Leasing at Prime

Discussion in 'Prime' started by ironpony, Jun 25, 2012.

  1. Chucktaylor

    Chucktaylor Road Train Member

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    Zero experience and you're gonna lease? Excuse me, team lease?

    Do you even have a co-driver? How you gonna split the business? If its just your business, then you are gonna have to pay your co driver. What if you only make enough to pay him and not yourself one week? Or multiple weeks.

    Sounds like a good way to ruin a friendship if things go south... Even worse if you rope in somebody you don't even know.
     
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  3. acido22

    acido22 Light Load Member

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    I was thinking 3 cents on top of his salary
     
  4. da1

    da1 Road Train Member

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    Taxes taxes taxes why! Ha and no dependants even better so IP are you still using 5.6 as the amount that you set aside every week for your quarterly taxes
     
  5. Chucktaylor

    Chucktaylor Road Train Member

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    Well since its been stated elsewhere that you can only be held to .15/mile by Prime, that sounds like highway robbery. .18 a mile team driving.

    Anyone who takes that is a fool, and you ain't gonna keep then long when they find out how much you are taking advantage of them. What happens when they learn the truth, that they could team with another company guy and make .20, plus fuel bonus plus team bonus plus regular pay raises? Stuff you can offer but can't garauntee?

    Say you have a bad week, he gets his .15/mile. How you gonna pay him his extra .03 when you get zip... Or possibly negative, so your in the hole for next week.

    how you gonna get this guy to sign on to your truck for .15 plus a gentleman a agreement of an extra .03? You can't TNT for at least 3 months... A year to be a instructor.

    .06 above training wages, that's a solid business plan.
     
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  6. ironpony

    ironpony Road Train Member

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    That's a really bad idea. First, that's your greed talking to you; 4 out of 5 fail mostly in their first year (that means you get your butt kicked, and you're bankrupt)... that's an 80% failure rate overall. The deck is stacked against you even making any money, let alone "big bucks."

    TnT basically get's the training wheels off... you're barely past white knuckled wheel grippin' stage. There is so much more you have to learn in order just to be a competent Truck Driver, let alone a Business Owner who happens to drive a truck. Plus, you're talking about team driving? As other's have posted, you're either taking advantage of someone, or you're pretending you know enough to train when you barely can keep yourself out of trouble. Again, taking advantage of someone who doesn't know enough to figure that they're being screwed.

    No money? Let's say your second week out, you break down in BFE... somewhere where there is only a 8-hour a day, 5-day a week dealer, with no parts inventory. You're stuck... maybe a couple of weeks with no income, nothing to eat, nowhere to stay- it won't be in the truck (it's locked up in the dealers garage,) AND you WILL pay your codriver... Prime sees to that. That put's you in the hole for two or three more weeks once you get running again- starving for a month. Now you're really in financial trouble, because Prime will only pay your tab so far... all because you started a business with no capital (money) to keep it afloat. They'll call you in, cancel your contract, take the truck, and kick you out the gate. You'll owe them thousands of dollars... which they will collect.

    BTW... where is the bridge you're going to be living under?
     
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  7. Boy Howdey

    Boy Howdey Medium Load Member

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    What do you recommend for starting capital? I'm thinking since the tractor is warranted, 3k to 5k be ok?
     
  8. ironpony

    ironpony Road Train Member

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    That's minimum, and you'd need to establish an emergency fund as soon as you start showing positive cash flow... minimum $100 per week. Plan on 2 or 3-cpm for your tire costs. It's got more expensive since that 1.5-cpm tire escrow charge was adequate.
     
  9. ironpony

    ironpony Road Train Member

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    5.0%... it puts ME right in the ballpark for federal. State is on top of that. Take what you've been paying, and divide it by your gross income. That will give you a number to shoot for.

    Once you've been making quarterlies for a year, then you must pay at least 25% of your previous year's tax bill. The 5% number will help to keep you out of trouble, but if you have a big jump in your income, its best to consult a CPA.
     
  10. da1

    da1 Road Train Member

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    thnx for the info the cpa we have is good coming from what I see I plan on calling my rep on mon to discuss somethings further im currently in the process of separating business/personal

    I agree with what you said in the post above about leasing most definitely want to have money put back before you start
     
  11. gatorbaiter

    gatorbaiter Medium Load Member

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    listen to IP none of us are trying to tell you not to lease just to wait until ready. In full disclosure I did lease right out of TNT I had business acumen and money to back my business but if you run the numbers that first year I would have been better off company. Now well into second year things are leveling out. In that first year I fell broke ribs and was out for a month, during that time the truck being run by someone broke down was fixed only to need more fixes. All the while the guy running my truck was late 3 times once causing me to eat the freight charges. Then as I was back on the positive side of that cash flow crunch my sister died suddenly meaning the truck sat for a week. Then the truck broke down in bfe Montana in the dead of winter. Then the blizzard hit and was stuck in bfe Maine for 4 days. In all of this yes I made money enough to have a profitable year, and prime worked with me through it all. But still if I would have run company for a year and then leased it would have been better. The real crunch comes when after these "things happen" as they always do freight slows due to normal cycles and your cash flow is further restricted.
     
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