Surprised at Prime Lease Purchase

This is my cost per mile. It’s the fuel cost only, not the fuel tax. I only worked two weeks the last four weeks. Went to Cancun again.

 

No kidding? That’s $43 per 500 miles ran. That’s what I said. It’s simple math.

 

Wanted to update this thread. I just gave back my lease truck today. I couldn’t make the numbers work. It was going good for a few months and then the freight fell off. I was being offered fewer loads and loads that paid much less than they did before. I may be paranoid but I could swear they were trying to get me to quit by offering me fewer loads and crappy paying loads. One of the other guys told me that because of the drop off in the dry freight Prime had too many contractors for the amount of work. So they were trying to force out some of the newer guys so their veteran contractors would be able to stay busy. Couple of weeks ago I had to deadhead from Alabama to West Texas 886 miles. I was paid $800. They just didn’t have any freight to offer me. The last straw was a load offer to New Jersey from Idaho paying $1.22 per mile. When you have close to $1500 per week in fixed expenses that’s a joke. I bobtailed back to DALLAS and cleaned out my truck then bobtailed up to Springfield. Going to try to find a local or regional employee job now. Think I’m done with being an owner operator until this crap stabilizes. But don’t get me wrong Prime has excellent equipment and facilities and the people are top notch. I was treated with respect the entire time I was there. If you’re a new guy looking to learn trucking this is the best company to do it at. Top notch all the way. Coming over from flatbed I had a hard time adjusting to how hard you need to drive with reefer freight. You have to go full speed for 11 hours a day to have any chance of making it to the appointment on time. And flatbed you don’t have to do that. After a few months I was starting to get burned out. They want you to run full out until you run your 70 out and then you end up sitting for two days at the end of the week. I like to space my hours out so I can drive a little every day. So I doubt I will ever do reefer freight again or lease through a mega carrier. But I had to see for myself. So my final recommendation is you’re better off being a company driver if you’re willing to drive hard. Also a great place for student drivers.