JCT questions

Discussion in 'John Christner' started by Wifeofdz, Sep 8, 2014.

  1. Wifeofdz

    Wifeofdz Light Load Member

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    Sep 6, 2014
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    Oh that is good to know I will pass this along. Oh he has no issues with Running is tail off he cant stand to sit and wait drives him nuts. And most times when he has hours and its the weekend the co now JB don't dispatch him out on the weekends so there goes a few hundred miles he can easy do out the window and sit and wait til a Monday. He is to be back home around the 23rd of this month and he already got the e-mail for the videos not sure if he is able to do them on his smart phone if not then i know he will get them all done prior to arrival. He's scheduled to leave I think on the 26th or 27th wow that's going to be some long bus ride LOL. Thanks again for all your help and input.
     
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  3. Aminal

    Aminal Heavy Load Member

    My input is this: Ignore folks that go on and on about "Fleece" Purchase. It's Rent To Own. It's higher interest than conventional financing and you don't have any true equity in the unit during the lease. We all know this. If we had $50K in the bank and a 725 credit score, yes we would be going with conventional financing. For various personal reasons we don't, we want to own our own trucks and be Independents so we chose this option. Same as Aaron's or RTO for furniture and appliances. Not the best deal around but if you want what they have and are willing to pay a little more than Sears because Sears won't finance you it's not that bad. I have a house full of Aaron's stuff because that's what I had to do after the divorce, but it's all paid for and it's all good stuff in great shape. Then when you pay the truck off you have a truck, money in the bank and your credit score is up there. I have been told JCT reports to the credit bureaus so paying on time (how can you not - it comes out of your settlement) on a big note like this is good stuff. Plus if it's a true walk away lease (and JCT is) and it turns out after a few months you decide being an Independent isn't for you, (you just don't like the business aspect and being responsible for the costs and still turning a profit and prefer being an employee driver, and getting paid a little less but not responsible for any costs - it simply a matter of personal preference) you can turn the truck in, walk away and go back to being a company driver for someone. No harm. No foul. Can't do that with conventional financing. If you want out you have to sell the truck and pay off any shortfall in the loan or they'll go after it in collections and burn your credit too. It's personal preference and if you don't have the ability to go out and buy your own truck conventional, there's nothing wrong with a quality L/P. You can still make a little more than a top scale company driver and one day own the truck. I'd actually recommend this route to anyone that DOES have the means to go conventional but little experience as an Independent. Keep the cash in the bank, sign on, give it a shot actually doing it every day as an Independent in a deal you can walk away from free and clear if it turns out being a business owner isn't for you. It's not for everyone. But in any case I'd absolutely ignore all the slamming in various forums about L/P in general. If that's what you want to do - go for it and I personally wouldn't do it with anyone BUT JCT. Maybe there are other good ones out there, but JCT has been great to me. I wish to Goodness I'd have swallowed my fears and done this YEARS ago. No worries, there; JCT has been a straight up with me and I see guys in the news letters and Facebook every month handing over their dollar and getting their title.

    Sounds like your husband is in the same boat I was so here you go: I really like JCT: No worries there. Like Macho said, do the videos before Orientation. Do NOT rush through checking out the available units. I did and regret it. I got a bunch of knick knack stuff I'm dealing with til I get my 90 day shot to upgrade. That's not on JCT, though. I didn't do my part and rushed through check out. I was in such a rush to get rolling I missed a bunch of stuff JCT would have gladly fixed right then at no cost. So like Macho said, choose well and if I had it to do over again I'd check it to the point of having something 12 volt that plugs into the 12 volt outlets that has a light on it and I'd plug it into every single outlet and make sure that outlet works. Fine tooth comb so JCT can fix it free up front even if it takes longer to get rolling. Definitely well worth any extra shop time.

    Like Macho said, controlling expense and keeping the wheels turning are the key to making it. Fuel is definitely the biggest expense and JCT has kept me rolling. Bank money for hometime. Learn how to do what they call a Marco 41 to keep rolling. That was a transition I had to really overcome from being a company driver. All my JCT loads had more than enough time for me to run them strictly legal. Too much time really, so they have this Macro you send letting them know that you can do that load they gave you 5 days to do in 3 days and they'll adjust appointment times or swap you or let you drop and hook somewhere but they want to keep you rolling as much as you do. I still had this company driver thing of "This is the apt time, that's it. I must do it that way." and I left a lot of miles on the table I coulda had if I'd have sent them a macro 41 letting them know. That was a big thing for me. I'd get the load assignment and just do it that way if I could and the only time I'd communicate about times is if I got one that I couldn't make. Then I'd let them know I couldn't make that time and they'd adjust. So don't be worried a bit about saying "Hey I can be there day after tomorrow but this load doesn't deliver until four days from now." When I started doing that my miles went WAY up because they'd have me run it on out a good ways and swap it to a driver that needed some down time for his logs and I'd get his and keep rolling. Controlling fuel well, fuel is what it is but there is a ton of help on how to keep it as low as it can go, both with JCT's Business Mentor, and here in this forum and other forums here on TTR. Takes work, planning, effort and willingness to do the things that keep MPG up and buying cost down but if you do it, it's doable and you'll keep a LOT more of your settlement. Not knowing or being willing to do what it takes to control expenses and just running the truck like a company driver is the biggest reason people fail. Or running from truck stop to truck stop and not putting in the miles they could have. Then they want to down JCT.

    Also, there are risks as an Independent you don't have as a company driver. Some jerk backed into my truck and scraped up the side of the faring behind the fuel tank and bent the step back there and hauled tail before anyone could identify him or his company enough for me to file a claim (I was inside getting a shower) so I'm gonna have to eat the cost of that repair when I turn this unit in for my upgrade. It's damage that wasn't there when I got the truck. It's gonna have to be fixed. That's not on JCT. That's unfortunately on me, but that's ANY Independent ANYWHERE. It's just part of the risk of being an Independent. Now I nose in park and leave my parking lights on anytime I can so if something does get bumped - it's JCT's trailer, not my truck and JCT will fix their trailer and not charge me for it. Lesson learned.

    As far as it being reefer I was in the same boat as your husband only I pulled flatbeds for 15 years and then dry box for a year before coming to JCT and I was worried about that. My friends that pulled reefers before told me it would be easy to catch on to but I'm a real slow learner when it comes to stuff like that and honestly they did pretty much breeze right through reefer training. It was pretty much just explaining the controls on the two control units they had set up in the terminal. Nothing about reefer stuff itself. I was the only guy in the class without reefer experience and didn't even know what I didn't know so I didn't even know what questions to ask. The other drivers were real cool about sharing their experience though and if I did think of a question it got answered. First time I put my hands on a reefer was my first load and I felt lost as a pup in the woods but everyone was right. It comes quickly and JCT folks were ALL (drivers too) super helpful. Tell your husband those check calls they are so adamant about are not JCT being all Big Brother. They are to help you learn reefers and they look at every single check message so if something is a little off they'll call or message you and let you know what to do. Just tell him to let his first DM know up front he is brand new to reefers, let anyone he's dealing with in dispatch or the other end of the Qualcomm know too and DO THE CHECK CALLS and ask questions as you think of them and talk to the other drivers and he'll find the coolest bunch of folks willing to help out that he can imagine. This has been the coolest bunch of drivers I have ever met (every single swap driver has given me reefer insight, and "how to at JCT" inside info and his cell number and told me to call him anytime if I needed any help or had any question and the staff at the office have all been great too.

    Equipment has been in great shape as far as the JCT part. The landing gear on every trailer has spun up like a top using just two fingers as soon as the weight was off. Only once did I need to call in on a tire and they jumped right on it, no questions asked other than if I felt like it was safe to pull to a shop or should they send a road repair truck. My call on that. I chose go to a shop to save them some money. It definitely needed replacing but it wasn't about to go or anything. Other than that the trailers have been in great shape. Been a real pleasant change for me there from my last company. I got so sick of fighting landing gear, bent doors etc. Not here. Been real nice stuff to pull.

    As far as pulling it vs a dry box, you can tell him we stay heavy most of the time. It usually pulls like a dry box with a water, soda or beer load. They are almost always heavy, but so far all scalable without having to get the load re-worked. DEFINITELY do the scaling for axels. They reimburse so no biggie there and the cool thing is so far every trailer has had the pneumatic tandem pin lock and slid like a dream. I have not had to fight a single slider yet. Love that cause we slide a lot. To axel it and a lot of the places we go want the tandems all the way to the back at the dock and they have you drop it at the dock and wait in a bobtail parking area, so great landing gear, doors and sliders has been real nice. My truck was definitely spec'd out for economy over power so she doesn't like hills very much but since I pay for fuel I'm totally fine being the last one to the top creeping up with my flashers on. I pass the ones that pass me in other company's trucks all the time. They are at the fuel pump getting fuel. I'm driving by, not getting fuel. I admit, I work real hard on my fuel economy but so far this old girl (it's 2012 and has 450,000 on it so she's not that old) is averaging 7.3 overall and lots of trips I get in the 8's and some legs I get 9's. But, again - I work at it. I drive economy over speed, shift at lower RPMs and I don't idle. The APU was a super investment. It's a separate note and costs me an extra $90 a week for a little while but as a company driver without an APU I was idling about $65 a DAY in fuel away so it has saved me a ton of money and MORE than pays for itself. Plus it has a big watt inverter (and the APU keeps the truck batteries charged) and I have a Coleman 40 qt cooler so I shop at grocery stores and I fix almost all my meals in the truck which saves me a ton on eating OTR.

    Which brings up OTR. It is OTR. They've been good about getting me home when I ask, but I've been OTR so long that (this is gonna sound bad) hometime doesn't mean all that much to me, so I stay out as long as I can stand it. Always have. For the last 16, gosh it'll be 17 next month, years I've pretty much lived in the truck and visited home. That's just who I am, though. My family and I adapted LONG time ago. After two or three days home I start to get real restless and it's time to go. My family's cool with it. Matter of fact my wife will say something like "Must be 'bout time to go Honey. You're starting to get edgy." I'm one of those folks just born to be OTR. Point being: If you want to make the money, you can't be home every other weekend. I'm just lucky. Being out suits my lifestyle perfectly, so if I had to say there is a real downside, it would be that for folks that being home a fair bit is important to. I've only been home one time at JCT and they got me there a tad early and something ready for me an hour after I said I was ready to go. I took three and a half days to get all my stuff in my truck but I timed it all wrong as far as the pay week and didn't know about how that Macro 41 really worked so it cost me a negative settlement but I made up for it easy enough. For me I'll most likely stay out until the first snows start. Then I'll take a few days home and then stay out and do the hard part of winter and maybe take two days around Christmas if I can. Then stay out and finish winter and come back after most of the snow melts and maybe take a week then. Then back out till just before fall harvest, then home a few days then work harvest season hard, then it'll be time for winter again. I really don't go home that much comparatively speaking. So this gig should work great with that. But I really don't see how any one could make it going home a lot doing this. Unless they had other income or their personal finances let them take time off. JCT's variable truck payment and escrow being mileage based so if you don't put in miles the cost is down a lot makes taking time off a lot easier on the wallet than any other deal I've seen so that helps. Still. I can't see this working on anything like an every other weekend type arrangement unless you got the money at home to be able to swing it. That's about the only downside I've seen and like I said it doesn't affect me cause I'm a road hound and stay gone most of the time regardless.

    So, I understand how y'all feel. My wife and I felt the same way and had the same concerns and all I can say is I have never been happier. Just be the Operator that asks a lot of questions, follow the advice on how to save and make money, roll when and where they want you to, communicate with them more (not less) about what's going on and what you can do time wise on your loads and do the extra things you can do to control expenses and I think you guys will be very happy with JCT. My wife and I are. Mrs. Amnial has been VERY pleased with the bank accounts compared to me being a company driver all these years and I am delighted with what I'm doing. It was pretty tough those first couple weeks but once we got rolling it's been great. So, it'spretty much about as win/win as you can hope for in this biz for us.

    Hope this helped and tell your husband to be Safe.
     
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  4. Wifeofdz

    Wifeofdz Light Load Member

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    Hi Animal,

    I want to thank you for taking the time that you spent in your post i will make sure he gets to read this. He's due to be scheduled for orientation the end of the month. and I think he will do just fine as well. Be safe out there. And again much thanks
     
  5. DenaliDad

    DenaliDad Retired Wheel Dog

    Own-versus-rent is a question often asked on TTR forums, and often answered by posters who use the disparaging term "flease," which I personally find highly insulting and demeaning. Not everyone wants to lease or purchase, but those that do should be given information, not negative emotion.

    My ex-father-in-law ran a very large and successful commercial pipe distributorship in Denver until his retirement years ago. His business expanded to the point that one year, he had to buy a large plot of ground and build a series of buildings from the ground up.

    Care to guess what he did immediately after construction? He sold the building and land and leased it back from the new owner.

    Why? It freed up a lot of his financial resources and his cash-flow so he could focus on other things like stocking his warehouse. And the entire "rental" was deductible.

    The same thing can happen with truck lease-purchase agreements, but one MUST know something about business (not just how to drive; that's the easy part) and how cash-flow relates to it, to say nothing of keeping the left door closed and the right foot light on the pedal.

    No freedom is free. So it is with the freedom that comes with running your own business. In fact, everyone has heard people say they never worked harder and put more hours in than when they went into business for themselves. When company drivers go home to spend time with family, a leasee may also have business matters to take care of. In fact, the truck might dictate when and where a lessee takes time off.

    It's way more than just making on-time deliveries and managing 3 HOS clocks. Getting all gaga over the big numbers the mega carriers throw at potential lessees is a terrible starting point. It's a small business, first and foremost. Go in with that mindset and you're on your way to being successful
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2014
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  6. kgbigholler

    kgbigholler Bobtail Member

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    invest in a camera when you get one of those nice settlements
     
  7. Manchumba

    Manchumba Bobtail Member

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    I just talked to JCT today been company refer driver since 2003. I run hard and don't go home but every 6-8 weeks and then just for a couple of days. I want to own my own truck. I want to work where I am respected for what I do. Safely and Legally On Time. Driving 2015 Ftl now what should I look at for first truck as l/p. Thanks
     
  8. Manchumba

    Manchumba Bobtail Member

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    Thank You, You have answered most all of my questions. I have been company driver so long I am just a little concerned about maint. Costs. I am not a mechanic, I listen to my truck and know when she doesn't sound right. That is biggest issue. The business stuff I'm not worried about, I like that stuff. Sounds like put money away and drive hard and I can make good money. Thanks again
     
  9. Steel Tiger

    Steel Tiger Road Train Member

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    Orlando, FL
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    Check my reply in the other JCT forum
     
  10. damonarnold816

    damonarnold816 Light Load Member

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    JCT will call you a Owner Operator but you don't control anything but your fuel economy.
    You have no control over your revenue, that will be determined by the planners and the load they give you.
    Unless you come from one of those training companies that have low driver pay, after your expenses and taxes you will make a minimal amount more than a company driver.
    They sell the DREAM of ownership at JCT.
    JCT in a nutshell is a company that found a way to transfer ALL operational cost of the Truck to the driver of the truck under the guise of Owner Operator, and leave all taxes to the driver that makes about 40-45 cents a mile BEFORE taxes but after deducted expenses.
    This may work for people that are delusional about their title, but it doesn't work for me anymore, I'm done lying to myself.
     
  11. Steel Tiger

    Steel Tiger Road Train Member

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    Just because it didn't work for you doesn't mean that it doesn't work. There are plenty of successful people here that make excellent money. As far as control over loads, that is always gonna be determined the location you're in. I'm not gonna speak for anyone else but the load planners don't dictate where I go or what I do. Sure, percentage can pay more per mile, but you eat the dead head and lose earnings from not getting fuel surcharge. Factor in a variable payment and it's kind of hard to beat. Schneider is 20x larger than JCT and that's gives them more options.
    From your posts, it sounds like you're more concerned about where you go.

    And for the record, we are not, nor do we claim to be owner operators....we are lease operators
     
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