Picking my own freight baby! My journey to & of being on Schneider choice, the Adventure & Numbers!

Sometimes it's nice having an old truck with some battle scars because you can add some new ones and not care. Pickup in the way in the driveway and need to get around it? Drive through those tree branches. Who cares.

Gate not open quite far enough when I'm trying to get back out? Give it a little nudge with the bumper.

Except the tree branch one came back to bite me, I went through them with the sunroof open when I came home then closed it. Turns out a piece of the tree branch stuck in between the sunroof and the seal and it spent the entire week propped open a little bit and poured a good 3 gallons of water (good thing I had my bucket) into the cab and on to the smartwheel before landing in my bucket.

Found my jake and city horn and cruise control didn't work and so much water got in there the connector for the control board was a big blue ball of corrosion. After taking the whole fricking wheel apart some rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush got it going again lol.

 

In situations like that I don't really care about getting a scratch on the truck, I'm more worried about getting my truck stuck and/or getting some huge fine.
Again there was no signs that said no trucks and it wasn't restricted road or anything BUT there's no freaking way a tractor trailer should be on that route.

 

There's a lot of unannounced road closures in Indiana. Book a load into Monticello, IN then had a pick up 7 miles down the road. Too bad that 7 mile stretch of road was closed. Problem is I had to drive through the town my next load was in, then drive about 30 miles all the way around the detour, then 30 miles all the way back around to get to the next pickup. A 14 mile round trip suddenly turned into a 60 mile round trip.

Plus, keep in mind if you are picking up at Frito Lay in Frankfort, IN, SR 28 is closed between US 52 and US 231. No real good way around that if you're coming from Terre Haute or Danville, IL. Of course, I took the fun way (SR48 then all sorts of tiny county roads through colfax, IN LOL that was fun times, actually a shorter route too)

 

I mean really..........................

 

Hey Freightwhipper, been following your thread now for awhile and appreciate all the info you have given! I was just curious, how are the trailers there? Are you finding yourself doing a lot of trailer repairs or they pretty well maintained other than age?

What words of advice would you give someone who is considering coming over from Prime? I would like to make more than $800-900/week after fixed costs and fuel. Only way to really do that here at Prime is to become a trainer or find a co-driver to team with. I had enough team driving when I was at CRST, I don't want to ever do that again, LOL.

Did you have to come up with the deposit or were you able to have them just take it out of the sign on bonus?

The recruiter today said they had a lot of short haul runs on the west coast where I could make just as much money as I see you making in the midwest and east. They said that the west region is Washington, California, Oregon, Utah and Arizona. Can anyone confirm or deny this please Thank you all!

 

There's a lot of new trailers here mixed in with a lot of old trailers.
The old trailers work fine BUT a big issue I've been facing with them a lot is the tandems won't slide.
I'm haven't done any trailers repaired except one time when a customer rejected me because they wanted the tandems slide and they wouldn't slide so I had to blow half a day without pay getting that fixed.
My advice is to anybody is always to do lots and lots of research before going to any company. Leasing a truck requires even more thought and research because it's a big commitment vs being just a company driver.
While I haven't been out west I can tell you the recruiter is BSing you.
Everybody knows rates out west suck.. and there's wayyy less freight.
However if you only want to make $800-$900 after fixed and fuel costs well that's not difficult even running with far cheaper freight. For me I know if after expenses I can't at least pull off $2000+ working a 7 day week consistently then I shouldn't be leasing a truck. $900 is company driver pay, I wouldn't lease no truck to earn what I can as a company driver. While yes freedom here holds huge value this still is a job after all.
That's just the way I look at it..
You can get into a used truck for no money up front. The cheapest new truck is $1000 up front.
You can't sign on until you have a truck to sign on with.

and why can't you earn $800-$900 at Prime?
They start noobs out at .43 and you all get fuel bonuses. Just 2000 miles and you're right there where you want to be. Are you really getting less than 2000 miles a week there?

 

He's leasing at Prime I'd bet and is lucky to get that I'd guess.

 

I was a company driver and was making about $1000/week take home, but at the first of the year I switched to lease so I could work an account Prime had in the Pacific Northwest. I was promised I should be averaging $1,300/week take home after all expenses. Since I've started I'm averaging $800-900/week working 5 days a week.

I've been looking into going otr as a lease driver but would make the same amount I am now on this account but working 7 days a week for the same income. The only way to make $2,000/week here at Prime I would need to train and I don't want to do that at all. I like the freedom of being a lease operator and I have some financial goals in trying to meet and I'm leaning that isn't possible here at Prime. That is why I'm following you and looking into this program very closely.

Good guess on that one.

 

Based on the rates I saw this week out there..the rates aren't that bad going from cali to oregon or Washington and back..I saw pretty consistent 1.50-1.85mi regularly as long as your staying in that corridor..