IMO TruckerMike is giving you EXCELLENT advice. Is there anything to stop you from going L/O later on? Starting from scratch, there WILL be a learning curve!! You aren't a kid but you are a rookie & you might as well let Prime foot the 'tuition' bill. Good Luck and may God have mercy on your soul.
I am loving it, seeing Marines get out there and demonstrate the skills and commitment to excellence. We can make it here. As a person that has owned a tractor, it is important to have a truck thats paid for, or close to being paid for. I feel these leases keep you on the hook for too long, and a lot can happen in that time.
I ran the company side for almost 3 years, and am in my first lease with Prime. I worked with one of the lease guys who posts here, and a number who don't to arrive at my decision to jump when I turned in my last company tractor. No regrets! Disclaimer... your mileage may vary on whether a lease is good or bad. That's not what this is about, and there are plenty of threads in this forum where you'll find lots of like-minded individuals. If you have a problem with truck leases... go post there. Also, while I was a company driver, I did run for TruckerMike's, U2's and (I think) Emtons FM. He's a good guy. As you might guess, I have a little different perspective on this than TruckerMike does. However, one thing I think we both might agree with is that anyone with less than say 2 years of experience in this industry has no business leasing a truck. There's a lot more to it than just going down the road, and many folks have lost everything including the shirt off of their back in the trying... To be an independent contractor - legally - there must be the possibility that you will loose everything. So you need to do your homework first, to give yourself the best chance of success! I agree, there's plenty of folks who can't make this work - it takes a lot more than just knowing how to drive the truck. Too many folks are inadequately prepared to step up, and fail in the process - but that's part of the game. Its an opportunity to succeed doing something difficult, but there must also be the possibility of crashing and burning... as it should be. We are paid a percentage of the load, fuel surcharge and accessorial payments - note that there is nothing about being paid by the mile in this! That's a huge trap - the less miles I run for a given level of gross revenue, the better I like it! Then there's the concept that a settlement check for a lease-op is not a paycheck; way too many new lease-ops never figure this one out. What you're really doing is starting a business. So you have to have start-up operating capital in the bank! I can't tell you how important having a cushion of money is - and one of your costs is how much you pay yourself. That's what you get. The money Prime puts in your account is cashflow into your business. Two majorly different things. You don't touch the cashflow... but you get to pay yourself. The cashflow into your business can really jump around - some weeks it may be zero or negative if you aren't running. Other weeks its huge. Get used to spending huge on yourself, and there's nothing left for the bad weeks - that's why you pay yourself as a cost. Speaking of costs... everyone gripes about how much a load pays (or doesn't) - there's not much you can do about that. Except keep the left door of the tractor closed, run the loads, and make yourself available. That's how you maximize your income. What you can control is your costs - and the big one is fuel. There's two sides to that: How much you use, and how cheaply you buy it. Profit = Gross Income - Costs. Pretty simple, huh? Amazing how many good truck drivers can't figure this out. Its not that steady Mike... neither are my settlement checks. I get home time too... only been in "the hole" twice - not by much, and the big one was offset the first week I was out by a pretty big breakdown pay settlement. BTW... my breakdown pay agreement is contractual. Mike's is out of the kindness of his FM's heart - and D-man has a big heart. They're not all that way! Now my "perks" tend to be the ones I give myself. I splurge on the same medical package that Mike gets (I pay the "company" share,) I still have my insurance package from when I ran company, I get to fund my own retirement - and I avoid risk (aka liability) by risk mitigation, and not screwing-up. Well, that's two of us who live a relatively stress-free life (as stress-free as driving for a living gets!) Truck breaks down? I get a hotel room too, but may sleep in the truck if its available - tend to be a bit of a tightwad with my driver-employee! I get more breakdown pay than Mike ever will - not that I really want to be in that position. Get a lemon truck? Prime may or may not do something for you - depends on what it is. Part of this is having a FM who will go to bat for you (like Mike's guy D-man,) but I think I have that in C. Want to take a vacation? Enjoy as much as you can afford! Fender gets torn off by some idiot? Same deal... I go get a hotel room, and get more breakdown pay than Mike ever will. Here I have a little different view than Mike does. From comparing notes between my loads on the company side as well as what some of my lease-op buddies were getting, I think its apparent that the load planners do tend to steer the more lucrative loads to the lease side - if possible. It does come down to the freight has to be moved, and if a lease guy isn't around, a company guy will get it. Other than that it is first come, first served. That being said, there are some ways that this is done fairly. High-mile, low income loads go to company guys - I don't want the miles anyway. Some of that is done by the load planners, some by the FM's. Our FM's are paid a base salary, a commission based on our success, and are penalized for our failures and screw-ups. That commission is gold! Get a FM who is motivated by money - and he'll keep you going. Heck, he'll duke it out for the really good paying loads. Now here, I'll agree with Mike - especially for a low-time driver. First, go company. It's easy to go lease, hard to jump to the company side. You need to see how Prime wants the truck run, figure out our routing, and figure this business out. Easy to do on the company side. By all means run a "shadow business" seeing how you would do things if you were leasing. Its a great way to do away with dumb mistakes without staking your financial life to it. Fuel: Don't fool yourself about this. If you can't get that company-side fuel bonus week-in and week-out, you'll never make it as a lease-op at Prime. You must be able to get at least 7 mpg out of one of our trucks regularly to have a shot at being successful. You must work a fuel purchasing strategy as well - besides the canned company software approach - and I like XYZ truckstop, so I'll always buy it there. It helps a lot to see how Prime routes you as a company driver, and how that effects fuel - while they're paying for it. You absolutely must have a thorough knowledge of the HOS regulations, and how they affect you as a driver. Besides, its a great way to work out all the dumb mistakes you're going to make - while getting a paycheck. Pinching pennies? You better believe it!! A penny here and there makes a big difference, and there aren't a whole lot of nickles, dimes and quarters lying around on the table. That's part of the challenge - figuring out the next penny to grab. At say 130,000 miles per year every stinkin' penny-per-mile is worth $1300 to you!! That's about twice a company vacation-pay check, and more than a company guy makes most weeks. Mean ol' Prime makes lease-ops slave for pennies and run's 'em like a company guy! Wahhhh! Sorry man - couldn't resist! Yeah? So what?? Speed restrictors lower insurance costs, and we can be dispatched to Canada where you're required to have a stinkin' speed limiter. Elogs?? Darn glad to have them. I've done it both ways at Prime - and elogs eliminates a lot of the guessing that the FM's and load planners used to do. It's easier for them to use the software tools that match your availability to the best load - both hours-wise and money-wise. And I like those dead presidents!!! Yup, on the driver side it's a different world than it used to be pencil-whipping a comic book. You have to do it right the first time, know the HOS regulations better than your honey's heiny, and do thorough trip planning up front. It also get's you a pass at the coop - those bears get real hungry when they see the pen and paper guys show up! Do stuff that company drivers do? I think that's called doing the job in a professional way. But there are financial perks that lease guys get for doing that stuff. And I'm not expected to deliver a load off the yard going 9 miles for say 36 cents-per-mile. That's peanuts - and what is expected. Like I said, Mike's FM is gold - D-man puts up some jack on those because he's one of the best (I know I used to run for him.) Some of the other company FM's would tell you to be happy with the peanuts. Yup... and definitely don't do it until you have the skills... driving a truck efficiently, get some basic business education (Do you know what a profit/loss sheet is? How about an operating ratio?) - and that's mandatory, and do the due diligence on the contract and your finances. Would I go back to the company side? Not on your life - this is great, and I'm making money at it too! Cool man! Good luck with it!!! You know what? I agree, and I don't agree. First, to lease your truck on with Prime, it must be no more than 2 years old. That's expensive. Prime will allow you to purchase a tractor (the one your in or another one) at the end of a lease, and lease it onto the logistics side. I have second thoughts about that because it takes a lot larger operating reserve to do that - most owner ops are one major breakdown from living under the bridge. Don't like a 3-year lease? Most weeks there are tractors that have been turned in for one reason or another (and it varies) - they are completely detailed, and the maintenance crew goes over them as well as they can. High-mileage tractors are leased out for whatever is left on their life span - we turn in most of them at 3 years or a given mileage. Of course, you have to know what to look for... And you have to have "Plan B." But who doesn't???
Was assigned my instructor today...we leave out on Sunday. He has to test out his current student tomorrow morning(Saturday), we will meet up in the afternoon and load the truck, do some work on the pad and shifting range and head out sunday. My new life is about to begin. In the Corps it took three phases to become a Marine. I have accomplished first phase. I am now in second phase (the qualifying phase), once I get my CDL I will move into third phase. In the corps that is where we fined tuned those who were to become Marines...in Prime that is where the student is fine tuned to become a Driver. Lots of hard work ahead I am sure, but as in the Corps the price will be well worth the effort. The instructor I had on the pad this afternoon was great at helping me grasp downshifting using double clutching. It was trickier than I expected, but he was patient and he worked me through until I got it. I have to admit, it was a great feeling to downshift and actually hit the gears I was aiming for. We did it bobtail today, tomorrow it will be with a trailer. To say I am excited about this is an understatement. I look forward to actually becoming skilled at this...j
IP, great rebuttal! There are a couple things I disagree with you on, but I won't turn this into another leasing vs. company debate. You make some excellent points and I couldn't be happier for you that things are going so well on the lease side. Your success is certainly derived from your experience, the months of planning you did before jumping to lease, and being a good business owner. For that, I can't help but applaud you. As a side note, D-Man is not my fleet manager. But I do have a FM who I believe is way above average and we have a phenomenal relationship.
I am on the train to Salt Lake this morning , start Orientation on monday. I will be leasing and IP your info is very helpful. Been at this for a while and have run other peoples biz to a good profit before, so I feel it's time to do the same for my family and myself. Good luck to us all and Traveling Mercies!
Seems as though a few of my fellow CDL schools graduates will be joining Prime with me - Good times!!!
Wow, that was a great response, glad I didnt get the usuall sarcastic replies when one wants some info. Yeah, I kind of thought about it more and I think I will go with company driver. I drove for May 3 months, great company too, no complaints, and have been working for an O/O the last 5 months. He is going thru a divorce and things arent looking good. Are you running Refer? I have done flatbed for the O/O so that kind of interests me. Any insight on Refer vs. Flatbed would be appreciated. I have read some of your other posts and you seem to be the like what Trucker Steve is to May any info would be greatly appreciated. Also can flatbed run regional? I think the recruter said no but don remember. Thanks again.
Anybody know if you can transfer over to the tanker division from reefers? Or how long the wait for tanker trainers is?
I'd keep in mind that Prime is a reefer company that has a flatbed division. The guys who do flatbed love doing flatbed - but it seems to run in very much feast/famine mode from what I hear. One of the guys who posts here - Notarpsforme - got a real bad taste for Prime from doing a few weeks of flatbedding. Its more tied to the general economy than reefer freight is - by that I mean that construction really has to be going good for flatbedding to be good. OTOH, people have to eat all the time so reefer freight is generally good with a couple of slack periods during the year. I would guess that it would be rather easy to transfer to tankers right now as we are trying to expand. No idea on the trainer wait though - I'd call the main number and get the head guy over in tankers Monday if you are interested.
