Husband is a new trucker, please help!

Once he gets his schooling paid for and wants to change companies, look in to NTB out of Grand Rapids, MI... I get home 2 days( in a row) a week, every week and have not had a check below $500.00 yet for 5 days on the road, and never been farther then a days drive to get back home...

 

If you think you need a "credit boost", you should NOT even think about leasing a truck, or becoming an O/O. Get your finances straight, before jumping in.

 

TLea,

Very correct there on all your points. I am a contractor now in the "Fleece" program. Where we pay high payments for a truck we will never own. But I justify my thinking with the fact when I started I had ZERO experience and for them to give me a truck that will help me build credit is a price I am willing to pay. Yes, I have checked my company credit file and they have posted and that in return has gotten me approved for a truck of my own. I will break my lease and go owner operator and if I stay with Stevens then any and all penalties will be waived. They have done this with three other drivers whom I keep strong contact with and they are making more money now that there payments are cheaper and Stevens still covers any and all expenses up front and you pay them back, and how you do that is up to you and there Alliance manager, A.R. (names not allowed, use your heads for the name. I think I can do abr.)

I am happy, so until I have been done wrong to the point of no return ill stay here. I have yet to find another company where I get to go home any time I choose and I have gotten to know the dispatchers well enough I have now got sort of a route I run. SO far so good.

this is a quote i saw not long ago for stevens transport!!

 

show us the exact terms of this lease:
-we all want to see it.

8mpg is very hard to hit unless empty or bobtailing -and even then some trucks can't do it. 55mph/top gear/1200 rpm or less =you will never average 8mpg and Steven's will never pay for fuel.

Now if Stevens did pay for fuel 85cpm would be ok. 50cpm for you, 35cpm for the truck.
Look around at other fleeces and see what they are paying.

 

KC1109, Please don't let your husband start his truckin career by trying to be an owner/operator. Do you or your husband have any experience running a buisness?
Have you checked into the price of just one truck tire? And remember,his tractor has 10 of them!
Owning a truck is running a buisness.If you go into it lightly,you will end up bankrupt. Your husband should get a year or more in before even thinking about a lease. If he ever does lease.Take it to a attorney first before signing anything!
Another suggestion.. Kevin Rutherford has a show on XM radio.It is on XM 171 on the weekends from 4pm to 7pm sat and sun. Get an Xm radio and start listening to his show.You will learn alot about being an O/O. He also gives classes on being an O/O. I highly suggest this!
On another note, All companies require a wait before you can go riding with your husband.
My wife has gone out with me many times.Let me give you a little look into what to expect. When you get stuck at a shipper for 8 or 9 hrs with no bathroom. Good chance your peeing in the trash can.
And sometimes circumstances might cause you not to get a shower for 2 or 3 days.
So be prepared,things can get uncomfortable at times.
Good Luck!

 

lease = fail