How are you guys lease purchases going?

The only thing that matters to me is earning the money I need with as little effort as possible, and that's what I've been doing. My family is important to me, nothing else. Anyone who starts their own business does so with the goal of making money, and of course, the company must make a profit from its drivers after paying them don’t be so shallow lol. You don't want to work for someone else and make them money because you're too prideful

 

Why would anyone care how much the company earns if you're working for yourself? Do you also wonder how much McDonald's makes after paying workers $900 a week? People here are getting stranger and stranger here

 

I don't think anyone here cares how much money a CEO or share holder makes, and you guys are absolutely when you guys make these remarks, HOWEVER!, when drivers don't get pay a decent wages. when a driver has to work 24/7 and stay away from their children because they have to work so the CEO can make millions of dollars and the driver can't even take few days off because the money he/she makes is not enough to support their families, to have a decent life. So, can you see the issue here ? do you guys live here in usa? or you work here and live in another country? for instance lets use as an example amazon drivers and Jeff Bezos.
right now people like me , who are working for ourselves, we are making a decent living still, but for how long ? before it gets me too. because if those companies and corporations continue exploiting their employees , pretty soon those companies and corporations will be able to lower their cost therefore they will be able to haul loads for cheaper and it will affect to all of us.
at the end of the day is not about you or me. it is about all of us.

 

And then you can move on. A smart man can read the writing on the wall and it's tiresome when you guys act like that's the only driving job out there. It's not. And it's lazy to blame it on someone else when you could have done something sooner.
Good luck.

 

One can only assume he only works with small shippers and small brokerages where he can vet how all their employees are treated and only hauls a load for them once he makes sure the owner doesn’t make too much money. I can say for certain that I’ve never signed a contract I didn’t agree with and I haven’t been afraid to take my truck and move on if something no longer works for me.

 

I got my Cdl in 2013. I did not go to a CDL school . I went to DMV and took the test. I gained experience driving for a couple friends who are 100% independent O/O for about 3month. then I bought my truck. since then Ive been driven for myself as an O/O. truck /reefer paid off. I drive an average of 70k miles yearly. I drive when I get paid my rate and I pick and choose where and when I drive. I have not contracts. since 2022 I drive an average of 4k miles per moth, I just make enough money to pay my bills. I don't blame brokers , shippers , politicians , CEOs or anyone else other than ourselves , the truckers. for what is going on in this industry.
I believe we are in this mess because truckers are a bunch of cowards. all they do is blame someone else , but they continue doing the same thing. leasing , leasing purchase and taking crap from someone else, hauling loads for almost nothing. crawling for pennies and they expect someone will come to to save them. Then, you guys complain about monopolies????

 

Dude.....really?

 

I just shake my head.

 

I got my CDL in the summer of 1996 when I was 18 because I was working for a farmer and the lady that did the road testing back then worked in his office. Had a good company job for roughly 10 years, other than that I’ve owned a truck. Always financed them on my own and I’ve always been leased to a carrier.

It’s only been about 3 years now that I’ve been doing regular freight stuff. Prior to that it was livestock, some hopper, and food grade pneumatic. Stuff where you don’t just get a trailer and walk in and expect work like you can with a van or reefer.

I am where I am now because they have an insane amount of freight that comes and goes right close to my house. I drive about 30 miles from home to start my week and I get back Friday night or Saturday morning. It’s easy work and I’m compensated fairly for my time.

Van and reefer are the lowest common denominator for getting into the trucking game. That’s why pulling a van didn’t cross my mind until a few years ago. I look back at my taxes from when I was hauling cattle or running a pneumatic and it’s very tempting to go chase money but then I remind myself I’m not young anymore and I probably couldn’t stay awake for a couple days at a time anymore.

A one truck guy at the mercy of the spot market isn’t competing with large carriers like a lot of them think they are. They are competing with all the other small to one truck carriers trying to get the available loads that make it to the spot market. What my truck does being leased to a carrier that runs almost exclusively their own contract freight has zero to do with the spot market.

Or when I pulled cow trailer for 5 years for a guy who owned 4 trailers. Or when I pulled pneumatic for a 40 trailer, mostly o/o (leased on), company. Or when I drug a hopper around for a 20 trailer company.

If you want to talk about what affects rates, low spot rates due to the over saturation of trucks like it has been for a while now affects contract rates more than contract rates affecting spot rates. Those with long term contracts don’t run to renegotiate to match when rates spike on the spot market. But when it is time to negotiate a contract you can bet the shipper is well aware of what the spot rates are.

I have my options of the whole lease purchase model but those don’t matter to anyone but myself. But suggesting that an owner leased to a carrier is bad because the big evil company is making money is foolish. You’re not running 4k miles a month because of guys like me, you’re running 4k miles a month because there are way too many trucks competing for too few loads on the spot market. If I sell my truck tomorrow you know what happens to spot rates? Nothing. If truth be told, this industry would be a lot better if it took tens or sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure operating authority. But the way it is for $300 and a down payment for insurance and anyone can be a carrier. You complain about large companies, the company I am leased to has a 3 digit DOT number. I’m sure they were thrilled when deregulation happened but they’ve figured out how to survive all these years.

 

So i know nothing but its my understanding a LO makes what ? 2$ mile maybe ? Load pays 4 , 5 $ a mile ? Company gets 2 or 3$ you get 2$ and pay for everything ? I wonder if i can hire plumbers get them to pay for permits , pipe ,fittings , glue , primer , hanger band ,kick plates , tools , drills , bits , blades , inspection , truck , fuel and pay me to work under my authority " license" and insurance while i reep 50% . Be your own Boss ! Join Now !