Prime Tanker Experience So Far...

A couple of comments from the "cold side," LOL! There was only one time I really had a problem with a reimbursement, and that was a double charge for my TWIC card from the third-party company who handles the registration in Springfield. Had to cancel an appointment with them due to the ol' truck schedule, so they had a great big open hole in their appointment book with my name next to it. When they went through their books the following year it became, "look we forgot to charge this guy." Meanwhile, I'd paid on a credit card when I did the process myself in Granite City IL. So... I had to obtain a copy of my credit statement, and bring it in to Springfield to get my money back. Only time that's happened... otherwise it's usually only taken one phone call, and done. Do watch your settlements because mistakes are made that can cost you, but will usually be corrected immediately if you know about them... get your settlements emailed to you.

Second, I had the same experience with my trainer in the same situation. There will be things you learn from him, and things that make you go, "I'm not even doing it that way." When I look back on it, it was mostly good times, although I did have to hold my words back frequently. I still have some good stories about that, LOL!

There are plenty of L/O's who do poorly here, but that isn't limited to Prime. I've been told that the industry average for lease completions is 10%, and from Fred in leasing that the number was around 25% at Prime, with most failures occurring in the first year. If you lease, look around at the group around you... 7 out of 10 of those people won't make it... hopefully the tanker side is better at keeping folks around. Make sure you talk to the L/O's who have been around through at least one lease, and find out what they're doing.

From my perspective there are four important things... first your personal debt situation has to be under control... if you are highly leveraged (as they say) what happens when must put money into the truck, but your personal debt is so high that you get behind? Less personal debt is a great thing, and helps immensely in being a successful small business owner. Second, be into your numbers. Yeah use a CPA for your taxes, but you've got to do your own bookkeeping with your settlement weekly to know where you're at. Third, you've got to have enough cash in reserve to get you through the rough spots. There will be times when you have very minimal settlement checks for any number of reasons that don't have anything to do with not enough income... trip timing vs cutoff time is a good example - a settlement check for a L/O is not a paycheck. It's cashflow into your business, and what you pay yourself is an expense. Fourth, fuel is king of the profit/loss statement. You can choose to pay yourself or the stockholders at the oil companies... and that makes a huge difference in your financial success. Buy the cheapest base price fuel you can (price after deducting fuel tax from the pump price) and check prices every trip; do your best to get great fuel economy.

Good luck!

 

I am glad to see that you are getting back in the groove and that things are working out. Please keep us posted on how you are doing.

Terry

 

I am in my 3rd year as a L/O in the tanker division. One thing I see is people who have never drove a truck jump right in as a L/O. My opinion is they should go company driver for a bit until they are comfortable with the job, there is enough to learn without worrying about how your gonna make that big truck payment every week. There is money to be made as a L/O if you manage your time and money wisely. If u get stuck talking to a driver who is broke the reasons are always the same. They either turn down a lot of loads, go home too much, or take cash advances and blow their money. My first experience with this was at the tank wash in Joliet. A new driver walked up to me wearing a swift baseball cap and a Werner t-shirt complaining that he wasn't making any money. It was obvious this was his 3rd failed attempt at truck driving. it took about 30 seconds listening to him for me to point at my wrist and say look at the time, I have to go (I wasn't even wearing a watch). Fortunately we do not have a lot of these drivers but when u see one don't walk away, run.

 

Macro 27. Some drivers say it takes you way out of route for fuel stops but I have not had that problem. Also, some drivers wait until they are low on fuel to do macro 27 which kinda defeats the purpose because then it's obviously going to send you somewhere nearby and probably not the best price. I do macro 27 before I start my day and try to be at 1/2 tanks or more in fuel, this gives the program more to work with.

 

Not sure if your previous driving was tanker, I had same problem with miles dragging. I had tanker experience so I asked to switch to reefer, we did over 6k miles a week and got my miles much quicker.