JB Hunt - Lowell, Ar.

I paraphrased the ad from memory, and the impression I got from the ad, was that Mr. Harper was making a comparison to those trucks that will be coming out for 2007, which are expected by just about everyone to get some pretty crappy fuel mileage.

We still have to weather the changeover to low sulfer diesel this coming October to see what will happen to those trucks already on the road, before that will be a valid comparison to make. We might ALL be getting crappy fuel mileage when that happens.

It's just another demonstration to what lengths that JB Hunt will go, to try and fill those trucks with warm bodies.

 

You quoted it from memory fairly well, but the version I heard last Wednesday was .82 cpm, .03 fuel adjustment, and the .17 fuel surcharge for a grand total of 1.02 cpm. I posted this info on another site a few days ago. What a ripoff for anyone to ever consider such a deal.

And I'll bet that JB's customers are paying the full rate on the fuel surcharge. So if they are, then that means that they are pocketing another 13-18 cents that should be going to the lease operator.

The key here is that you lose a little bit of money on each mile that you drive, but you make up for it with the miles you run each week!!! LOL!

 

the company i drive for *i'm a company driver*, will pay its owner operators .90 - to .98 cents per mile, with the fuel costing the o/o $1.22 per gallon, as long as you buy the fuel from the truckstop they tell you to go to. otherwise, if the o/o goes someplace else, he/she pays whatever the price of fuel is. needless to say, all the o/o's buy the fuel where the company sends them. and these ain't *out of the way places* either.

 

I have found out that they pay drivers different rates, depending on where they live. I suppose it's possible that they run ads that offer different rates, depending on the market they run the ads in.

The one I quoted was offered on Friday's America's Trucking Network Show...on the AM 700 dial.

As of this week, the fuel surcharge that should be in effect is from .32 to .34 cents per mile. Some use a base of $1.10 a mile, and some use $1.20 a mile to begin calculation of the fuel surcharge.

In other words, if you are leased to a motor carrier by any description, and your compensation per mile is not touching the $1.20 a mile mark, you're working for sub-standard rates that should be paid to your truck with fuel rates where they are at the current moment.

What this tells me, is that they are taking 50% of the billed fuel surcharge straight off the top of the Lease/Purchaser's, and that is about as low as it gets in my book.

We now have a member of the Forum that has been ripped off for $3,400 in escrow funds, which is something I had hoped would not happen, but has.

If ANYONE reads these posts, and STILL leases a truck from JB Hunt, I have one sentence for you, and it's very insensitive but it has to be said;

You deserve what you are about to get....er rather what you won't.

 

And those kind of arrangements are as good as a fuel surcharge program, and less trouble to track. It fills the bill in the same way that the fuel surcharge bridges the gap. Motor Carriers that are not offering their contractors at the very least, .90 cents per mile, plus a fuel cost control program or a fuel surcharge that puts them in the same ballpark, is probably having a hard time drawing interest from those seeking a carrier to sign on with.

What's interesting this time around, is the fact that for probably the first time, contractors are VERY keen to fuel surcharges this time around, and that's a good thing. So many times in the past, I've heard CB chatter that let me know that there were so many out there that had no clue what a fuel surcharge was, and even those that knew that they were expected, had no idea how much it was supposed to be or how they were calculated.

 

We had the same problem. They got Hubby's cell number and called him incessantly. Finally hubby told the guy "When you can offer me 50 cents a mile, a brand new truck, a dedicated run, and 3000 miles a week, call me back." So far, no word from them....not holding our breath, either! He says he wouldn't be caught dead in a JB truck.

 

Honestly they aren't different from any other company that we know of, save one (and they are local, only have one terminal).
Hubby's been through a few companies as of late. Mostly because they offer/promise one thing, and deliver something else. Or they withold things until you've driven a huge distance in a rental car, and return the rental car. Then they tell you that you have to sign an independent contractor contract even though you're hired as a company driver and if anything happens to the truck it's your money (Leader Express, Wooddale IL). Or they tell you that if you irritate dispatch, they will make you sit for a week out in the middle of nowhere (Marten). He's thinking of going back to the tried and true local company. They don't pay the greatest, but they don't front about it. No bonuses that you can't qualify for (AD Transport, Bellville MI), no illisions about where and when you'll run, no lies about hometime.
The only thing that bugs me about them is that the last time hubby worked for them, they said "We only had a $2.2 million profit this year, so we can't give you a raise." Oh ####, sorry! But they are a good honest company and told hubby that he'll always have a job available with them. He's callin the boss man on Monday morning.

I don't know why companies can't just BE HONEST, and not spring stuff on you after you or they have spent a good deal of money getting you to the orientation. It's been rare for hubby to have a company actually tell him that they can't give him what they want when he first talks to them. Usually it's not until after several phone calls that they say they can't get him home as often as he wants and whatnot. I think exactly twice he's had a company be upfront and tell him "With our freight and your location, we couldn't get you the hometime you want." Why lie????

 

Part of the problem with some companies is they are, well, TOO big. The internal communications are breaking down or maybe have already broken down. Drivers are told by recruiters of certain benefits (2500 miles a week guaranteed) that dispatchers know nothing about. This is because no one has taken the time to inform dispatchers about these 'promises'.

Of course, at most companies, the dispatchers DO know what a driver was promised at orientation and simply ignore those promises. After he gets his truck, a driver is completely at the mercy of dispatch.

 

Them offering isn't the problem. It's the fact that they never do what they say or promise.