rip-off john christner

It was answered....read above.

What costs? What restrictive rules?

 

OK Mr Business Owner, answer this yes or no, can you take a load from an outside carrier? Do you have to ask permission?

 

There was an outfit a couple years back that seemed to be the best lease deal going, lease a brand new truck and the carrier gave tools to the lease driver to book their own loads off the load boards. This was all conducted through a nationally recognized mini-mega carrier auxiliary company. Many drivers were posting about it hot and heavy around here and joining up. It turned out to be a failure deal as the lease overhead was too top heavy to sustain. Most of the drivers had to turn the truck in after spending 10's of thousands into their business and a few savvy ones were able to sever the relationship and keep their truck and lease on somewhere else with a fair deal.

I believe JCT offers a pretty fair deal. Brand new truck with full warranty and takes care a whole slew of the business expenses that used to be borne on the lease op. I mean they still are, we just don't see it; it is indirect -- IFTA, trailer rent and maint, trailer fuel, registration, insurance, tolls, and the list goes on and on, all those things I used to pay directly and looking at my old deal at the old company the pay shakes out very similar to JCT's.

If a person has the moxie to work hard and safe, I can't see a better deal to try to acquire a new truck out there in the marketplace. We pay (indirectly) for the support staff back at the office and they do a wonderful job of keeping us swimming in miles. They are generous about deadhead miles out of poor markets; i was at another carrier leasing a truck once, they had no qualms about leaving me starving in a bad market for days. JCT knows they can make up for it on the big dollar produce seasons so they do everything they can to help make us successful. It is a true synergy. Other companies I have contracted to were very one sided, selfish and greedy, all the while trying to call me their business partner.

 

I believe the JCT drivers on here give very good information about the lease. I have thought about it but I'm married with three young kids. I like to be home more and don't want the risk. I think it is useless to make arguments for or against. A lot of people's minds are already set in stone about it. I do thank you for the good information though.

 

My take on it, JCT is definitely a mostly irregular route over the road nationwide company. I mean they do try to stick to certain lanes more and have some core customers but they will book a load going almost anywhere I suppose if it pays quite well.

I Have seen this over and over, truckers wanting to step up to lease trucks because of the hometime thing. More of it and when you want it deal. Which is fine, just have it all business planned out, know how many miles you need to generate on a week/month/year basis to hit the revenue targets you need.

Going back to the orignial title though I would not qualify JCT's deal as a rip-off. Sure many people failed at it but we would have to examine the whole story of why they failed, ie. how did they fuel, how did they run over curbs and buy new tires every couple months or how did they not send in their daily temperature messages and or turned down loads and had to sit an extra day waiting for the planner to come back the next day or the weekend.

 

Being an owner operator is the easiest business venture I have ever undertaken...

I was a building & roofing contractor my whole vocational life (30 years) prior to getting into trucking in 2009. I learned the ropes, paid my dues and became an owner operator (with my own authority) in 2015.

Because I had good credit, I was able to purchase a new truck & trailer at very low commercial interest rates. Also, because I had an excellent driving history and credit, I was able to qualify for a very competitive insurance premium.

A lot of guys who lease on to another companies authority (for whatever reason) don't qualify for cheap commercial money or competitively priced insurance. It is what it is. Therefore, committing to a lease program like JCT, or whoever, is the only viable option. I get it. However, it is not the best option.

I handle everything in my business, from booking the loads, scheduling, billing, banking and all tax related matters. It's a cinch compared to when I used to have 35 re-roof jobs on the board or 9 houses under construction at a time

The biggest benefit to me is absolute control and better margins because of my lower overhead, which in turn allows me to work less, not harder or longer. Which tells you what? I'm modestly lazy

 

Prior to deregulation it was near impossible and very expensive to have your own authority, o/o were relegated to either hauling exempt commodities, running "hot" freight or leasing on to a carrier. Deregulation changed all of that, now anybody with $150.00 filing fee and insurance can get authority, and the rates reflect it, in the early 70's a guy could get 1.50 to 2.00 for dry freight, as the list of carriers expanded the rates got lower, and continue to. Today you can make a little bit of money, but you have to start with a lot of money.

 

It's harder to get a contractor's license in most States than it is to obtain a trucking authority.

The game is changing somewhat now though, new entrants are finding it difficult to obtain insurance, the costs are going through the roof. Which is forcing more and more guys to lease onto bigger companies authority.

As far as needing a lot of money to get into this business, not really.

 

I own a house.

I hired Pablo's Painting to paint my kitchen.

I told him what color to use. When he could start and when he had to leave by and what he was to paint.

Who made the rules? Who is the owner of Pablo's Painting?

TA

 

Pete's plumbing is replacing my sewer line.

He doesn't own a excavator so he rents the tool to do the job.

According to your logic Pete doesn't own his company because he rented a tool.

A truck is a tool; whether rented, leased, bought and paid for or financed and making payments to somebody.

The truck is not the business, it's a tool to conduct the business.

TA