on my way to prime

did you get a chance to come out to the shifting pad with us?

 

booman -

You don't need a truck lease. It is running a small business, and if you can't operate the truck efficiently I guarantee you will loose your back end. Do yourself a favor, and spend a year or two on the company side figuring this business out. Then see if it makes sense to jump into a lease.

 

My advice would be to NEVER lease a truck from your employer. But for now, just take Ironpony's advice and hop in a company truck and run it for a year or two. You'll need to educate yourself about the industry, the company, the operational costs of running an 18 wheeler, etc. You'll also want to be out there long enough to learn what routes to take to bypass toll roads, and which routes NOT to take.

And while you're out there, talk to lots of lease operators and get their feedback.

 

Good. We get 72% of the linehaul revenue, fuel surcharge and accessorial payments - the sum of that is our gross revenue for a trip. We get a separate page on the dispatch order over the QualComm that describes the trip revenue - you won't get that on the company side, but you can always ask your FM what a load pays on the lease side. You can run a "shadow business" and see if you can make this work - and what it takes to be profitable - while running on the company side. I did that.

The way it works is that most carriers only make about 10 cents on the dollar of gross revenue - an operating ratio of 90% - if they're doin' better than that, the bigwigs (aka fat cats) are throwin' a party. If someone is going to do this and make money they have to be more efficient at it than the carrier, and the revenue stream has to be there in the first place to be profitable. I have to be better than 25 cents on the dollar - or 75% - to make this work for me, and that brother is hard work.

The largest expense that we (or any carrier) has right now is fuel. There's a point over $3 per gallon that it exceeds payroll costs - which is why many carriers are limiting the speed of their trucks. Its the same for me... that's around 35% of my costs, and is the biggest chunk of costs that I have control over. If you're going to make money at this, you MUST be able to reliably get better than 7 mpg out of a truck, and I'd say 7.5 is the target you're looking for before making the jump.

Then there's some business education. Ever hear of a profit/loss sheet? Operational ratio? You've got to be able to read and understand your settlement statements in order to know where your money is going, if you're actually making money, and to figure out what you need to do if you're not. Then there's taxes - and that's complex. And you cannot leave this for some CPA in April. Either you KNOW what your bottom line costs are when you're staring at the QualComm, or you're going to go bankrupt fast. Routing - when do you take the toll road vs getting off onto the secondary network? Fuel buying strategy... macro 27 is for keeping the company guys from bankrupting the company, not making money on the lease side. IMO, if you have to train in order to make a lease work rather than train because you have a passion for teaching, you shouldn't be allowed to be a trainer... but that's me, and I'm an a-hole.

I drove on the company side for 3 years getting comfortable with this, and I'll tell every last one of the newbs - you're cracked if you think this is easy. And you just cannot hitch your family's financial future to a truck lease - that settlement check I get every week IS NOT A PAYCHECK. It is cash flow into my business, and the second biggest cost I have is paying my driver - me. You just cannot take that settlement check and blow it on bills, the rent, groceries, the big screen at BestBuy, etc. You have to have the discipline to put that settlement check into your business bank account, and then PAY yourself - and keep your hands off of the business money.

The easy part is being a truck driver. The hard part is being a businessman.

 

Hi IP...

Hey, that just gave me an idea: Fantasy Trucking

I did a search and came up with this page:
http://www.hwyblogs.com/blog/fantasytrucking/b412.php

It's old but I'm checking to see if there is a newer version... might be something to play with.

It looks like it starts as a company owner, but you might be able to run as just a driver.

As soon as I find out something, I'll post

Exactly

Have a great weekend