Lessors Inc, Eagan, MN

Maybe its time to give up my local gig....we've got way too many drivers for the work we have, so everyone suffers from spreading the work out. We had eight drivers when I started, now there's 15, with nearly the same workload. Last year I made $61k, looks like I'm taking a $7k pay cut this year. Maybe time to move on.....

 

Maybe it is too early to tell but so far do you like it better at Lessors or Heyl?

 

I looked into both, and I'd honestly go with lessors over heyl. I've heard fairly good things from drivers I've talked with, the one issue I had was leaving the truck 2 hours from my house, and the not having a car part didn't work. I think all these big companys are like shoes, they all have the right size you just have to find the one that fits. I'm very happy at my company and we have only 27 drivers, 2 dispatchers and everyone knows everyone. I wouldn't trade it for anything right now. I get 3500+ wkly with a cap of .52 I think big company's are the same im lots of ways, but if you can find a good small company you'll never look back.

 

I'm not sure of your specifics of your LTL job but to take a 7K pay cut just to live back on the road is crazy to me... You have to remember being OTR you shower at a truck stop, you work 7 days a week, You are like joseph ( hate your wife ) LOL and seriously how much more money are you going to make being gone all the time? As an OTR driver now you have E-logs so when you are on the East coast you better be able to shut down at 2pm if you are lucky you will get a spot... I have run the East for most of my career but not on E-Logs... Its a different game and even when everyone was on paper it was a bad game in Jersey, East PA, MD, NY and all them... If you decide to leave LTL make sure they pay you for your troubles... I get comical calls every day from England and every other fool in the OTR business that wants to pay me .40 a mile with an average of 2000 miles a week I can only giggle... >40x2000=$800.00 thats pre tax.... In 2002 I was making $18.25 driving a forklift... Are these companies serious? They cant be desperate are they? You have to laugh...

If you have a CDL it doenst matter Local or OTR, you are putting yourself in a quick target for some ya hoo lawyer to pound you in the ground god forbid you get in a bad accident... And that is if it your fault or the blonde on her phone texting, your hung...

You better call your shots...

Jacobsen company been hiring by me for $15.00 an hour for months... I am sorry but to put your butt in a seat of a Class A vehicle for $15.00 an hour is a smack in the face... I cant wrap my mind around it...

I can't even type the words I feel about it... I can only bless the drivers that work for them much luck, but dang I can be found at Burger king for next to the same wages... Its unreal, out of hand... You wake up sleep enough, get in a bad wreck and now you facing life in jail for 15.00 an hour LOL Sorry not in my life time

 

I think you misunderstood what I wrote....maybe I wrote it poorly lol.
What I meant to say was I'm on track to make $7k less this year compared to last year. And its all due to the fact that we have about 4 drivers more than we need. The whole company has 19 drivers, of which 4 are part timers. So, rather than work fewer guys a little harder for a bigger paycheck, they wanna work more guys less, which drags everyone's pay down.

When I started here, there were five local drivers, and six running sleeper trucks. We all made good money. But now we have 10 local guys and 4 sleeper drivers. And the part timers. We have one new account in that time, and its our biggest account, but there's not enough to keep everyone moving and making money like we did.

As far as my wife, no I don't hate her at all. We have a great marriage, with two daughters. I'm certainly not looking to get away from them, just looking to make better money to support them.

I've done the OTR thing before, so its not new to me, and I know what I need as far as money, so yeah, I know what's that's about. I also know that if I were to pull the trigger and leave this job, I'd have a job in less than two or three days. With 13 years experience, no accidents, and only a seatbelt violation all that time, I'd think finding work should not be a problem.

Bottom line is this. If I can't make the money I want to make with this company, I'll go where I will make the money I want. If that means going OTR again, so be it. UPS, FedEx, and all the other LTL companies aren't close enough to my house to even consider that option. I'm talking a two hour drive to and from work everyday, so that isn't happening.

 

Probably way off topic, but you said you've made 30k in 6 months and have recently earned a raise. Let's say that puts you at 65k/year. Would you give up your OTR gig for an 80+k/yr local gig? I'm trying to wrap my arms around this and am (sort of) considering Lessors as an option. Thanks for your input.