it back to them and left. By the way, other "Contract Drivers" signed it with no problem the Company said. Hope nothing has happened to those Drivers.

 

I tend to disagree actually. I think working for an owner op can be alot better if the miles and ay is there. Especially if you have access to health care from your spouse or some other source. Just depends what you are looking for I guess. I'd much rather work for a person or small company that a huge company.

 

i agree with pro here. if the offer was so great he still wouldn't be looking for a driver. from what i have read and understand this is not a great offer at all. i know a few o/o and i'm not in a hurry to jump on any of them. they talk good but when you read between the lines and push them back to the wall they can't keep there stories straight. plus how long is this thread and how old is it ? just sounds crooked to me........

 

ok it's only 3 weeks old but it sounds so much like a thread from a while back when i first came on here and he had no luck then either..........

 

thanks for your "support" guys. my philosophy is simple, "tell it like it needs to be said, no matter the consequences"...............and if nobody likes my philosophy, then don't ask for opinions. i hold nothing back, i pick a thread to shreads and read "between the lines" and "call out" the original poster on his (or her) posting to make sure that they are as close to 100% truthfull as possible.

obviously, this original poster thinks that he can get a "good driver" with what little he actually has to offer. and as for benefits, maybe some of you don't need them because you are young, but those benefits will be mighty handy if you ever needed emergency room care or medications, or god forbid an important operation. don't ever think that you will have enough money "saved" for such an event, cuz you never will. and don't ever think that your spouse can add you onto his/her benefits plan easily either. that'll add an extra deduction to that person's paycheck too...........

and the final response to the "with holding tax argument" is simple. if taxes are not properly reported by the employer, how do you know you are getting paid a fair wage for your job...? don't forget, that owner-operator who doesn't with hold taxes is cutting a check (usually) from his/her own checking account and is probably cheating the government as well. you could be into some deep crap if the IRS were to do an audit on that person, and that person "claims" to have paid you more than what you actually got, making you liable for even MORE taxes..............

choice is yours, a bigger company that does the tax with holdings properly, or an owner-operator that thinks that cheating the government is the way to go...............

the "lazy-ness" lies with-in the one doing the paying, not the one recieving....

 

I read about Dart through a nice advertising pamphlet/book found at an Oregon Rest Area.. I guess thats not a good a good way to find a good company to work for any ideas where to get the real info on companies?
The advertisements sure did look nice, but looks can be deiciving....

 

read these various boards we have here. just about all the information you want is here, or just ask a question or two, then wait for the responses to flow in.

never take everything for full value in any advertisment, after all, to "advertise" is another way of saying "promote"..........especially one's self.